Fantastic Four livestream on Disney+

Disney+ will livestream the blue-carpet event for Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” offering subscribers an exclusive front-row seat to a world premiere for the first time ever. The star-studded event will unfold at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, celebrating the upcoming theatrical debut of Marvel’s First Family. The livestream kicks off on Tuesday, July 22 at 3am BST, with a full replay available to stream following the event.

This unprecedented live experience marks a new chapter for Disney+, bringing fans closer than ever to the excitement, glamour, and behind-the-scenes action of a red-carpet film premiere. From celebrity arrivals to cast interviews and special surprises, the livestream provides Disney+ subscribers around the world exclusive access, including a special sneak peek at the film before it opens in cinemas.

The film’s cast and filmmakers will be in attendance, including Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne, Sarah Niles, director Matt Shakman, producer Kevin Feige, executive producers Louis D’Esposito, Grant Curtis, and Tim Lewis, and composer Michael Giacchino, as well as a host of other talent and filmmakers.

Read the official synopsis:

"Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet.

Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal."

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is in cinemas on 25th July.

Will you be watching the livestream on Disney+? Are you looking forward to The Fantastic Four: First Steps? Let me know in the comments below.

Jaws at 50

50 years ago, Jaws, the granddaddy of summer blockbusters, was unleashed in cinemas, becoming a pop culture sensation.

Director Steven Spielberg's shark story, adapted from Peter Benchley’s bestselling book, is regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made. Such was the phenomenal success of Jaws that shark species were hunted to near extinction due to a moral panic. Thankfully, lessons were learned, myths dispelled, and shark conservation has prevailed on Shark Awareness Day.

While I was too young to see Jaws during its original theatrical run, it caught my childhood imagination courtesy of Ideal's The Game of Jaws and John Williams' Oscar-winning soundtrack as I flicked through the pages of a neighbour friend’s shark book before asking them countless questions about the movie - their patience was limitless.

When Jaws was first shown on television in 1981, I wasn't disappointed (traumatised, more like).

Alien and Jaws have the distinction of being the stuff of childhood nightmare fuel in the early eighties. For the next two hours, I didn't move from the edge of my seat. For context, not for the first time, I had my legs in plaster casts as part of rehabilitation following a life-changing injury.

My nerves were as frayed as the carpet beneath my feet, but I couldn't avert my eyes from the horror unfolding before me and that fella from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Richard Dreyfuss (Matt Hooper). The real villain of Jaws isn’t the great white shark; it’s capitalism as the greedy mayor, played by Murray Hamilton, tries to keep the Amity Island beaches open for the 4th of July.

In the wake of seeing Jaws on ITV, I created an effigy of the shark's head using papier-mâché for a middle school art project. It hung in my parents' garage for decades.

In an era of second screens and artificial intelligence (AI), Jaws remains a masterclass in cinematic storytelling filled with compelling characters we care about. Bruce, the mechanical shark, may have infamously broken down on set, forcing Spielberg to shoot around the titular beast. Yet, Jaws broke box office records, spawned sequels and countless imitators, but never bettered. And generations of movie fans (myself included) can't visit the seaside without hearing Williams' iconic main theme.

What are your memories of watching Jaws? Let me know in the comments below.

Star Wars creator coming to Comic-Con

George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, is heading to San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC). Lucas' space opera franchise has a storied history with Comic-Con dating back to 1976.

“We are beyond thrilled to welcome George Lucas to Comic-Con for the very first time,” said David Glanzer, chief communications and strategy officer of Comic-Con. “Nearly five decades ago, Star Wars made one of its earliest public appearances at our convention, along with a booth featuring Howard Chaykin’s now legendary Star Wars poster as a promotional item.

Lucas will be joined by filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water) and artist and Star Wars prequels production designer Doug Chiang for a panel that will explore the power of illustrated story and offer a sneak peek at the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

“Now, to have Mr. Lucas return, this time to debut the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, is a true full-circle moment. His lifelong dedication to visual storytelling and world-building resonates deeply with us and our community, and the museum’s mission to celebrate narrative art in all its forms perfectly reflects what Comic-Con has championed from the very beginning.”

SDCC is set to run from 24th July through 27th July. I wish I were attending this year.

Are you looking forward to SDCC? Let me know in the comments below.

Disney and ITV partner in streaming wars

The Walt Disney Company and ITV have announced a strategic deal for Disney+ and ITVX.

The partnership will be billed as a “Taste of ITVX” and a “Taste of Disney+” on their respective streaming services in the UK.

Starting 16th July, a curated, and regularly refreshed selection of hit shows and movies from Disney+ and ITVX will be available to viewers on both platforms. The agreement showcases ITV and Disney’s world-class content to each other's complementary audiences, extending reach and allowing more viewers to discover Disney+ and ITVX.

Joe Earley, President, Direct-to-Consumer, Disney Entertainment commented: “We are proud of this innovative collaboration with ITV, which will allow us to bring Disney+ customers some of the UK’s favorite and buzzworthy shows and encourage ITVX viewers to discover some of Disney+’s award-winning series and blockbuster films.”

It will allow Disney+ viewers to watch the likes of ITV‘s Love Island, Mr Bates vs The Post Office or Spy Among Friends, and vice versa: ITV audiences can watch the first season of FX’s The Bear or Lucasfilm’s Andor alongside other hit Disney movies.

Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of Media and Entertainment, ITV said: “Disney are fantastic partners with a brilliant breadth of content. This mutually beneficial alliance allows us to show our complementary audiences a specially selected collection of titles, regularly updating, that gives a flavour of the range in our respective offerings. For us, this deal means even more great content for viewers on ITVX, and even more opportunity for viewers to find and enjoy our distinctive titles and services.”

Lucasfilm and ITV have a storied history. Star Wars premiered on ITV in 1982, and I remember recording it off-air on my parents' Panasonic VCR. I will follow this development with great interest.

What are your thoughts on the Disney and ITV deal? Is it a good idea? Let me know in the comments below.

LEGO Icons Transformers Soundwave

Today, the LEGO Group, in collaboration with leading games, IP and toy company Hasbro, reveals the LEGO Icons TRANSFORMERS Soundwave model set (10358), an immersive building experience crafted for adult fans. This collectable set captures the essence of the iconic Decepticon Soundwave and his loyal cassette companions in a detailed and dynamic LEGO brick interpretation.

The LEGO Icons Soundwave set invites builders to build a highly detailed version of the legendary TRANSFORMERS character. With 1,505 pieces, the set features posable joints, a working cassette bay, and seamless conversion between robot and cassette player modes - without disassembly. Pressing Soundwave’s play button activates specially recorded voice and sound effects, offering an interactive, first-ever twist with sound.

Accompanying Soundwave are two buildable cassette companions: Ravage and Laserbeak, that convert into miniature cassette tapes, fitting snugly into Soundwave’s chest compartment. Accessories including a rocket pod, laser blaster, and darts, add to the set’s action-packed authenticity. A display plaque showcasing Soundwave’s power statistics makes this a perfect centrepiece for home or office display. This new set adds a villainous Decepticon to the existing the LEGO Icons TRANSFORMERS lineup, which also includes the LEGO Icons Optimus Prime set and the LEGO Icons Bumblebee set.

LEGO Icons Transformers Soundwave is available from LEGO AU, CA, UK and US (affiliate links).

Will you be adding LEGO Icons Transformers Soundwave to your collection? Which LEGO Icons Transformers sets would you like to see in the future? Let me know in the comments below.

Tron in Dolby Vision

Christmas 1982, I unwrapped a Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K and saw Disney's Tron.

The story of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a gifted computer programmer who gets transported onto the Game Grid by the Master Control Program (MCP), captured my 10-year-old imagination.

From then on, I was hooked on computers and their creative possibilities. Over the decades, I've owned a ZX Spectrum, ZX Spectrum+, Commodore 64 and Apple Macintosh computers.

On 3rd July, Disney showcased a special screening of Tron in Dolby Vision as part of the series Bathed in Light: Saturated Colors in Cinema. The cult sci-fi movie, written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird, has been fully restored ahead of the release of Tron: Ares in cinemas later this year.

The Tron franchise is synonymous with innovative visual effects and soundtrack soundscapes, featuring award-winning composers such as Wendy Carlos, Daft Punk, and now Nine Inch Nails (NIИ).

Hopefully, fans (myself included) of the original Tron will be able to watch the dazzlingly restored movie on Disney+.

What are your memories of watching Tron? Let me know in the comments below.

LEGO Star Wars UCS AT-ST announced

LEGO has announced exciting Star Wars sets available on 1st August. The sets include the UCS AT-ST Walker.

Inspire memories of the epic battles of Endor with the LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series AT-ST Walker building set for adults (75417).

A great Star Wars gift for men and women, this build-and-display model captures many authentic features of the All Terrain Scout Transport vehicle, from its distinctive legs to the top hatch, which opens to reveal the highly detailed 2-person cockpit. Customise your display by rotating the ‘head’ of the AT-ST, opening and closing the shutters over the viewports and adjusting the laser cannons. This collectable brick-built Star Wars vehicle comes with an information plaque and a unique LEGO Star Wars minifigure of an AT-ST Driver (with the Imperial crest printed on its arms) to complete a dramatic centrepiece.

This set offers an immersive, rewarding and creative challenge, and the large-scale AT-ST Walker model kit makes a fine addition to any fan’s LEGO Star Wars UCS collection.

Discover LEGO Star Wars on LEGO AU, CA, UK and US (affiliate links).

Will you be adding the LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series AT-ST Walker building set to your collection this August? What other LEGO Star Wars UCS sets would you like to see in the future? Let me know in the comments below.

Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 13

It's Throwback Thursday and BBC Studios has today announced that the next release in the hugely popular Doctor Who: The Collection range will be...

Season 13!

Read the official synopsis:

"In his second season, Tom Baker’s Doctor really hits his stride, with faithful companion Sarah-Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) by his side. Together they cross time and space to do battle with the Zygons, the biomechanoid Loch Ness monster, the fearsome Sutekh and his robot mummies, vengeful renegade Time Lord Morbius, an anti-matter creature on a distant planet, the scheming Kraals and the terrifying Krynoids."

Dad and I still discuss Baker's seminal second season as the titular Time Lord, which forever cemented my fandom. From shapeshifting Zygons to the bubbling brain of Morbius, Doctor Who was a Saturday teatime staple that would find infamy with Mary Whitehouse. During lockdown, my tweet concerning this fan-favourite season was published in the pages of the official Doctor Who Magazine (DWM).

All episodes have been newly remastered from the best available sources – these classic adventures have never looked or sounded so good on home media. Including never-before-released footage from Mathshow, Disney Time and more.

Pre-order Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 13 now on Amazon (affiliate link).

What are your memories of watching season 13? Let me know in the comments below.

Return to Oz

Before Wicked, there was Return to Oz.

Disney's dark fantasy fairytale sequel to The Wizard of Oz, directed by Walter Murch with an uncredited assist from George Lucas (Star Wars) and Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather), was released 40 years ago and formed part of a childhood cinematic collective of stylistically similar movies including The Neverending Story, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth (the latter two directed by Muppet creator Jim Henson).

Although Return to Oz, based on L. Frank Baum’s early novels, Ozma of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz, passed me by at the cinema for reasons unknown. I vividly remember the Wheelers appearing on Blue Peter as instant nightmare fuel for Dorothy (Fairuza Baulk) and friends to evade.

Murch's movie forgoes the Technicolor trappings of the beloved MGM musical starring Judy Garland in favour of muted tones in a twisted tale of psychiatric wards, disembodied heads, talking clockwork toys and an exploration of childhood trauma, which many (myself included) can relate to.

David Shire's sumptuous soundtrack deserves special mention for its haunting orchestrations, which transcend the movie's shortcomings. My friend, Professor Michael Williams, lent me his copy of Bay Cities' CD release when we were in college together. Subsequently, the fine folks at Intrada released a remastered album years after the CD went out of print, which is available to stream - I'm listening to it as I write - on Apple Music.

A box office bomb, Return to Oz embodies a darker and riskier creative chapter of family fare from the House of Mouse, which also includes The Black Hole and The Black Cauldron. It became a cult classic on home media and the subject of critical analysis with fellow media students at college.

Return to Oz is streaming on Disney+.

What are your memories of watching Return to Oz? Let me know in the comments below.

The truth is out there: LEGO The X-Files

10 years in the making, an official LEGO Ideas set is coming soon based on the sci-fi series The X-Files, which centres around two FBI agents, Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who carry out paranormal investigations. The series debuted in 1993 and ran for 11 seasons, becoming a worldwide phenomenon in the process.

During the nineties, I was sold on the conspiracies and bought the official magazine, comics, books, CDs, posters, and season box sets on VHS and then, latterly, DVD. This was an era when a new series of Doctor Who on television was a pipe dream.

The X-Files set was designed by user WetWired and features an intricate diorama of a forest UFO scene above a recreation of Fox Mulder’s famous basement office. The set will comprise approximately 2,020 pieces and includes seven minifigures: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, “Grey” Alien, The Jersey Devil, Assistant Director Walter Skinner, Syndicate Leader and Eugene Tooms.  

Discover more sets on LEGO AU, CA, UK and US (affiliate links).

Are you excited for a LEGO Ideas The X-Files set? Let me know in the comments below.