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THE MUPPETS MAYHEM series starts today on Disney+ and celebrates a reunion with the legendary Muppets rock band »The Electric Mayhem«.

Dr Teeth, Animal, Floyd Pepper, Janice, Zoot and Lips have been rocking for 45 years and have never recorded a studio album. That is about to change when young music producer Nora (Lilly Singh) finds an old contract and realizes that the band still owes their seedy label an album...

We're in for a wild and chaotic ride through today's music landscape, and in true Muppet tradition, there are plenty of celebrity guest appearances from Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin, Kevin Smith, Paula Abdul, Tommy Lee Weird Al Yankovic and many more.

Alright, let's rock! :
https://youtu.be/HhP4QiK8GzA

The Muppet Show (1976-1981), featuring Jim Henson and Frank Oz puppets, is a piece of (pop) cultural history and part of our fondest childhood memories. No question, we'll watch the 10 episodes of the Mayhem series and hope that Disney's program won't be too well-behaved and harmless and that the band's anarchic humor will shine through. But what can go wrong when Animal is behind the drums?

It is also quite possible that the new series will provide supplies in our Muppets department again. A fat The Electric Mayhem set with the band would be more than appropriate 😃...

The first picture already makes it clear, we are in the bizarre world of Wes Anderson.

Asteroid City, somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the 1950s. The Junior Stargazer program gets a last-minute update when an extraterrestrial life form comes to visit the town. Does the alien bring a message from the universe or does it even have answers to existential questions?

What sounds like an Oscars attendance list, is actually the cast:
Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan and Jeff Goldblum.

Here's the trailer for the film, which Universal Pictures expects to hit theaters on June 15th:
https://youtu.be/9FXCSXuGTF4

Perfectly in time for the weekend, we have an interesting documentary tip for you: On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death, Sky / WOW pays tribute to the great Sergio Leone with the documentary »Sergio Leone: The Italian Who Invented America«.

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Western was no longer a big deal. Salvation came from Italy! Sergio Leone gave the ailing genre a makeover with »A Fistful of Dollars«, invented the subgenre of the Spaghetti Western and enriched the film language with his inimitable way of telling his stories.

The documentary features film clips, archive footage, behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with family, companions, and filmmakers who have been significantly influenced by Leone's art, including Dario Argento, Clint Eastwood, Ennio Morricone, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, Damien Chazelle, Frank Miller and Robert De Niro.

This will certainly make you want to watch some of Sergio Leone's movies - and then probably want to browse through our Western section 🤠.

»Sergio Leone: The Italian Who Invented America« launches tonight at 8:15 p.m. on Sky Documentaries and on demand.

From April 24th to 27th, CinemaCon, the largest and most important gathering of cinema owners, took place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas (yes, that's exactly where Caesar did live). At the industry-internal event, the major studios presented their upcoming film projects with star support. A lot of new material was shown and many trailers premiered. Not all of them have been released to the public yet, but that will surely happen in the next few weeks.

For all of you who might have missed it, here's our news telegram about the studio presentations:

SONY
- Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reported back from the set of BAD BOYS 4
- exclusive footage of INSIDIOUS 5: THE RED DOOR (trailer: https://youtu.be/ZuQuOnYnr3Q)
- Action comedy THE MACHINE starring Mark Hamill and Martyn Ford - in cinemas May 25th (trailer: https://youtu.be/AwDKLEaJxMk)
- the video game GRAN TURISMO will be filmed - starring David Harbor and Orlando Bloom (trailer: https://youtu.be/GVPzGBvPrzw)
- Ridley Scott's NAPOLEON film, co-produced with Apple TV and starring Joaquin Phoenix, will get a theatrical release
- in THE EQUALIZER 3, Denzel Washington takes on the Italian mafia (trailer: https://youtu.be/19ikl8vy4zs)
- Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon have been confirmed as actors for the GHOSTBUSTERS sequel. There hasn't been any moving footage yet, but a photo suggests they'll be wearing into the famous jumpsuits
- 14 minutes of material were shown to the industry audience from the animated film SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE
- KRAVEN THE HUNTER, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Russell Crowe, becomes Sony's first Rated R superhero film

WARNER BROS.
- BEETLEJUICE 2 is in the making
- first look photo of Anya Taylor-Joy in and as FURIOSA
- SUPERMAN LEGACY logo shown
- new FINAL DESTINATION movie confirmed and logo shown
- THE CONJURING 4 - THE LAST RITES has been confirmed and there will be a TV series on Max
- Warner Bros. announced that they will not be releasing "direct to streaming" films in the future anymore due to the great success of EVIL DEAD RISE at the box office. The film grossed more than 10 times its production cost already during its release weekend
- trailer and other material from BARBIE - one of the film's taglines is: "If you Love Barbie, if you hate Barbie, this movie is for you!"
- trailer and other material also about WONKA. The film is a prequel with Timothée Chalamet as a young Willy Wonka battling a chocolate cartel
- trailer and footage of MEG 2: THE TRENCH
- there was also a trailer and additional material for DUNE: PART TWO (trailer: https://youtu.be/Way9Dexny3w)
- parallel to the event, Vanity Fair released the first photos from DUNE 2 (https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/04/dune-part-two-exclusive-first-look)
- THE NUN 2 was also presented with trailer and footage
- the first trailer for AQUAMAN 2: THE LOST KINGDOM was shown (not publically released yet)
- the panel on THE FLASH with trailer and other material was very well received by the specialist audience

DISNEY
- Disney showed an extended clip of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3
- for THE MARVELS there was only the already known trailer
- for THE LITTLE MERMAID there was the well-known trailer and for the first time Melissa McCarthy could be seen performing her iconic song "Poor unfortunate Souls" as the witch Ursula
- 20 minutes of footage from Pixar's ELEMENTAL was shown
- exclusive extended footage was also available for HAUNTED MANSION
- in the 20th Century Section there was the trailer for A HAUNTING IN VENICE, the third Agatha Christie film adaptation by Kenneth Branagh (trailer: https://youtu.be/oRCKIP5paEU)
- THE CREATOR, directed by Gareth Edwards, is a science-fiction action thriller about a war between humans, robots and artificial intelligence
- NEXT GOAL WINS, a sports comedy by Taika Waititi (trailer: https://youtu.be/pRH5u5lpArQ)
- INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY extended clip as shown at Star Wars Celebration Europe
- screening of  THE BOOGEYMAN

UNIVERSAL
- OPPENHEIMER: new trailer for the launch of Guardians of the Galaxy at cinemas
- M3GAN 2 sequel announced and Jason Blum has franchise plans
- plans for THE BLACK PHONE 2
- THE EXORCIST BELIEVER, directed by David Gordon Green, also has an unreleased trailer
- Dreamworks: trailer for RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN (trailer: https://youtu.be/iAMKwDsfUeU)
- Jack Black introduced KUNG FU PANDA 4
- SAW X logo introduced
- EXPENDABLES 4 logo introduced
- THE FALL GUY - Ryan Gosling plays a former stuntman in a fun action movie
- Vin Diesel on stage announces "FAST X continues" - part 2 coming to theaters in 2025

PARAMOUNT
- SMILE is getting a sequel
- Seth Rogen introduced TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM
- TRANSFORMERS ONE voice cast featured Chris Hemsworth as Optimus Prime, among others
- more animated films: SPONGEBOB movie 4, AVATAR - THE LAST AIRBENDER movie, SMURFS movie, PAW PATROL movie 2
- KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON by Martin Scorsese - first trailer
- Bob Marley biopic titled BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE is slated to hit theaters on January 12, 2024
- first footage of the prequel A QUIET PLACE DAY ONE
- 20 minutes of material was shown for MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING PART 1

Happy Star Wars Day, dear Rebel Spies, members of the Shadow Council and of course also legates of the Intergalactic Senate!

To celebrate the day with you, we prepared a little goodie for y'all:
We spread four 20% discount coupons over our news- and social media channels. Every cody does only exist once and can only be used for one item (of choice from our in stock inventory).

The code for our News-Ticker is:
FORCE23NT

So you better switch to lightspeed and grab your very personal Star Wars deal - May the Fourth be with You!

PS: Every customer redeem maximum one of the four coupons - we would like to give 4 collectors the chance. It's actually called May the Fourth and not May the Oneth 😉

»Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3« starts hitting cinemas everywhere today! This is by far the Marvel film we've been looking forward to the most lately, especially after a rather weak phase 4. And the majority of YouTube film reviewers are also enthusiastic.

So we are looking forward to funny and emotional moments and have our handkerchiefs ready. It's not only the Guardians' farewell performance, but also that of James Gunn, who has meanwhile switched from Marvel to DC. We look forward to seeing Gunn pull out all the stops again in his trilogy. So off to the movies!

Last weekend, the Asian manufacturer threezero held a two-day exhibition of their current program in Tokyo. In addition, there were panels and autograph sessions with artists and star guests.

As to be expected from the Tokyo location, the focus of the exhibition was on products from the manga/anime world. From the area of popular TV series there were only a few »The Walking Dead« figures and from »Stranger Things« Will Beyers and Mike Wheeler in 1/6 scale. Netflix recently released new posters for the series with the tagline: "Every Ending Has A Beginning". A couple of new announcements by threezero would have fitted in well with this. Will the manufacturer implement a Season 5 update for our heroes?

After the great success of the HBO series »The Last of Us«, the topic is noticeably in the air. We had already suspected that threezero would grab the license here, because in the past they often had a knack for licenses for popular TV series. And with their »The Walking Dead« figures, they have the expertise for dystopian scenarios and through the big »Game of Thrones« series, they are probably also well known with HBO. So, a not entirely unreasonable speculation. But who knows, San Diego Comic Con is not so far away anymore ...

It's the year 1982 - the British heavy metal band IRON MAIDEN releases their third studio album »The Number of the Beast« the world public, especially in the USA, was outraged!

The album was a commercial success, but it also started a controversy. Because of the lyrics and the - well, let's say - "very special" album cover, the work was controversial. The cover features the band's mascot Eddie holding satan as a puppet on a string.

Nowadays we see it all way more relaxed. A lot - especially stuff from the 80's - became cult. The legendary cover artworks by Iron Maiden around Eddie definately did. That's probably why the manufacturer KNUCKLEBONZ produced the album cover as a 3D vinyl statue - surely a tribute to Iron Maiden and a great collectible for hardcore fans!

That's why we decided to put the THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST 3D VINYL COVER STATUE on our (devil's) throne. Our product of the month May 2023 is limited to 1982 pieces and will be available from stock in just a few days 😃!

Six six six, the number of the beast 🤘.
Hell and fire was spawned to be released 😈!

You are looking for the perfect entertainment for the long upcoming weekend? Look no further 👌: just in time for Friday, our 🚀 ABGESPACED 🚀 anniversary episode no. 30 comes fluttering to your screens!

On their journey through the FIGURE UNIVERSE Sven and his guest Marcel (@corneliusfilms) don’t just discover amazing new products, they also make a stopover in a galaxy far, far away to chat about the Mando season 3 finale, the Star Wars Celebration Europe, new trailers and so much more.

But also the gunslingers and bloodsuckers among you will be able to discover exciting news 🧛‍🤠! And for MOTU fans especially our First Look section will be a thrill 🧐. Skeletor and Man-At-Arms are expecting you - so tune in. Now. On YouTube 🤩!
https://youtu.be/DgdG7mErMp0

In 2019, we went on an adventurous journey through the galaxy together with Padawan Cal Kestis (portrayed by Cameron Monaghan) in the game »Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order«, which was developed by Respawn Entertainment as a third-person-action-adventure and published by EA. It is considered one of the best Star Wars games so far.

Today its sequel »Star Wars Jedi: Survivor« is launched! So we’ll be able to step into Cal Kestis’ shoes again. We are super excited to see how the story will continue and can barely wait for tonight. Surely we can expect a game with addiction potential - the next sick note is already waiting for us at the doctor's office 😇. But shhh: please don't tell our boss 😆!

Who among you is just as hyped as we are 🤩?

Successful films get sequels. Hardly any genre turns it into a whole franchise as often as the horror genre. The standard of quality usually drops from sequel to sequel. Some flicks don't even make it to the cinema, but end up as "content" in the programs of various streaming providers, who have taken over the function of the old direct-to-DVD marketing. And every now and then, a reboot attempt even turned from a beacon of hope into a big disappointment (yes, we're talking about you, David Gordon Green).

But there are some glorious exceptions as well. This certainly includes »The Evil Dead«. The no-budget film from 1981 started a myth. Being indexed in Germany, it was preceded by its reputation as "the hardest shit ever". Of course we wanted to - no, we absolutely had to - see it at the time. A holy grail of horror that we chased after for a long time until a school friend finally brought in a bad VHS copy of a VHS copy of a VHS copy...

In 1987 Sam Raimi remade and continued his film at the same time, this time with a little more money, a much more comedic tone and again starring Bruce Campbell. When Ash ended up in the Middle Ages at the end of the film, we all thought it was a gimmick, but Raimi followed it up with »Army of Darkness« in 1992, sending our hero Ash Williams, stranded in 1300 AD, into a fantasy horror comedy.

2013 saw the reimagining of »Evil Dead«, directed by Fede Alvarez. The film eschewed all comedy and brought back hard-hitting horror. From 2015 to 2018 Bruce Campbell returned in »Ash vs Evil Dead« to continue the three Raimi films in a TV series that is not stingy with wit, gore and guts.

Right now, »Evil Dead Rise« is playing in cinemas and once again focuses on bloody horror. The flick, directed by Lee Cronin, has received mostly positive reviews so far and continues the more than 40-year success story of EVIL DEAD; a series that is part of our socialization towards horror, changed its tone from time to time, was able to surprise us and never got boring. Our seats in the cinema are already reserved for tonight.

We had to wait almost two years for the sequel to »Sweet Tooth«. Starting tomorrow, you can stream the second season of the Netflix show. It is based on Jeff Lemire's DC comic series of the same name and has become one of the biggest hits on Netflix in recent years.

In a post-apocalyptic world, most of the world's population succumbed to a deadly virus. At the same time, all newborns have both human and animal characteristics. Quite a few people see the cause of the pandemic in the hybrids and try to hunt them down. The deer boy Gus grows up protected by his father Pubba in the isolation of the forests. When Pubba dies, ten-year-old Gus sets out to find his mother...

If you haven't seen Sweet Tooth Season 1 yet, you should definitely catch up. The trailer for the second season promises us a sequel to the dark sci-fi fantasy fairy tale that is as emotional as it is action-packed.
https://youtu.be/69rdBVs4u4c

Netflix released a teaser for »The Witcher« season 3 yesterday. The start date for volume 1 is June 29th, the second volume will follow on July 27th. The 50 second spot doesn't reveal too much of what to expect. 
https://youtu.be/EUlC8ue8NFI

We had some wistful sighs at the sight of Henry Cavill in the title role, because as we all know, this is going to be the last season with the Witcher of our hearts. And after the more than weak »The Witcher: Blood Origin«, we seriously fear that Netflix will ultimately drive the franchise into the ground. Nevertheless, we are of course looking forward to the last episodes with Henry Cavill.

The two toy giants Hasbro and Mattel are teaming up! Yesterday, it was announced in an official statement that the toy manufacturers, who are among the biggest on the market, have entered multi-year licensing agreements.

Over the past decades there have been negotiations again and again about a fusion or acquisition, but now Hasbro and Mattel are going to join forces to unite several of their most popular brands. In time for the release of the live-action »Barbie« movie and the next part of the Transformers series (»Transformers: Rise of the Beasts«), Barbie-themed Monopoly games and Transformers-branded Uno games are going to be launched later this year, followed by Transformers-branded Hot Wheels in early 2024. Time will tell whether this could open doors for other such projects with different licenses. There could be interesting opportunities with brands like Star Wars, Marvel, MOTU or Jurassic World. We are excited!

Here you can read the official statement from Mattel and Hasbro yourselves:
https://corporate.mattel.com/news/mattel-hasbro-enter-licensing-agreements-to-launch-monopoly-barbie-edition-transformers-hot-wheels-transformers-uno
https://corporate.hasbro.com/en-us/articles/mattel_and_hasbro_enter_into_licensing_agreements_article

The »Poker Face« series developed by Rian Johnson (»Knives Out«) starts streaming today on WOW. Three episodes of it were directed by Johnson as well.

The 10-part case-of-the-week series centers on Charlie Cale, played by Natasha Lyonne (»Russian Doll«, »Orange Is the New Black«), who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. On the run in her Plymouth Barracuda after the mysterious death of her colleague, with every stop she encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve.

In addition to the human lie detector and wonderfully odd, female Columbo with a gruff voice, the series also has prominent actors in supporting roles. We meet Adrien Brody, Ellen Barkin, Hong Chau, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ron Perlman and Nick Nolte, among others. That's a lot of good reasons to take a look at the series. The trailer gives a little foretaste: 
https://youtu.be/4x2NzusLAqk

The series adaptation of David Cronenberg's thriller »Dead Ringers« starts on Amazon Prime Video today. Jeremy Irons played the very different identical twins in the 1988 film. In the series Rachel Weisz is now playing the lead roles of Elliot and Beverly Mantle, twins who share everything: drugs, lovers, and an unapologetic desire to do whatever it takes - including pushing the boundaries of medical ethics - in an effort to challenge antiquated practices and bring women’s health care to the forefront.

Initial reviews of »Dead Ringers« are mostly positive. Above all, Rachel Weisz's acting performance is unanimously praised. Amazon is releasing all six episodes of the miniseries today. Here’s the trailer for a first impression:
https://youtu.be/FA_XOruRFfU

»Breaking Bad« and »Better Call Saul« - two of our favourite shows ever. For those of you who are fans as well, we have something very special: our diorama wall all about the 1/6 scale figures and locations of the two shows is finally finished and we are taking you with us to New Mexico to show you the construction and the last finishing touches together with Stefan (@lesgrohl) and Markus (@bambino_dioramas). Not only can you see the amazing work of those two as well as the awesome results, but you can also pick up some DIY tips for building your own dioramas. So tune in and have fun!
https://youtu.be/_nlRIUTBPR4

The Power Rangers are back! Today, the 55-minute reunion special »Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always« launches on Netflix.

The emotional core of the story is the death of Yellow Ranger Trini Kwan (and the actress Thuy Trang who portrayed her), acknowledged on-screen for the first time in this special, and which both the other Rangers and Trini's daughter must come to terms with. The whole thing - in typical Power Rangers fashion - is peppered with some corny dialogues, entertaining fight scenes and a nostalgic look. And a few familiar faces will be on-screen as well.

This special has lots to offer for friends of 90s trash entertainment. So Rangers fans should tune in because it’s Morphin Time!

»The Penguin«, the first spin-off project from Matt Reeves' BatVerse is in production! Last week, HBO has released an "In-Production Teaser", which promises a dark and gritty series.

Colin Farrell will return to his role as The Penguin Oswald Cobblepot, in which he has already wowed us in 2022's »The Batman«. The show is going to take place shortly after the events of the film and will tell the story of Cobblepot's rise to a mafia boss in 8 episodes. Nothing more is known about the story yet and there aren't many details about the cast or characters either. Among others, we can look forward to seeing Cristin Milioti (»The Wolf of Wall Street«) portray Sofia Falcone, the daughter of crime boss Carmine Falcone.

An official release date has not been confirmed yet, but the series is planned to start in 2024 on the streaming platform HBO Max. Here you can get a first glimpse yourselves:
https://youtu.be/zAPifwlWBP0

In the last 20 years, HOT TOYS has developed into the leading manufacturer of licensed 1/6 scale action-figures. Again and again we meet collectors who call themselves HOT TOYS fans. Something other manufacturers can only dream of. You might be a »Harry Potter« fan, but are you a STAR ACE fan? You might love »Game of Thrones«, but are you a THREEZERO fan? It’s an admiration that no manufacturer has as much as HOT TOYS.

But the status as the top dog in the industry must also be defended, because there are other high-end manufacturers who would probably be only too happy to reach for the crown. With INART (QUEEN STUDIOS' 1/6 division) a serious competitor has stepped into the ring. And the fact that all INART figures have previously been released by HOT TOYS or, like Gandalf, in the Crown line by ASMUS TOYS, is interpreted by many observers as a declaration of war, basically saying: "We can do this better than you!"

While we would appreciate a little more originality at INART, as there are still enough pop culture heavyweights waiting for a monument as a 1/6 figure, the saying that competition stimulates business nevertheless seems to be true again. It is probably no coincidence that almost all new HOT TOYS releases are currently being refined with moving eyeballs, an extra that was previously reserved for the DX series from HOT TOYS.

A few days ago, HOT TOYS released updates to the heads of Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Mighty Thor / Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), and Shuri (Letitia Wright) from »Black Panther: Wakanda Forever«. We're seriously blown away by the level of realism. In the case of Mighty Thor, one might argue that real hair would have been even more realistic. But like many other things it's also a matter of taste. For us, HOT TOYS still reigns supreme, even though the air on Mount Olympus has gotten noticeably thinner lately.