News

Because of this year's NEW YORK TOY FAIR being fully packed with highlights of all kind of brands, we will recap one more round today for you, with some more worth mentioning novelties:

* Dark Horse will extend their popular line of PVC statues by one of the year's hottest licenses: CYBERPUNK 2077!
* Kotobukiya revealed the next MARVEL ARTFX Premier Statue - Captain Marvel - and showed some (yet unpainted) prototypes of the upcoming super-sexy BISHOUJO chicks like Leatherface, Pennywise, Beetlejuice and Black Cat!
* Mattel somehow is making a huge secret around the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE Origins line and finally showed the previously teasered line-up for 2020!
* The manufacturer Trick or Treat Studios will step into the 1/6 sector with - how else could it be - different horror icons. Already four »Michael Myers« figures on the HALLOWEEN movies are in planning, aswell as a »Art the Clown« on TERRIFIER!
* The design studio Mondo was displaying their MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE 1/6 Scale Man-At-Arms for the first time, in his whole glory and with mustache!

Some more infos and a bunch of photos can also be found on ACTION FIGURE DISTRICT. Really worth seeing and a lot better than the usual evening TV program are the videos from the legendary PIXEL DAN. Check out his booth tours and the interviews at NECA, DC or McFARLANE TOYS with the Toddfather himself!

On today's Trailer Tuesday we have another colorful mix for you, a game, a series and three films.

FORTNITE CHAPTER 2 - SEASON 2
In this »Fortnite« trailer, the music creates a real James Bond mood. We admit that none of us have played the game yet, but the weird characters make us want to.

MONOS
The press release for the film states: A Colombian “Lord of the Flies” that merges the madness of Werner Herzog with the technical perfection of James Cameron. It doesn't sound bad. The reviews are good too. And the optics definitely make us want to watch the film.

ESCAPE FROM PRETORIA
Based on the real-life prison break of two political captives, »Escape From Pretoria« is a race-against-time thriller set in the tumultuous apartheid days of South Africa. Daniel Radcliffe plays one of the leading roles. That looks promising.

RUN
They say you can never escape a mother’s love... but for Chloe, that’s not a comfort - it’s a threat. There’s something unnatural, even sinister about the relationship between Chloe (newcomer Kiera Allen) and her mom, Diane (Sarah Paulson). After the trailer for this suspense thriller, we're definitely on the hook.

WESTWORLD SEASON 3
We are of course particularly hot for the third season of »Westworld«. It will run on Sky Atlantic from March 30th. And hey ... Aaron Paul is on board.

The most important event of the new year for the toy industry and for us collectible junkies definately is NEW YORK TOY FAIR. Of course, Nuernberg International Toy Fair might be bigger, but especially American brands tend to reveal their most spectacular product novelties at home.

Since last Saturday, the Big Apple totally got into toy mode for four days. The show will last until tomorrow - but thanks to social networks many new stuff that's on display already is making the loop. We are going to round up a bunch of our personal highlights in the first step here:

* Hasbro goes on full speed with GHOSTBUSTERS: the completely new classy »Plasma Series« on the movie, a re-release of the Kenner figures of »The Real Ghostbusters« and a new line for the younger audience!
* Mezco Toyz is expanding their popular »One:12 Collective« series with ALIEN and PREDATOR figures!
* There will be LORD OF THE RINGS Select figures from Diamond Select Toys - and the first prototypes are looking damn good!
* New busts and statues by DST or Gentle Giant on STAR WARS: CLONE WARS and THE MANDALORIAN!
* Iron Studios has shown their very impressive 1:10 Wonder Woman statue in her golden armor on WONDER WOMAN 1984!
* Also very well done appears the 1:10 Harley Quinn statue with the hyena from BIRDS OF PREY!
* And Iron Studios will continue with their LORD OF THE RINGS license and is showing Gimli, Legolas and Gollum as 1:10 Art Scale statues!
* McFarlane Toys will bring two Wonder Woman versionen of the new movie within their DC MULTIVERSE line!
* Great Scott, Neca scored a BACK TO THE FUTURE license and is kicking off here with two versions of Marty McFly as Ultimate Figures: Marty and Darth Vader from planet Vulcan!
* The TURTLES line-up from Neca will be extended again with new animated figures and the first ones on TMNT2: SECRET OF THE OOZE: Super Shredder, Takka and Rahza!
* The GREMLINS will also keep on creating chaos at Neca. You have to see the diorama which a fan from St. Louis created for Neca and built that up at their booth - freakin' awesome!
* DC Collectibles of course is also there with a couple of great DC novelties, like for instance the Bombshells Black Canary & Green Lantern statue, the Red, White and Black Harley Quinn by Julian Tedesco statue and a whole new statue line which will only focus on the Joker: Clown Prince of Crime!

We will probably throw in some more on Wednesday, because the fair obviously was fully packed with interesting new products and the exhibitors put a lot of effort in their performances. Great coverages can be found with our friends of figures.com, Toyark or Exclucollective.

It's clear to everybody that the media giant DISNEY is grabbing the rights of countless movies or movie series by buying out other studios. This also happened with the latest "shopping tour" by the assimilation of »20th Century Fox«. A big and very popular franchise of Fox was »Planet of the Apes«. Disney CEO Chef Bob Iger already announced last year that the apes will go on somehow...

In the meantime, Wes Ball is confirmed as the director for the new project (since Matt Reeves is now more into bats) and he just made clear via Twitter that his »Planet of the Apes« film will definately not be a remake or reboot, but that Caesar's  legacy will rahter live on instead. Doesn't that sound pretty good? Surely it will keep us save from another warm-up. Perhaps Wes Ball will even be able to build a nice bridge between the trilogy of the prequel stories and the timeline of the old movies.

Speaking of »Planet of the Apes«: one of our absolute premium brands, TSUME ART from Luxemburg, seems to have forseen the news and hooked up by announcing the astonishing »Ape not Kill Ape« HQS+ Statue some days ago. Definately take a look at it - you can find it already listed for pre-order with us ;-)

»Battlestar Galactica« is a TV classic in two ways. Either the 1978 original with Lorne Greene as Commander Adama or the new edition from 2005 with Edward James Olmos, which also gained many viewers. The idea of a reboot, however, was not well received by the fans. If not superfluous, then at least much too early. But now there is an all clear...

Sam Esmail, creator of the new show in planning, explained on Twitter:
BSG fans, this will NOT be a remake of the amazing series Ron D Moore launched because... why mess with perfection? Instead, we’ll explore a new story within the mythology while staying true to the spirit of Battlestar. So say we all!

This means that we can expect a kind of spin-off within the BSG universe. That could be exciting. We hope that the new series will rock and be more successful than the previous short-lived offsprings »Caprica« or »Battlestar Galactica - Blood & Chrome«.

A number of new trailers were released in the past week. For today's Trailer Tuesday we have put six titles on our watchlist.

STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4
The first teaser for the fourth season of »Stranger Things« shows Jim Hopper as a prisoner in a Soviet gulag. What we all already suspected and hoped for: the sheriff survived the season 3 final. We are excited to see how the story continues.

DARK WATERS
The drama of a lawyer starting the fight with a corrupt chemical company, based on real events and with Mark Ruffalo in the leading role, has already started in the USA and achieved top ratings (IMDb: 7.6, Rotten Tomatoes: CS 89% / AS 95%) and got the predicate "Particularly valuable"

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD
Armando Iannucci and Simon Blackwell re-tell the famous Charles Dickens story. Costumes and set design alone are an incredible feast for the eyes.

THE HUNT
Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know where they are, or how they got there. They don't know they’ve been chosen... for a very specific purpose... The Hunt.
Manhunt films are nothing new, but the trailer suggests a few interesting twists. We have become curious.

THE GREEN KNIGHT
A Fantasy film about the legend of Sir Gawain, who - as a knight of the Round Table - dares to duel with the green knight. It's an A24 production, so that alone makes us pay attention.

THE FRENCH DISPATCH
The new film by Wes Anderson. As always, the stars line up for him: Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson... to name just a few. Already the trailer shows Anderson's joy in telling wonderful strange stories. We marked the film in bold on our calendar.

Today »Sonic The Hedgehog« is opening in German theaters. In fact, we missed it in our cinema top 5 for February. Maybe that's because of his speed... or perhaps it's because the release date has been pushed back several times. The movie was supposed to be released in December, then there was talk of March and now it's already starting at the movies today.

What Mario is at NINTENDO is definitely the blue hedgehog Sonic at SEGA! SEGA used to be one of the biggest soft- and hardware developers in the world. After losing the game console market to Nintendo and Sony, the Japanese company limited itself to game publishing and still does.

After dozens of parts of the game series and interim TV series, it is now getting its super-fast appearance on the big screen after almost 30 years with the "real film". Dyed-in-the-wool fans will surely enjoy the movie - we are looking forward to your feedback!

After all the trailers that were released at the Super Bowl, we weren't blessed with so many new clips this week. That is why we are presenting only one new film and two game trailers on today's Trailer Tuesday.

SPIRAL: FROM THE BOOK OF SAW
Meanwhile the opinions differ on the Saw franchise. We are still a bit sceptical, but the trailer looks good. And maybe Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson will lure us to the cinema after all.

HELLPOINT
For all people who love the film »Event Horizon«, »Hellpoint« could be just the right game. The release date is April 16th.

SOMEDAY YOU'LL RETURN
»Someday You'll Return« is a first-person, story-driven psychological horror following the story of a desperate father in search of his missing daughter. When we saw the trailer we got in the mood for this adventure. The game will be released on April 14th.

Well, who of you spent the last night in front of the TV set and watched the Academy Awards live?

The gold boys for the best supporting roles went to Brad Pitt in ONCE UPON A TIME ... IN HOLLYWOOD and to Laura Dern in MARRIAGE STORY. The leading actors awards went to Renée Zellweger in JUDY and Joaquin Phoenix in JOKER. All deservedly won and no surprises, as they were already treated as the big favorites in advance.

The big surprise was PARASITE! The South Korean film was first awarded for the best original screenplay and then received the Oscar for the best international film. We thought two Oscars were a great success! But it should get even better. Bong Joon Ho was awarded for best directing and gave a very sympathetic acceptance speech, in which he especially honored the other nominated directors. As the crowning achievement Parasite was also awarded as the best movie and wrote film history, because never before had a non-English-language film won in the top category. Those who have not yet seen the movie may now find the opportunity in one theater or another - or wait until the beginning of March, when the film of the year is released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Of the films, nominated for several awards, 1917 got three technical Oscars (Camera, sound mixing, visual effects). ONCE UPON A TIME ... IN HOLLYWOOD got a second award for the best production design, JOKER for the best score. FORD V FERRARI won two Oscars. LITTLE WOMEN, BOMBSHELL and JOJO RABBIT each received one Oscar.

The big loser of the evening was Martin Scorsese's THE IRISHMAN. The film was nominated 10 times and unfortunately could not take home a single trophy.

An overview with all winners and nominees can be found here.

New month, new movies! We are very curious about the following flicks in February... So, curtains up for our top 5:

Number 5:
FANTASY ISLAND | Theatrical release: 20.02.2020
https://youtu.be/AuDROG1g6bM
The trailer is revealing a bit too much and we are a little torn... but let's hope that »Fantasy Island« will not make our darkest fantasies come true.

Number 4:
COMA | Theatrical release: 06.02.2020
https://youtu.be/ZyfeuyGKFcU
The incredible look of »Coma« reminds us a little of Christopher Nolan's »Inception«. Enough to lure us into the Russian Sci-Fi fantasy adventure.

Number 3:
THE INVISIBLE MAN | Theatrical release: 27.02.2020
https://youtu.be/ZGNWHKprtnY
»The Mummy« was pretty lame and ended Universal's "Dark Universe" dreams. Now they chose a different approach for the Invisible. Thanks to leading actress Elisabeth Moss, that promises to be quite exciting.

Number 2:
THE GENTLEMEN | Theatrical release: 27.02.2020
https://youtu.be/KlXsguV9g0E
Guy Ritchie returns to his cinematic roots. The trailer on »The Gentlemen« gives us hope for a very entertaining new flick by the popular filmmaker.

Number 1:
BIRDS OF PREY: AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN | Theatrical release: 06.02.2020
https://youtu.be/x3HbbzHK5Mc
We all love Harley Quinn - that's no secret. And even though »Suicide Squad« did not convince us all over, Margot Robbie did nail it in her role for sure. With »Aquaman«, »Shazam!« and »Joker«, DC finally stepped out of the poor form and the Marvel shadow. The first reviews on »Birds of Prey« praised the actors, the setting, the camera work and the fantastic fight-choreographies. We will be able to see that for ourselves from tonight.

The S.P.A.C.E Crew wishes you good times at the movies!

Although our new product of the month isn't really new anymore, it makes us really happy to be able to present you the 1/6 WONDER WOMAN - COMIC CONCEPT VERSION by Hot Toys as our highlight for February 2020!

We had to beg Hot Toys or Sideshow for months to finally get to grab at least some few pieces of this wonderful collectible. The craving and also the long wait paid off though! Hot Toys is definately giving all Wonder Woman and Gal Gadot fans a very special treat with this exclusive special release among the »Justice League« line-up. The popping color scheme in the comic style is really nailed iconically, the details of the costume and the armor are stunning anyways and the head sculpt turned out really great.

Our shipment with about 10 pieces of this great figure will arrive in a few days at the S.P.A.C.E headquarter. So you better don't wait too long of you want to expand your Wonder Woman collection by one more highlight ;)

So, who of you has the largest dark circles under the eyes due to boozing all football-night ;)

First of all, congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs, who made it with a clear 31:20 agains the San Francisco 49ers and took home the NLF title for the second time in their history!

As we all can imagine, the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami was quaking during SUPER BOWL LIV. The legendary halftime show was rocked by two mega hot Power Latinas - Shakira and Jennifer Lopez! Dude... the stage almost burned down!
https://youtu.be/pILCn6VO_RU

Of course, all fans and TV series fans were excited about all the new and mostly exclusive trailers which were shown. We got to see new material of the following titles:
MINIONS - THE RISE OF GRU
007 - NO TIME TO DIE
BLACK WIDOW
MULAN
THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDER / WANDA VISION / LOKI (als MCU/DISNEY+ Compilation Teaser)
TOP GUN - MAVERICK
FAST & FURIOUS 9
THE INVISIBLE MAN
THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE - SPONGE ON THE RUN
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
A QUIET PLACE 2
HUNTERS

You can find all clips rounded up in one video under this link:
https://youtu.be/Kdgvxmcu0Pk

Almost a cult are also the commercials which are specially made for Super Bowl. Here's a compilation of the 10 best clips:
https://youtu.be/tzEM7fkWqS8
We liked the spots for »Bud Light Seltzer« and »Alexa« the most :)

Yesterday our annual trip to the Nuremberg Toy Fair was on the agenda. At 9 o'clock exactly, we passed the entrance of the exhibition halls, and then we walked around until the evening. In a total of 12 halls you make quite a few kilometers. ;)

Even if a large part of the exhibited products doesn't fit into our portfolio, there are still many interesting and new things to see. Besides, it's always nice to talk to manufacturers and to visit our partners. A highlight was the visit at the huge MATTEL booth, where we got to know the Baby Yoda.

As usual, we took a lot of pictures for you. You can find them in our Facebook album.

The last week was not exciting in terms of new trailers. The new clips for NEW MUTANTS and THE GENTLEMEN don't reveal much new, so we only mention them in passing by and present only three highlights on this Trailer Tuesday:

THE LAST THING HE WANTED
What makes us listen to this crime drama is especially the cast: Anne Hathaway, Willem Dafoe and Ben Affleck are three good reasons to watch the movie on Netflix from February 21st on.

HORSE GIRL
And another Netflix film. It's great how the trailer's drama keeps increasing. The horse girl has our attention and we have already noted February 7th in the calendar.

VIVARIUM
The trailer for VIVARIUM with Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots already impresses with great set design and fantastic camera work. It looks like an entertaining, crazy story. There is no German release date yet. We hope that the flick will find its way to our cinemas.

Happy New Year! Yes, of course we know it's almost February... but in Asia, the New Year only started on Saturday. It's under the sign of the rat. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus problem, the celebrations for the Chinese New Year will be smaller than usual.

Like last year, Disney released Chinese posters of all the films that will be released under the rat, ah... mouse company this year - and there are quite a few: Black Widow, Eternals, New Mutants, Death on the Nile, Onward, Raya and the Last Dragon, Soul, West Side Story, Free Guy, Jungle Cruise, The King's Man and Mulan.

Yesterday, starwars.com released the trailer for the final season of »The Clone Wars« - and it's an epic one! Fans of the animated series surely won't get away from permanent goosebumps while watching the trailer. Of course the 7th and last season Clone Wars will exclusively be available on DISNEY's own streaming platform Disney+, launching already on 21st February in the US.

Speaking of "Disney+": the launch date for many European countries (including Germany) was pulled forward by one week! This means that we can start to enjoy »The Mandalorian« and co. from 24th March.

And there's even more to say about "Star Wars series"... another pending project is the highly anticipated show about or with Obi-Wan Kenobi (again play by Ewan McGregor). We just heard the news that also Ben' mentor, the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn (portrayed by Liam Neeson), will probably appear in the series - of course as a Force ghost. That definitely sounds exciting...

For today's Trailer Tuesday, we have some mixed expectations from "Was that really necessary?" to "We are eager to see it!"

THE STRANGER
We all have secrets. Based on the novel by Harlan Coben, The Stranger forces us to confront a question we all fear - how well do we really know the people closest to us? The trailer promises an exciting series that invites you to binge watching.

RAGNAROK
A small Norwegian town, climate change and a young hero who must prevent the giants from returning. The trailer for the first Norwegian Netflix series has not quite convinced us yet. At January 31 we're getting smarter.

SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL
When two Boston Police officers are murdered, ex-cop Spenser (Mark Wahlberg) teams up with his no-nonsense roommate, Hawk (Winston Duke), to take down criminals in this action-comedy. Feels like we've seen it all more than once.

BRAHMS: THE BOY II
"The Boy" was a mediocre, but quite successful film at the box office. Clear that the inevitable sequel is following. The trailer looks like a pretty vanilla generic horror story. Nothing that lures us out.

BLOODSHOT
The second trailer for Bloodshot doesn't reveal much new. As fans of the comic we are curious about how Vin Diesel performs as Ray Garrison.

GUNS AKIMBO
Miles (Daniel Radcliffe )nerdy existence changes dramatically when he inadvertently gets caught up by the underground gang SKIZM, which is hosting real-life death matches. He get's "tacked" guns to his hands! Miles excels at running away from everything, but that won’t help him outlast Nix (Samara Weaving), a crazy psychopathic killer, at the top of her game. It looks like a dirty and pretty crazy story. In any case, the trailer looks like fun, except for the faint-hearted!

Good news for all anime fans: Netflix exclusively secured the rights to 21 STUDIO GHIBLI movies, at least outside Japan and North America. So we in Europe will soon have access to most of the artworks of the renowned Japanese animation studio - starting from February 1st already!

In return, Netflix will provide dubbing and subtitling in additional languages. But we're pretty sure that the coup will pay off for both sides. The films from Ghibli are among the most beautiful and lavish anime productions ever and are extremely popular. Currently Ghibli is working on two new movies - until when they will be finished or if they are also part of the deal is not known yet.

Also a small trailer to get into the right mood is provided by Netflix.

Even if a little late, you will of course also get delivered our monthly Top 5 cinema highlights in 2020. The following films are at the top of our watchlist.

Number 5:
UNDERWATER | Theatrical release: 09.01.2020
Maybe »Underwater« with Kristen Stewart in the leading role is not the biggest hit. But the sci-fi setting of the underwater story appealed to us.

Number 4:
BAD BOYS FOR LIFE | Theatrical release: 16.01.2020
If it's pure nostalgia that drives us to the cinema? We're just looking forward to see Will Smith and Martin Lawrence again.

Number 3:
KNIVES OUT | Theatrical release: 02.01.2020
Oscar nominated for best original screenplay and packed with stars - this promises exciting guessing in the entertaining Whodunit detective story.

Number 2:
1917 | Theatrical release: 16.01.2020
The film has already won two Golden Globes and it's nominated for 10 Oscars. A war movie, shot in real time, in a single shot. This amazing logistical achievement alone is certainly a reason to watch the film at the movies.

Number 1️:
JOJO RABBIT | Theatrical release: 23.01.2020
Since »What we do in the Shadows«, Taika Waititi earns a top spot as a filmmaker on our faves list. The trailer of Jojo Rabbit was already impressive. It is unbelievable how easily and at the same time with what truthfulness such a dark chapter in history is told here.

The S.P.A.C.E Crew wishes you good times at the movies!

After many holidays and vacations and an understaffed bridge on our S.P.A.C.E Ship we now resume our familiar news program. Today we have our first Trailer Tuesday in 2020 on the schedule for you. We already honored the new trailer of BIRDS OF PREY. Here are eight more trailers that made us hot for the associated series and films:

NARCOS: MEXICO SEASON 2
This is only a small teaser with a bloody promise. So far, the S.P.A.C.E Crew hasn't followed the series yet. After the teaser, however, it climbed further up on our watchlist. The 2nd season starts on February 13th on Netflix.

LOCKE & KEY
A mystery horror coming-of-age story based on the comic of the same name by Joe Hill. The trailer made us curious. Maybe that's the next big Netflix thing. We will find out on February 7th.

HUNTERS
A series with Al Pacino in the role as a Nazi hunter and Jordan Peele as an executive producer in the background? Count us in! The new trailer looks promising. Starting on Prime Video on February 21st.

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW
The trailer for the mystery thriller with Amy Adams reminded us of COLUMBUS CYRCLE in terms of the initial situation, but then the film takes a different direction. It could be an exciting and multifaceted story.

A QUIET PLACE 2
A Quiet Place was extremely exciting and became a hit. A sequel was of course preprogrammed. John Krasinski sat on the director's chair again. Even if we are a bit hesitant about sequels, the trailer gives hope for an exciting continuation.

THE NEW MUTANTS
Marvel meets horror. After a long back and forth, a cinema release date has finally been set for the new mutants: April 16th.

MORBIUS
Jared Leto changes fronts and gets his first role as Dr. Michael Morbius in a MARVEL blockbuster. The trailer is - according to the topic - not only quite dark and gives hope for an R rating, it also contains some cross references to the MCU! So Morbius should be a quite high up on the list of all Marvel fans...

BLACK WIDOW
Marvel, the third and still dewy: the second trailer of Black Widow, released a few hours ago. We have nothing else to say. Of course, visiting the theaters is a mandatory event here.