Roundups #67: Squid Game Spinoff Coming To Netflix Amidst Season 2 Renewal, Batman Is Coming To Latin America For Animated Feature And Upcoming Knives Out Sequel Gets A Weird Title

Squid Game is getting a reality show

Squid Game is being translated from television serial to live action, according to reports issued on Netflix. Squid Game: The Challenge will be played by 456 players, competing and racing to grab 45.6 billion Korean Won. In a written statement, the players will “compete through a series of games inspired by the original show,” along with “surprising new additions”.

“Squid Game took the world by storm with Director Hwang’s captivating story and iconic imagery. We’re grateful for his support as we turn the fictional world into reality in this massive competition and social experiment,” explains Brandon Riegg, Netflix VP of Unscripted and Documentary Series. “Fans of the drama series are in for a fascinating and unpredictable journey as our 456 real world contestants navigate the biggest competition series ever, full of tension and twists, with the biggest ever cash prize at the end.”

Squid Game: The Challenge is going to be shot in the United Kingdom, and proves to be a co-venture between Studio Lambert (The Circle) and The Garden (24 Hours in A&E).

Batman Azteca is coming soon

HBO Max Latin America will be taking the Dark Knight to Aztec Mexico in a new project titled Batman Azteca: Choque de Imperios ("Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires"), Variety reports.

The original, Spanish-language animated film will place the World's Greatest Detective in Aztec Mexico and center viewers in the arcane culture of Mesoamerica. Borrowing beats from Batman's origin story, the film will follow a young Aztec boy, Yohualli Coatl, as he trains with his mentor Acatzin — developing equipment and weaponry in the temple of Tzinacan, the bat god.

But unlike other Batman stories, like Batman: Three Jokers, or Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, which saw Bruce Wayne choosing not to exact revenge against his parent's killer, this project will seem to center on Yohualli going after the Spanish Conquistadors who murdered his father, the village leader Toltecatzin.

The mystery has just begun

The next Knives Out movie will hit Netflix this holiday season. On Monday, Rian Johnson announced the name of the new Benoit Blanc mystery: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

In a thread, Johnson described how much he wanted to emulate Agatha Christie and have each of Benoit Blanc’s mysteries take on a new tone (and also a new title). The detective, as played by Daniel Craig with an ambiguous and indecipherable Southern accent, will return, but the overall vibe will be different — it’s an homage to Christie’s masterful exploration of the genre, Johnson said.

“I think there’s a misperception that her books use the same formula over and over, but fans know the opposite is true,” he describes. He goes on to list some of the genres that Christie explored in her murder mysteries and what he aims to do with subsequent Benoit Blanc mysteries.

The first Knives Out movie, which premiered in 2019, followed the wealthy and dysfunctional Thrombey family after patriarch Harlan is found dead. In the new movie, Benoit Blanc will find himself embroiled in a new mystery — with a totally new cast, characters, locations, and mystery.

Genius Brands Expanded Kartoon Channel! Worldwide’s Global Footprint With Launch of “Kartoon Genius” Branded Blocks Across Latin America, the Middle East & North Africa, Could Africa Follow Suit On DStv Or StarSat?

Leveraging its strategic investment in Germany’s Your Family Entertainment AG (“YFE”) (FRA:RTV), to expand the Kartoon Channel! global footprint, Genius Brands International, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNUS) announced the launch of the new Kartoon Channel! Worldwide programming block, “Kartoon Genius,” across Latin America and the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region, reaching 67 countries.

The Kartoon Genius two-hour, Monday - Friday programming block airs across the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region on the pan-regional linear Pay TV channel fully dubbed in Arabic and English. As of March 7, the programming block debuted throughout Central & South America as a linear channel, offering content in Spanish and English languages.

The Kartoon Genius programming blocks offer first-run original content on these platforms and deliver positive entertainment for children and families, underscored by safety and enrichment. Series on the programming block line-up include Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten, Llama Llama, Rainbow Rangers, Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaires Club, Thomas Edison’s Secret Lab, and more.

Managing Director of Kartoon Channel! Worldwide Paul Robinson, who previously served as Managing Director of Walt Disney Television International and Senior Vice President Disney Channel Worldwide, commented: “Positive and uplifting children’s entertainment is more in demand today than ever. Since announcing our commitment to launch the Kartoon Channel! internationally less than three months ago, we are off to a fantastic start with pan-regional launches within the next two weeks across The Middle East, North Africa, Central America and South America on the program platforms through Genius Brands’ investment in YFE. The growth of the Kartoon Channel! over the past two years in the U.S., headed by Jon Ollwerther, has been tremendous. Despite the global challenges, children’s entertainment is timeless and enduring. We are extremely excited about the many opportunities we have to bring the channel to the rest of the world and to build it into the preeminent entertainment destination for kids.”

The Adventures Of Johnny Quasar: The Lost Jimmy Neutron Pilot

The Adventures of Johnny Quasar refers to two separate shorts. It is the prototypical version of what would eventually become Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.

The concept for Johnny Quasar dates back to the 1980s. In 1995, it was finally put into animation with a short demo animation. In the short 46 second animation, Johnny Quasar is riding in space with his robot dog. He notices an upcoming asteroid and rides off. The short was only shown off at a convention named Siggraph '95.

In 1997, the short received a sequel of sorts. In it, Johnny deals with aliens trying to attack his spaceship. Johnny's hair is slightly different in this incarnation and is more similar to Jimmy's iconic "swirl". Early concept art for characters that would appear in Jimmy Neutron exist, however none are present in the short itself.

 

 

Johnny Quasar would later be revived for a 1998 short called Runaway Rocketboy. In that short, Johnny Quasar has already turned into Jimmy Neutron and the characters are near-finalized.

Both shorts were only known by word-of-mouth, screencaps, and short clips until they were uploaded to YouTube by Johnny's voice actor in 2017.

The Adventures of Johnny Quasar contain examples of:
Art Evolution: Due to being 3 years apart, the '97 short has slightly better animation.
Catchphrase: "Gotta blast!" for Johnny.
Characterization Marches On: Johnny is more kiddy and less serious than Jimmy.
Child Prodigy: Johnny is a super-smart boy and has his own secret lab.
Early Installment Character-Design Difference:
Johnny's design is completely different from Jimmy's. He has short hair, a huge forehead, darker skin, and a different shaped head.
Johnny's hair changed between the original short and the 1997 version.
In Medias Res: The 1998 short gives no reason for why Johnny is being attacked by aliens. It was designed to be attention-grabbing so that the short would be made into a full series.
 

 

My Brain Is Big: Due to being a genius with a large brain, Johnny has a huge head.
No Fourth Wall: Johnny directly addresses the audience.
Parental Obliviousness: The 1998 short begins with Johnny's father telling his wife that Johnny will be home soon and that he can't be that far from home. As this occurs, Johnny is heading into space on his homemade spacecraft.
Robot Dog: Goddard is Johnny's robotic dog that he built.

Disturbing Facts About Controversial News Station Afro Worldview (Formerly ANN7)

8 years ago, MultiChoice operated Afro Worldview (known as ANN7 at the time) which was a Gupta owned news station which gained attention mainly for its technical setbacks, untrained staff and behind the scenes antics.

Today, we explore some various aspects of the former DStv channel some much worse than others but after reviewing this you'd understand why MultiChoice opted to cut ties and source Newsroom Afrika as an alternative to Afro Worldview.

Here are the disturbing facts about Afro Worldview part of which were highlighted in the book Indentured - Behind The Scenes At Gupta TV

 

"Rajesh, I want you to prepare for our first meeting with DStv, our enemies at MultiChoice. Arun and you will go to the meeting tomorrow and I want you to give them a copy of the EPG and make sure that channel 404 on DStv is allocated to us. But I want to warn you, they are our enemies. They will try everything to see us fail," writes Rajesh Sundaram. Mentioned on page 62 of Indentured.

1. Afro Worldview wanted to be on channel 404 currently occupied by SABC News and went as far as getting Jacob Zuma involved.
2. MultiChoice was a big enemy of Gupta owned channel.

"It was clear that the team from MultiChoice did not believe we were technically or editorially prepared to launch a news channel by the end of July. The tension in the room was palpable. They were visibly upset with the political pressure that was being brought to bear on them to launch the channel quickly and on the terms directed by the Guptas." Mentioned on page 63 on Indentured.

 

"We did not have the people, the studio was not complete, and much of the broadcasting equipment had not even been ordered at this time. The team did not even have newsgathering and studio cameras." Mentioned on page 63 on Indentured.

3. MultiChoice was seemingly aware that the channel was not ready to launch at the time.

"DStv suddenly gave in. Even as ANN7 was offering three bulletins a day produced on primitive systems and equipment nowhere near the quality standards prescribed by DStv, it was announced internally that DStv had been 'pressured' through president Jacob Zuma 's office to oust Russia Today from the 405 slot and give it to us." Mentioned on page 126 on Indentured.

4. Russia Today moved from channel 405 to 408 due to pressure from Jacob Zuma to occupy ANN7 on a higher channel number but MultiChoice has denied it and claimed the change was a way of getting local channels closer.

"His plan saved the company thousands of rands, but it cost the company millions in lost reputation, as we found out post-launch."
"Atul wanted Gerry Rantseli-Elsdon to train the models. Gerry was hired to present the breakfast show, which had been branded Vuka Africa."
"Gerry was given a table and chair, a white board and a training room. Some days she had a camera at her disposal. She had no teleprompter, professional monitors or audio equipment in the initial weeks." Mentioned on page 107 on Indentured.

 

5. Afro Worldview used models as news anchors.

"The bulletins we had produced at that time were, unsurprisingly, fullof technical glitches and were anchored by a group of models hired by Atul and trained by Gerry Rantseli-Elsdon . The young women were very raw, clueless about the news they were reading and very unfamiliar with a studio setting." Mentioned on page 130 on Indentured.

6. Afro Worldview always had glitches with their bulletins even before launch.

"We are nowhere near the quality of CNN International or BBC. He had very little understanding of television or the primitive conditions under which the bulletins were being produced." Mentioned on page 114 on Indentured.

7. Channel boss had little experience with television.

"The archival footage at the SABC was indeed of a very high quality and in my view worth millions of rands," writes Rajesh Sundaram. "Nazeem, Laxmi and Atul repeatedly told me that the contract with the SABC for this sale favoured ANN7, was drafted by Gupta lawyers and that the price of the footage was 'peanuts' compared to its real value."

 

8. "Stupid SABC" - Before MultiChoice, SABC sold their archives to Afro Worldview.

He told Biznews that Indian staffers, brought to South Africa on tourist visas and who worked in the country illegally, had to live on the ANN7 Midrand construction site "in sub-human conditions".
"There were staff that Atul Gupta would slap; and physically abuse us; scream verbal abuse at people. For instance say the playout system crashes, Atul Gupta would come into the production control room and start beating up the audio console person".

9. Channel boss was abusive to staff by slapping and calling them names.

"My relationship with ANN7 started when I was approached to produce a show for the station. It was supposed to start on Sunday but there were issues I wasn't happy with since I discovered its history with the Guptas."

10. Controversial pastor Paseka "Mboro" Motsoeneng pulled his gospel show due to ties with Guptas.

The Cancelled Jimmy Neutron Movie Sequel & Series Revival

For the longest time, I believed that The Adventures Of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius was one of the best CGI animation to come out then Sonic Boom, Penguins Of Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda were introduced. Other exceptions included Miraculous: Tales Of Ladybug and Cat Noir and Barnyard.

Jimmy Neutron was one of the only CGI cartoons to have actual humour it made me laugh with its real characters and situations and it got me hooked when they go on some epic intense adventure and yes even when Carl got pregnant with an alien.

Then Cyma former president of Nickelodeon decided to step in and say no this is an action show and it's gonna turn our kids into terrorists. We got to put memes and fill our shows with feet and grossed out humour to fulfil my fetishes that's why Fanboy And Chum Chum was picked up and Adventure Time rejected.

 

(That's not what happened but would anyone be surprised?)

The show was cancelled when it started getting interesting. We had 3 TV movies, the characters were going into space and Jimmy and Cindy were finally going to get together and this happened:

Jimmy - what are we going to do?
Carl - hangout with your mom

The creators considered the third season as intense and adventurous. According to sources, the Jimmy Neutron was set to have sequel revolved on Carl titled Jimmy Neutron And The Search For Carl. Most details could be found on Jimmy Neutron's Wiki and a video titled 107 facts you didn't know about Hey Arnold..

This was rumoured to be fanfiction but a while back there was rumours of an Angry Beavers pilot from same site which everyone thought was fake. On one of the Splat's trivia broadcast, it brought up that rumoured pilot.

But that's not the only thing that was revealed apparently Jimmy Neutron was going to have another season or spinoff series (Not Planet Sheen) possibly titled The New Adventures Of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius as a continuous to the main series.

According to an interview in the Beanhole, there was a fanfiction Jimmy Neutron that was well received that the creators was interested in doing a revival but due to DNA productions the brand in charge of the show shutting down and Nickelodeon having no interest in bringing back The Boy Genius the protect never got made.

 

But here's what was said in the interview:

- 13 episodes were made as part of a seasonal arc
- The scripts were sent to Nickelodeon and rejected for a revival of The Fairly OddParents and new series Planet Sheen.

Which seems odd if they were going to revive The Fairly OddParents why not add Jimmy Neutron into the mix especially when they were onboard with a revival. Which proves that management at the time didn't care about how iconic the brand was.

Before the current logo of Nickelodeon entered into account. The previous one was scrapped as it didn't look good on a business card.

Jimmy Neutron revival project was discussed later in 2012 and sent to Nickelodeon a year later which was around the same period Planet Sheen was cancelled.

Another aspect that was also covered in the interview was that although the revival failed to be greenlit Nickelodeon liked the fanfiction that they asked the writer to make something original.

So they sent a script which told the story about a 15 year old girl in the year 2040 with her parents travelling her in our timeline. When she realises why her parents sent her back she tries to build a time machine to go back and during that time she makes friends and meets a sinister crew intent on stealing her technology.

It was also stated that this series would be more action heavy than Jimmy Neutron but similar to Avatar and Legend Of Korra. Nickelodeon never picked it up.

 

Other details stated about the Jimmy Neutron was:

- It would have been more darker and heavy compared to the other seasons.
- The arc would have focused on The League Of Villains returning to destroy Jimmy Neutron.
- There would be a huge finale where all the characters from previous seasons team up with Jimmy to take on The League Of Villains.
- There was also discussion of bringing back the alien love interest to April from season 3. However the creators were mixed about the idea with the budget they needed to bring another actor and adding more characters.
- Jimmy and Cindy would have been actual friends which would later on progress to them possibly being love interests to one another.
- There would been an episode which would look into Cindy and Betty's relationship.
- The character Nick would appear in the show more frequently.
- There were rumours of it getting picked up by Netflix which is likely dead at this point.

You can read the scripts to the episodes of which two are available to read online:

Three's A Crowd
Deep Impact

Credit: Ster Ling

Disney Launches Campaign To Support Families After Identifying Shared Imaginative Play Gap

The Walt Disney Company enjoys a nearly 100-year legacy of creative storytelling, which encourages adults and children to have more shared imaginative playtime together. Taking its cue from recent studies which suggest that the shared imaginative play gap is widespread with parents admitting they’ve ‘forgotten’ how to use their imagination, Disney created The Gift of Play. Inspired by Disney’s beloved stories and characters across Disney, Pixar, Star Wars™ and Marvel, The Gift of Play provides inspirational yet informative guidance, through a series of enjoyable activities and products from dress-up to Lego, to demonstrate how creativity, inventiveness and togetherness can help to reignite imagination.

Disney has brought together The Institute of Imagination, parenting experts and theatrical stage-masters to launch The Gift of Play – a campaign hosted on a dedicated website, www.disneythegiftofplay.co.za.

 

 

To help re-ignite the imagination, the website hosts a range of free-to-view videos, including easy to follow ‘how-tos’ and resources devoted to families enjoying more imaginative play time together, including The Gift of Play guide. The free 22-page handbook, which includes a series of Disney Princess and Frozen themed play-starter scenarios, has been created by parenting experts and theatrical stage-masters, to inspire adults and children to use their own surroundings and Disney stories to stimulate imagination, creativity - and most of all, have fun playing.

The Gift of Play was developed following recent research conducted by Disney, that polled over 5,000 adults across the UK and Europe all with kids under the age of 12, with a focus on discovering thoughts and behaviours around playtime. The results show that while eight in ten parents admit their kids are happier when they play all together, almost half (48 per cent) say they feel uninspired and lost when it came to planning ways to play, and one in two struggle to find the resources that could help them.

The study also reveals a few more interesting statistics, including the fact that 80 per cent of respondents recognise the importance of play for a child’s development, but nearly half (45 per cent) say that family life is too busy and 40 per cent of those feel they don’t have the time to join in when it comes to shared playtime.

 

 

In the South African context, local studies* in recent years highlight the importance of play relating to South Africa. Durban-based Registered Psychological Counsellor Zakkiya Suleman says: “From a South African educational standpoint, we see learning through play as an important facet of a child’s life. There are policies framing South African early education, play and play-based approaches which are deemed part of quality practices.”

Zakkiya goes on to explain that from day one, children are eager and determined to understand how the world works and they do this through play. “They are using all the “tools” they have at their disposal. Play is not only fun, but it’s one of the most important ways you can nurture their development. There are no rules when it comes to playing and while it’s also fun, it’s important to young children’s physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development. Through play children learn problem-solving, interpersonal skills, communication, and other skills integral to success in school and life,” she adds.

Luke Roberts, General Manager, Consumer Products, Games and Publishing, The Walt Disney Company Africa says: “There is nothing more special than a bond between parent and child and at Disney we know that those bonds need nurturing. Shared play can be both an exciting and enriching exercise and Disney is offering support to parents and caregivers to unlock their imaginations and find inspiration in our guide and with our products to engage with children and create a fun, learning environment for them.”

 

A short piece of live action content demonstrating how adults can use Disney’s The Gift of Play to engage with their children and have more fun together, is also be available to view on The Gift of Play website. The campaign will be supported by various snippets of shared imaginative play content, syndicated on the Disney Family social media channels across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Supporting products featured in the guide across Disney, Pixar, Star Wars™ and Marvel are available to purchase from all leading retailers nationwide.