News

The opening titles of prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood are here for our viewing pleasure ahead of the release of the drama Friday, Aug. 8, 2025 on Starz! The network shared the enchanting song, along with visually appealing shots that definitely transport us right into the worlds of the Highlands and World War I England, the two time periods the show is set in.

There's definitely a sort of mythical and dreamy feel to the opening titles that make it just as iconic as Outlander's adaptation of 19th century tune, The Skye Boat Song. Now once you hear it, you immediately think of the historical drama and are transported there. I think the same is going to happen with fans for Blood of My Blood as well going forward. Be sure to check out the video below!

As you can see above, showrunner and executive producer Matthew B. Roberts...

Okay, the newly-debuted opening title credit sequence for the upcoming Outlander prequel series Blood of My Blood gave me chills. It looks absolutely stunning. We see the landscapes of the Scottish Highlands, a bonfire, and intimate moments between romantic partners, all intercut with the theme song's soft strings and Julie Fowlis's singing in both English and Gaelic.

Blood of My Blood is an upcoming historical romance series about the parents of Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and Claire Beauchamp (Caitríona Balfe). There will reportedly be a time-traveling element in the prequel, just like in the original. And while Outlander is based on Diana Gabaldon's books, this show draws from a few different elements.

Some of the plot is taken from the books that have already been published, but last November the author told TV Insider she had enough material in mind to write three (shorter) novels about Jamie's parents.

Time itself is no barrier to love that burns hot and true. Outlander: Blood of my Blood arrives at Starz on August 8, returning audience members to the splendid landscape of the Scottish Highlands. The upcoming series is a prequel to the beloved romance series, Outlander. Ahead of its premiere next month, the prequel series has released its brand-new opening title sequence. The new opening titles for Outlander: Blood of My Blood is performed by vocalist Julie Fowlis and will look to follow in the steps of what has gone before. Episodes of the original series were heralded by renditions of The Skye Boat Song by Bear McCreary, with later seasons performed by Sinead O'Connor.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood is set to explore the individual stories and romances of Jamie Fraser's (Sam Heughan) parents and the parents of Claire Beauchamp (Caitríona Balfe), during the 18th century and World War I,...

From the producers behind M3GAN and A Quiet Place comes Drop, now available on Blu-ray™ and DVD in the UK. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has teamed with Spirit Entertainment to bring Christopher Landon’s latest thriller to home audiences from today, with physical editions stocked by HMV, Amazon, Zavvi and Rarewaves.

Landon, best known for directing the Happy Death Day films, shifts gears from dark comedy to relentless suspense in Drop. Meghann Fahy, Emmy® nominee for The White Lotus, stars as Violet, a widowed mother cautious about returning to the dating scene. Her companion for the evening is Henry, played by Brandon Sklenar of 1923 and It Ends With Us. What begins as an unlikely but promising first date at a high-end restaurant soon morphs into a fight for survival when Violet receives anonymous threats on her phone. Told to follow every instruction or face the killing of her young son,...

Back in 1983, legendary producer Roger Corman brought the world a sword and sorcery film with an awesome title: Deathstalker. It was so successful, it paved the way for three sequels: Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans (1987), Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell (1988), and Deathstalker IV: Match of the Titans (1991). The franchise went dormant for more than thirty years, but last year we learned that it’s being revived by filmmaker Steven Kostanski – whose previous credits include Manborg, Father’s Day, The Void, Leprechaun Returns, Psycho Goreman, Frankie Freako, and episodes of the short-lived Day of the Dead TV series. Kostanski is writing and directing a Deathstalker remake that has Daniel Bernhardt (John Wick) playing the title character… and now we know when it’s going to premiere! The first screening of the new Deathstalker will be held at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland on August 15th! The filmmakers...

Mark Snow, the television composer known for creating the iconic theme for The X-Files, died on Friday, July 4, at age 78. Responsible for having scored over 200 episodes of the iconic supernatural series throughout its original nine-season run, Snow would also return to work on the show’s revival series, two movies, and its 2001 spinoff series, The Lone Gunmen.

According to Variety, Snow passed away in the early morning hours at his home in Connecticut. He is succeeded by his wife Glynnis, three daughters and four grandchildren. Sean Callery, composer for 24 and Jessica Jones, spoke fondly to Variety of the musician whom he considered a mentor and long-term friend. Check out his comments below:

His limitless talent and boundless creativity was matched only by the generosity he bestowed upon other composers who sought his guidance. He would give the most inspiring and intelligent feedback when listening to the work of other young...

“There’s a demon in me!” Brendan McCreary sings. Next to him on stage at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., there’s his brother, composer Bear McCreary, smiling at the news – there's a demon inside. Even at the most sinister of lyrics, no one can fault McCreary and the band for smiling as they play Bear’s lush concept album, The Singularity.

It’s a story full of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, which Bear has dreamed about since he was 16 years old. There’s even a song in the metal album he wrote at that age, titled “Escape from the Machines.” The album is just the beginning of The Singularity, which continues as a graphic novel and live concert experience.

The album – which features Corey Taylor, Faroese singer Eivør (Gods of War), Slash, and Serj Tankian, among many others – is a vast world similar to the games,...

Looking for another reason to love your 4K Uhd, Blu-ray, and DVD collection? Special features like commentaries featuring filmmakers, critics, and other film fans. After living for more than a decade elsewhere on the internet, Commentary Commentary has been reborn here at Dread Central – and as is fitting for its return from the dead, it’s now all about the horror.

Christopher Landon has been active on the feature horror scene since the mid-2000s, but while writing on the Paranormal Activity sequels made his name, it was 2017’s Happy Death Day that made him a pretty big deal. The critically acclaimed box-office hit was followed by a (superior) sequel, a body-swapping slasher called Freaky, and a writing credit on this year’s holiday-themed slasher, Heart Eyes.

It’s his latest directorial effort that brings us here today, though, as Drop arrives on 4K Uhd and Blu-ray. It’s less...

Nicholas Galitzine announced that cameras have stopped rolling on Amazon MGM Studios’ live-action Masters of the Universe, sharing a photo captioned “that’s a wrap” to 2.3 million Instagram followers on June 15. Principal photography began in London on January 6 and ran just over five months under director Travis Knight, with Fabian Wagner behind the camera. Knight, whose Bumblebee revival earned strong notices for its straightforward storytelling, stepped in after several stalled incarnations dating back more than a decade.

The film pairs Mattel Films and Amazon MGM on their most expensive collaboration to date, carrying a reported budget close to $180 million and a confirmed release date of June 5, 2026. Galitzine leads the ensemble as Prince Adam/He-Man, flanked by Camila Mendes as Teela, Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, Jared Leto as Skeletor and Idris Elba as Man-at-Arms. The 30-year-old actor told Entertainment Weekly his regimen required 4,000 calories a day and “months of sword work...

Deadline on Monday launched the streaming site for 2025’s Sound & Screen Television, its annual TV music showcase that took place May 7 at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The event featured the composers from 11 buzzy awards-season series discussing their music and then playing it with the help of a 60-piece orchestra.

Click here to launch the streaming site.

This year’s participants ran the gamut with shows based on video games, graphic novels, comics and iconic novels, as well as genres ranging from thrillers and mysteries to sci-fi, comedies and dramas. The list of composer panelists is equally diverse, with Oscar winners including Gustavo Santaolalla and Volker Bertelmann and Emmy winners like Bear McCreary and Siddhartha Khosla the mix.

The complete lineup featured music from Apple TV+’s Severance and Shrinking, HBO | Max’s The Last of Us and The Penguin, Hulu’s Paradise, Netflix’s Squid Game, Peacock’s The Day of the Jackal,...

“How can you not have fun making music for Middle-earth?” asks composer Bear McCreary after performing a piece from the Season 2 score of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power at Deadline’s Sound & Screen Television.

“It’s sort of a limitless palette,” he says. “I work with the biggest orchestra that I’ve ever worked with, but also the biggest choir … the world is so expansive that, as long as I can make it fit into The Lord of the Rings, the showrunners will let me try things out.”

Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel series, Rings of Power is set thousands of years before the events of the books. During a time of relative peace in the Second Age of Middle-earth, the show captures all the major events of the period from the creation of the Rings of Power to the rise of the Dark Lord...

The latest iteration of Deadline’s Sound & Screen showcase, one of our most soulful jams that we put together, has kicked off Wednesday at UCLA’s Royce Hall, where a fantastic orchestra will play the music from some of the year’s best television shows.

Sound & Screen Television grows every year and puts a smile on the faces of audiences in a way no other awards-season event does. Tonight will be no different, and we hope there’s as much sonic charm as there always is.

We’re confident that there will be, given the music from the 11 shows featured. From epic dramas, comic book capers, video game adaptations, classic remakes and some of the year’s most original titles, we promise that the music from this season’s crop of projects will bring you closer to these stories than ever before.

Tonight, you’ll hear from an assortment of...

Trent Reznor, Jeff Toyne, David Fleming and Nainita Desai were among the top recipients at ASCAP’s 2025 Screen Music Awards held in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

The four were the Composer’s Choice Award recipients at the performance rights organization’s annual Screen Music awards, with Reznor taking home the Composers’ Choice award for film score of the year for his work on Challengers. Toyne took home both TV score and TV theme of the year for Palm Royale. Fleming won documentary score of the year for Jim Henson Idea Man while Desai rounded out the Composers’ Choice section with video game score of the year for Tales of Kenzera: Zau.

The Composers’ Choice Awards are chosen by ASCAP’s body of songwriters and composers. The full list of winners is available on ASCAP’s website. Elsewhere for this year’s awards, Andrea Datzman won for top box office...

Director Christopher Landon has a proven track record for helming zippy fun horror, from the Happy Death Day films to Freaky to last year’s YA horror-lite We Have a Ghost. Landon’s latest, Drop, continues that streak while expanding his oeuvre with a more mature effort that leaves behind the teen slasher gimmicks. This first-date gone wrong thriller serves as the filmmaker’s propulsive, infectious tribute to Wes Craven’s Red Eye, resulting in a highly stylized dramatic thriller that’ll leave you fist-pumping to “Yahtzee!”

Drop opens with a harrowing scene of domestic abuse that not only earns instant rooting interest for heroine Violet (Meghann Fahy) but helps inform the choices she’ll make when faced with unthinkable pressure. Like, for example, her extreme nerves when embarking on her first date since her abusive ex passed. After gentle coaxing and help from her sister Jen (Violett Beane), who...

Plot: A widowed mother (Meghann Fahy) goes on a date with a handsome stranger (Brandon Sklenar) she’s been chatting with on dating apps. While at dinner, she receives an escalating series of anonymous messages, with them soon revealing that they are holding her sister and son hostage and will kill them unless she poisons her date.

Review: Christopher Landon’s Drop is a slam-bang thriller that absolutely brought the house down at SXSW (which is where I first saw it). A contained thriller in the vein of Wes Craven’s underrated Red Eye, Landon’s film hits all the right notes, giving him a solid, Hitchcock-flavored romp in the vein of his own Disturbia, that should be a big hit from Blumhouse when it comes out next month.

Contained thrillers, where most of the action is limited to one locale, have become increasingly in vogue, but Landon’s...

The Walking Dead was a unique show that balances the drama with the survival thriller setting of a zombie apocalypse. While still at the height of the zombie-obsession in Hollywood, the show offered a more poignant exploration of how humans function in a fallen society and how they seek to rebuild a sense of meaning through various ways.

A post-apocalyptic setting would have a lot of artifacts that were remnants of the past, and music composer Bear McCreary reportedly hoped to invoke the same emptiness and a foreboding sense of doom with the theme song. His creative direction was also guided by his previous work on the series Human Target.

The Walking Dead’s theme used fewer instruments because of Human Target A still from Human Target | Credits: Fox

While AMC’s The Walking Dead is set during a zombie apocalypse, the episodes are not always action-based and have long scenes of talking and drama.

The Society of Composers and Lyricists announced its 2025 awards recipients at the sixth annual Scl Awards.

Composers and lyricists gathered together for a dinner and ceremony hosted by singer-songwriter Colin Hays, held at the Skirball Cultural Center. The evening opened with a performance of “Lean on Me” — meant to bring the community together after the recent wildfires that have devastated Los Angeles.

While the night’s atmosphere was overall celebratory, the awards ceremony took several opportunities to acknowledge the recent tragedy in the city. Composer Starr Parodi, who lost her home in the Palisades Fire, was given a replacement plaque for her previously earned jury award on stage.

Among the top awardees for the night were Daniel Blumberg for The Brutalist, Diane Warren for The Six Triple Eight, Kris Bowers for The Wild Robot and Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Luca Guadagnino for Challengers.

Composer Harry Gregson-William accepted the Spirit...

The Wild Robot‘s Oscar prospects may have gotten a boost on Wednesday as the Society of Composers and Lyricists announced its sixth annual award winners. The animated feature won Best Original Score for a Studio Film, defeating three of its Oscar rivals: Emilia Pérez, Wicked, and Conclave. The last of this year’s Best Score Oscar nominees, The Brutalist, competed in another category at the Scl Awards, winning Best Original Score for an Independent Film.

So does that mean the Oscar will come down to The Wild Robot and The Brutalist? In the Scl Awards’ previous five years, they agreed with the Oscars three times: Joker (2019), Soul (2020), and Oppenheimer (2023). In 2021, the Scl voted for Encanto (studio) and The Green Knight (independent), but the Oscar went to Dune. And for 2022, the Scl picked Nope (studio) and Everything Everywhere All at Once (independent), while the Oscars opted for All Quiet on the Western Front.

Stars: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian, Chris Walley, Jon Jon Briones, Stefan Kapicic, Martin Furulund, Nikolai Nikolaeff, Javier Botet | Written by Bragi F. Schut, Zak Olkewicz | Directed by André Øvredal

The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a chilling horror film that delivers a uniquely atmospheric take on the classic Dracula mythos. Directed by André Øvredal, the movie adapts a single chapter from Bram Stoker’s Dracula—the doomed voyage of the Demeter, a Russian schooner transporting a mysterious cargo from Carpathia to England. This narrative decision to focus on a small portion of the novel allows the film to dive deep into the slow-building dread and claustrophobia of being trapped at sea with an unspeakable horror.

The film begins with the Demeter’s crew discovering that they have been tasked with transporting a set of crates, each filled with soil from Transylvania. They are unaware that...

Composer Bear McCreary is embarking on his first-ever North American tour.

The six-show outing runs through May, kicking off on the 22nd at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City, hitting Boston, Washington D.C., Montreal, and Toronto before a final show on May 31st in Chicago. Prior to that leg, McCreary will be overseas for the UK/European leg of his “Themes and Variations Tour.”

Get Bear McCreary Tickets Here

A Live Nation ticket pre-sale for select dates begins Thursday (January 16th) at 10 a.m. local time using the code Octave. General ticket sales start Friday (January 17th) at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster.

Said McCreary in a press release: “After celebrating the 20th anniversary of my first screen credit, for composing the music to 2004’s Battlestar Galactica, along with the release of my debut rock record, The Singularity, the time has finally come to take my music on the road!

A disgusting, blood-obsessed, bat-like creature haunts the corridors of your home. You spend each waking moment terrified of its return in the night. Your friends are dropping like flies and there is nothing you can do to stop it. This might sound like Robert Eggers' latest historical horror film, Nosferatu, but it is indeed a description of The Last Voyage of The Demeter. Both films adapted, at least in part, from Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Last Voyage of The Demeter chronicles the final days of The Demeter's crew as they begin to realize the cargo they carry is eating them alive. Overlooked in the horror space, the film boasts gorgeous nautical sets, a killer score by Bear McCreary, and an uber-talented ensemble cast that includes the likes of Corey Hawkins, Liam Cunningham, Aisling Franciosi, and David Dastmalchian.

Leading contenders for the Society of Composers & Lyricists’ 2025 Scl Awards include “Emilia Pérez” composers Clément Ducol and Camille, who picked up three nominations, for their score and for two original songs from the musical drama. Matching that number as an individual was Atticus Ross, whose three nominations are split between his scoring work on “Shōgun” and a song for “Challengers.”

The Scl’s nominations in eight film, television and interactive media categories were announced Wednesday morning, with the awards program scheduled to take place in Los Angeles on Feb. 12. Scroll down to see the full list of nominees.

The org’s annual Spirit of Collaboration Award will be given at the event to composer Harry Gregson-Williams and director Ridley Scott, in honor of an ongoing partnership that has resulted in “Gladiator II” being their seventh film together. Last year the same award went to Martin Scorsese and the late Robbie Robertson.

Oscar-Grammy-Emmy winner Atticus Ross and the duo behind the music in Emilia Pérez lead the nominees at the 2025 Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards.

Ross earned two nominations for his musical work on Shogun and a nod for “Compress/Repress” from Challengers. Clément Ducol and Camille received three nominations for the Netflix film starring Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez, including two bids for outstanding original song for a comedy or musical visual media production. Ross, Ducol and Camille’s works have been shortlisted at the Academy Awards; nine of the 15 songs shortlisted are nominated at the Scl Awards, while six scores shortlisted made the Scl list.

The 6th annual Scl Awards, which celebrate excellence and innovation in music for visual media, will be held in Los Angeles on Feb. 12 and hosted by singer-songwriter Colin Hay.

Other nominees include Miley Cyrus for “Beautiful That Way” from The Last Showgirl; Elton John and...

The Society of Composers & Lyricists has charted the nominees for its 2025 Scl Awards, which celebrate excellence and innovation in music for visual media. Emilia Pérez composers Clément Ducol and Camille and Challengers and Shōgun composer Atticus Ross lead the field with three noms each. See the full list below.

The hardware will be handed out during the sixth annual Scl Awards on February 12 in Los Angeles. Men at Work’s Colin Hay will host the ceremony.

The group also said today that Gladiator II composer Harry Gregson-Williams and filmmaker Ridley Scott will receive its 2025 Spirit of Collaboration Award, which recognizes a composer-director relationship that has created a prodigious body of work. Gregson-Williams also has penned the original scores for Scott’s The Martian, Kingdom of Heaven, The Last Duel and House of Gucci and themes for Prometheus and Exodus: Gods and Kings.

“Ridley is an open book when it comes to music,...

Another day, another sign of industry support for Emilia Pérez.

On Wednesday, the Society of Composers and Lyricists announced its 2025 Scl Awards nominations with Netflix’s Spanish-language cartel musical out in front with three nominations.

The ceremony will take place on Feb. 12.

Emilia Pérez composers and songwriters Clément Ducol and Camille earned three nominations as did Atticus Ross, who received two nominations for Challengers and one for the television series Shōgun.

Other highlights: Diane Warren was nominated for The Six Triple Eight, the sixth consecutive year she’s up for an Scl Award. Harry Gregson-Williams and director Ridley Scott will also be honored with the Spirit of Collaboration Award, “which recognizes a composer/director relationship that has created a prodigious body of work.”

The duo has worked together seven times, including this year on Gladiator II.

“Ridley is an open book when it comes to music, and working with him...

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power broke canon and hearts when Elrond kissed Galadriel, leaving the showrunners to explain in an interview, but I'm not convinced by the explanation. I was incredibly confused by Rings of Power's Elrond-Galadriel kiss, but I didn't hate it. I thought it was fair enough - Elrond had to think of a distraction somehow. But I was intrigued by the controversial choice. As such, I was paying attention when the showrunners and Morfydd Clark explained the Galadriel and Elrond kiss in season 2 in an interview with Screen Rant.

Galadriel actress Morfydd Clark explained that she "wanted the Elves kissing on the mouth all the time from the very beginning," as she saw them as "a little bit bohemian." Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay agreed that "They're a little more European." I follow this logic, to a certain extent. Elves in Lord of the Rings...

Composer Bear McCreary offered some insight into why he has not yet played Annabeth's full theme music in Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+.

Given the show's commitment to book-authenticity (even if not complete accuracy), longtime fans are coming into Season 2 with a general idea of what to expect in the way of story and character arcs.

However, the show allows for perspectives beyond Percy's own first-person narrative. For instance, one of the most noteworthy additions to Season 1's story was a scene between Sally Jackson and Poseidon that Percy was not there for.

Read full article on The Direct.

Bear McCreary's concept album-graphic novel hybrid "The Singularity" released earlier this year, and the team behind the project spoke with The Direct at New York Comic Con about its development.

McCreary, an Emmy-winning composer, collaborated on what his website calls "an epic rock concept album, graphic novel, and concert experience" with filmmaker and comic writer Kyle Higgins, who was the project's creative director.

"The Singularity" tells the story of Blue Eyes, who is stuck in a cycle of living, loving, losing, then dying, before being reborn and it all starting again.

Read full article on The Direct.

It was all fun and games in Season 1 of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” until that catastrophic environmental chain reaction that created the desolate lands of Mordor. The challenge for every department on Season 2 of the Prime Video series, then, was to make all the lands of Middle Earth correspondingly darker and more troubled.

While retaining the identity of the series, the filmmakers behind “The Rings of Power” wanted to shake up how the show feels now that Sauron — excuse us, Annátar (Charlie Vickers) — is armed with powerful magic rings and a will to dominate all life.

That mission meant leaning on both old- and new-school tricks, where CG set extensions work hand in hand with painted backdrops to create a sweeping landscape with a tactile feel. It meant stressing point-of-view and handheld photography, even in the midst of the show’s biggest battle sequences. And...

Grab your Leviathan Axe and cue up the music of Bear McCreary, because "Star Trek" and "Battlestar Galactica" veteran writer and showrunner Ronald D. Moore has just been chosen to run the writers room, executive produce, and write for the new Sony TV/Amazon MGM Studios' Prime Video series "God of War" per Deadline. For those of you who've been fans of the video game franchise that bears the same name, let's clear up a canon question right away: this new series is due to be based on the 2018 reboot version of the game, which takes its cue from Norse mythology as opposed to the original series of games published from 2005-2013, which were based on Greek mythology.

That's not to say Greek mythology is totally off the table, of course, because the 2018 game still sees the same protagonist/player character of Kratos some 150 years after 2010's "God of War III,...

The Funko booth at New York Comic Con (Nycc) 2024 offered an exciting and vibrant experience that was a must-visit for collectors and fans. Here’s a detailed review of what made it stand out this year:

Booth Design & Atmosphere

Funko’s booth was visually stunning and cleverly designed, embodying their signature playful, colorful style. The setup this year was themed as Funko Airways, providing plenty of perfect photo opportunities. The vibrant, oversized displays showcased the latest and most sought-after exclusives, instantly drawing the eye of fans and collectors alike. There were also themed sections based on popular franchises, making it easy to navigate the booth and spot the latest figures.

Check out our behind-the-scenes tour below:

@ageofthenerd Destination fun on Funko Airways!! Our behind-the-scenes tour of Funko at New York Comic Con 2024! #nycc #nycc2024 #funko #mondo #loungefly #collectibles #funkopop ♬ Get Ready – Steve Aoki Vocal Radio Edit – 2 Unlimited

Exclusive Releases

As expected,...

The Last of Us is one of the strongest first-party franchises operating under the PlayStation Studios banner and it is only fitting that the game to be featured in this upcoming global live tour. Some may not realize how vital original soundtracks have been for the PlayStation brand and it is high time to celebrate these works of art in the way they deserve.

The composers of each project realized these games deserved a legendary score and utilized their skills in order to create that. A powerful score has always amplified the visuals, gameplay, and acting taking place onscreen, becoming a staple for the PlayStation brand.

The Last of Us Is One of Many Iconic Franchises to Be Featured in the Upcoming PlayStation Concert The excitement behind the upcoming PlayStation global concert tour is through the roof. Image Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

When Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that the company...

Back in 1983, legendary producer Roger Corman brought the world a sword and sorcery film with an awesome title: Deathstalker. It was so successful, it paved the way for three sequels: Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans (1987), Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell (1988), and Deathstalker IV: Match of the Titans (1991). The franchise went dormant for more than thirty years, but earlier this year we learned that it’s being revived by filmmaker Steven Kostanski – whose previous credits include Manborg, Father’s Day, The Void, Leprechaun Returns, Psycho Goreman, Frankie Freako, and episodes of the short-lived Day of the Dead TV series. Kostanski is writing and directing a Deathstalker remake that has Daniel Bernhardt (John Wick) playing the title character… and now that the project is in post-production, the filmmakers recently revealed that the theme song composed for the remake is a collaboration between legendary musician Slash, composer Bear McCreary, and Deathstalker II composer Chuck Cirino!

ReedPop has announced a special partnership with Paragon Creative Agency, which will serve as the official livestream partner for New York Comic Con 2024. The deal will include live coverage from Cbr alongside fellow Valnet publications Collider and ScreenRant.

Nycc returns to the Javits Center on Oct. 17-20 for this year's festivities. Paragon Creative Agency will help livestream the biggest panels on the Main and Empire Stages on the social media and YouTube channels across Cbr, Collider and ScreenRant. Some of the other key clients for the company, which is also behind the GRAMMYs, include CBS, Microsoft, Netflix, Disney, Activision/Blizzard, NBCUniversal, Tesla, Mattel, Warner Bros., and Lionsgate, among others.

Related James Tynion Combines Comics and Old School Newspapers

James Tynion IV's Tiny Onion will arrive this month's Nycc with its very own brand-new newspaper, Tiny Onion Presents #1.

"New York Comic Con is one of the most iconic pop culture events...

New York Comic Con is almost here, and ScreenRant is ready to be your destination for news, interviews, and other content straight from the event. First held in 2006, New York Comic Con has quickly become the East Coast's largest pop culture convention. Nycc will run from October 17-20 at the Javits Center on Manhattans West Side and will feature a slew of panels, cosplayers, exclusive merchandise, and much more.

ScreenRant is excited to announce a partnership between Valnet, Inc., its parent company, and New York Comic Con that will ensure site readers will enjoy exclusive content from the hotly anticipated event. For the first time ever, ScreenRant will be bringing livestreams of the conventions Main and Empire Stage events to its social and YouTube channels. Fellow digital publications from Valnet's entertainment portfolio, Cbr and Collider, are also partnering to broadcast New York Comic Con 2024 coverage and will be streaming the event on their channels.

Quick Links The Rings of Power's Title Sequence Symbolized Men and Elves Alike The Rings of Power's Title Sequence Showed Morgoth's Corruption The Rings of Power's Title Sequence Foreshadowed its Greatest Threats

The following contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2, Episode 8, "Shadow and Flame," now streaming on Prime Video.

Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power boasted a unique title sequence that combined practical effects and CGI. It showed countless grains of golden sand shifting to form different images and abstract patterns. It took inspiration from a Chladni plate, a device that produces vibrations in the form of sound to manipulate the shape of sand or similar materials spread across its surface. This was more than just an interesting visual; it referenced the very origin story of Middle-earth. In the section "Ainulindal" from The Silmarillion, J. R. R. Tolkien...

The Rings of Power season 2 was a big improvement on its predecessor, with 10 moments standing out as the season's best. Although The Rings of Power's cast remained mostly the same in season 2, the overall quality of storytelling was much stronger. It is worth pointing out that season 1 was not bad, but by the time of The Rings of Power season 2's ending, it was clear how much more confident and assured the second installment in the Prime Video show truly was.

The Rings of Power season 2 continued the exploration of The Lord of the Rings' Second Age, specifically the defining moment in which Sauron manipulated Celebrimbor into crafting the titular jewelry. As Sauron's Rings of Power plan fell into place, darkness rose around the many characters sworn to oppose him, from Galadriel and Elrond to Durin III, the wizard known as The Stranger, and those residing in Nmenor. Across these...

[Editor’s note: The following post contains spoilers for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”]

A spotting session is a common practice in film and TV scoring that sets a composer up to write the music for a given project, where the showrunners/filmmakers watch cuts and figure out where they want music and discuss what they want that music to do. But talking about music in the abstract can, in the words of composer Bear McCreary, be a little bit like dancing about architecture. Even when you’re trained in music theory, part of what’s beautiful about it is you’re never quite going to build the idea out of words themselves.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” concluded its second season with Sauron (Charlie Vickers) holding sway over Eregion — if not over the apparent elven ability to fall off of tall cliffs and survive. None of the twists and turns...

*Warning — This piece contains spoiler for all of The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Season 2*****

Like the fledgling fellowship at the start of The Lord Of The Rings, the first season of The Rings Of Power — Amazon’s risky, billion-dollar high fantasy gamble on taking the marginalia of J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium and turning it into the next Game Of Thrones — took some time to find its footing. For all its meticulous attention to detail, extraordinary design work, and quality performances, there’s no getting around the fact that in order for creators J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay to immerse us in the Second Age of Middle-earth — a time long before there was even a Bag End, let alone any Bagginses — they had to do a lot of narrative table-setting first. As a result, Rings Of Power’s first season vacillated between great moments — the charge of the Númenóreans on the Orcs,...

Kevin Smith is back with his latest film, The 4:30 Movie. This semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story follows a group of teenagers as they spend a day at their local movie theater, with one teen's ultimate goal being every teenager's dream date: taking a girl to an R-rated movie. The film stars a group of young actors in the lead roles, with a plethora of "View Askew Regulars" in supporting cameo roles, including Jason Mewes, Justin Long, Rosario Dawson, Jason Lee, and Jeff Anderson, just to name a few.

While not set in Kevin Smith's "View Askewniverse" cinematic universe, The 4:30 Movie still has plenty to offer to fans of the indie auteur. The film owes much of its existence to Smith's Smodcast podcast and the saga of "Emo Kev" from the 1980s, and longtime fans will find plenty of inside jokes to reward their decades of fandom. That being said, The 4:30 Movie,...

We have a criminally good show for you on the Pilot TV Podcast this week — quite literally. It's a veritable crimeapalooza in the virtual pod booth on your essential guide to all things Peak TV as not only do we find ourselves delving into Ryan Murphy’s latest bowl of depravity in Travis Kelce starring FX crime drama Grotesquerie on Disney+, but with beloved co-pilot Kay Ribeiro still away on her meditation retreat, we welcome Crime Monthly editor Steph Seelan onto the show. Taking full advantage of having an expert in our midst, we take the opportunity to delve into the world of British crime shows with Steph and get her professional take on the best of the bloody bunch.

Elsewhere, Steph joins James Dyer and Boyd Hilton to discuss, among other things, The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power's metal moment in its most recent episode...

*Warning — this article contains spoilers for The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power Season 2 Episode 7*

After months of hype and build-up, the Siege of Eregion finally arrived in The Rings Of Power Season 2 this week with the release of Episode 7, ‘Doomed To Die’. And with orcs and elves heading to war, the scales falling from Celebrimbor’s eyes as the true extent of Sauron’s manipulation is finally revealed, and fire scorching the night sky as the forces of darkness converge upon Middle-earth, it’s safe to say that things are getting pretty heavy for our heroes ahead of next week’s series finale. And not just heavy, but — thanks to the arrival of a certain Hill-troll — pretty heavy metal, too.

At the height of the episode’s breathtaking action, just as it seems the tide may be turning in Gil-galad and Elrond’s battle with Adar’s monstrous children,...

Almost everyone in Hollywood has participated, or at least been reported to be participating, in a superhero property. It's simply the latest big trend that employs everyone in a union (unless you're a VFX worker), just like crime procedurals employed every actor who later broke big once upon a time. Whether a celebrated and legendary actor like Harrison Ford, or an indie director like Ryan Coogler, no one is safe from the superhero movie industrial complex.

The latest beloved actor to join a superhero franchise is Kyle Chandler, the greatest dad actor, who has been tapped to star as Hal Jordan in the Green Lantern TV series that is part of James Gunn's fledgling DC universe. Accepting the responsibility of the Power Ring and fight for the Green Lantern Corps, Chandler reportedly beat rumored contenders for the role like Josh Brolin. The Green Lantern TV show is set to...

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" is a fantastic adaptation of Tolkien's Legendarium, one that expands on what's on the page, capturing the brutality of war in the way that Tolkien portrayed it, and also incorporating the specific brand of silliness and whimsy that Tolkien infused into his world. (Season 2 doubles down on this by finally bringing Tom Bombadill to the screen.)

One big problem the series can't really shake is that it simply has too many characters and storylines. There is the story of Celebrimbor and Annatar working on the rings, Durin IV dealing with the corruption of the dwarves' rings, Galadriel trying to find Sauron, the political maneuvering in Númenor, Arondir and Isildur dealing with orcs and Entwives, and even The Stranger and the Harfoots on Rhûn.

That last subplot can often feel disconnected from the rest of the show, starting with the fact that...

Sauron has stepped up his game in the second season of The Rings of Power, disguising himself as a benevolent being called Annatar who's "helping" the Elven smith Celebrimbor forge rings of power, which he eventually intends to turn to his own nefarious purpose. Meanwhile, Galadriel — whom Sauron tried to tempt over to the dark side in the first season — is on a collision course with her old friend. She's on her way to the Elven city of Eregion, where Sauron labors at the forge.

So these two are going to meet sooner or later. But even before that, they've already been connected in other ways. For one thing, Saruon is looking at blonde-haired female elves and telling them they look like Galadriel, which isn't creepy at all. Other connections are more subtle. For instance, in the series premiere, Galadriel says that Sauron "used me, and under his hand I...

Onscreen and in the fictional world of Outlander, there's absolutely no argument who's the ultimate Otp and power couple. Of course that would be our beloved Jamie and Claire Fraser. Though in real life those responsible for the music, singing, and bringing the historical drama to life in that way are the musical power couple of the series. And that's husband and wife duo, composer Bear McCreary and singer Raya Yarbrough!

Earlier this summer at San Diego Comic-Con, Show Snob had the opportunity to speak with them both as McCreary was there to promote his new album, graphic novel, and concert experience, The Singularity. And you can bet that his lovely wife Yarbrough is one of the many people involved in the project.

The two have worked on endless projects together, including Outlander. McCreary manages to give us all the feels - whether it's a romantic, emotional, or even a...

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" season 2 is not only a triumph, but it's also a vast improvement on the first installment and a treat for fans of Tolkien. Prime Video's Middle-earth series is an ambitious show that's not afraid to slow down and appreciate the sheer vibes of Middle-earth or get extremely weird — by, say, bringing in Tom Bombadil and Old Man Willow. The show's secret weapon lies not in the titular rings, but in composer Bear McCreary, who brings a truly unique and at times strange sound that builds on Howard Shore's music for Peter Jackson's Tolkien adaptations. Only McCreary would bring Meshuggah's Jens Kidman to sing the theme for Damrod the hill troll (or finally give Tom Bombadil a song and make it sound like a folk tune performed by Rufus Wainwright).

In fact, during a livestream on Instagram where he took questions from fans,...

Quick Links Tom Bombadil Loved Goldberry More Than Anything Else Goldberry Predated The Lord of the Rings Goldberry Might Have Been a Spirit of the River

The following contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 4, now streaming on Prime Video.

The latest episode of Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brought Tom Bombadil into live action for the first time in a major adaptation. As one of the most enigmatic characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's novel and one who was absent from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, fans have been curious to see how The Rings of Power would choose to depict Tom. Though a bit less jovial than his novel counterpart, Rory Kinnear's performance captured Tom's offbeat energy and his surprising depths of knowledge and wisdom. The series frames...

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power map has a few differences from the Middle-earth map in The Lord of the Rings, though these are mostly because of the thousands of years that take place between the two stories. Ever since Peter Jackson wrapped up his The Hobbit trilogy, the world had been clamoring for more live-action Middle-earth, and Amazon catered to this need with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The LotR prequel show made several changes to the lore of Middle-earth, many of them divisive among hardcore Tolkien fans, and The Rings of Power Middle-earth map wasn't exempt from these alterations.

Middle-earth's map in The Rings of Power is quite different to the one Frodo and his Fellowship crossed in The Lord of the Rings. Set more than 3000 years earlier, The Rings of Power's Second Age geography offers some familiarity but only some.

Rotten Tomato scores may not say everything, but they can certainly tell you a lot. For better or worse (mostly worse), the entertainment rating site (which is all Roger Ebert's fault) is seen as a status symbol for success and failure in modern cinema. You can use it to see which Christopher Nolan films are the best of the bunch or use it as proof that E.T. is still Spielberg's best movie 40 years after its release. You can also use Rotten Tomatoes to compare an ongoing series from one season to the next. Case in point: Prime Video's "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power."

Season 1 of that serialized Middle-earth blockbuster rolled out to decidedly mixed feelings from both the diehard and fair-weather elements of Tolkien fandom. Those opposed were so intense in their reactions that Amazon delayed reviews on its own streaming platform to combat trolls.