The DIASPORA List: ‘Prey’ Debuts On Hulu; Janet Yang Named Academy President; ‘Batgirl’ Axed; Lady Gaga Joins ‘Joker’ Sequel

The DIASPORA List is a list of 10 things that are on DIASPORA’s radar for the week. 

One.

The new installment of the Predator is taking the franchise in a different direction — and it is incredible.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, Prey (debuting on Hulu today) is set in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago. It follows the story of a young woman, Naru (Amber Midthunder), a fierce and highly skilled warrior. She has been raised in the shadow of some of the most legendary hunters who roam the Great Plains, so when danger threatens her camp, she sets out to protect her people. The prey she stalks, and ultimately confronts, turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal, resulting in a vicious and terrifying showdown between the two adversaries.

Two.

Janet Yang, producer behind the groundbreaking Joy Luck Club,  has been elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by the organization’s Board of Governors. She makes history as the first Asian person ever to hold the position and the fourth woman. This marks Yang’s first term as president and second term as a Governor-at-Large.

Three.

ICYMI: The first trailer for the new Netflix series Partner Track dropped.

The new series from Georgia Lee and Sarah Goldfinger follows  Ingrid Yun (Arden Cho), a 1st generation Korean American and the first lawyer in her family, experiences the trials and tribulations of excelling at the prestigious (but old school) law firm, Parsons Valentine. With the support of her friends, she battles through workplace challenges to break through the glass ceiling on her path to become partner. But will her drive and ambition leave room for love?

The series also features Bradley Gibson, Alexandra Turshen, Dominic Sherwood, Rob Heaps, Nolan Gerard Funk, Matthew Rauch, and Roby Attal. Partner Track premieres August 26.

 

Four.

Everything under the WarnerMedia banner has been on a journey every since this Discovery merger was announced. One of the big stories is that Warner Bros. totally scrapped the Batgirl feature film starring In The Heights actress Leslie Grace as the titular character also known as Barbara Gordon. The superhero pic was part of an effort to bring more features to HBO Max.

Well, so much for that.

Grace kept her head up and responded via social media:

Filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah also responded:

Continuing this WarnerMedia — or, I mean, Warner Bros. Discovery narrative, the media company announced during the company’s Q2 earnings call that they will be combining HBO Max and Discovery+ to one monster streaming platform. The service is set to launch in the summer of 2023.

Feels like Warner Bros. Discovery has been leaving breadcrumbs in the past couple of months. Last week, they canceled the celebrated The Gordita Chronicles and they quietly deleted a handful of titles from HBO Max. There has also been rumblings of what is in danger of getting chopped — and many of them are labeled as Max Originals.

Also, they presented this slide during the earnings call.

 

Five.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is easily one of the best films of the year. It is also making hella coin, becoming the A24’s biggest commercial success as it surpassed $100 million at the global box office.

The filmmakers behind the multiverse opus affectionately called Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) and their long time producer Jonathan Wang are making moves as they have inked a five-year exclusive partnership with Universal Pictures.

Six.

I guess everything at Warner Bros. is fine as we have news about the new Joker sequel titled Joker: Folie à Deux. Lady Gaga has confirmed that she is joining Joaquin Phoenix who will reprise his role as the titular psychopathic.

The high priestess of Chromatica has long been rumored to be involved in the sequel. Some say she may be playing Harley Quinn. Either way, she officially confirmed her involvement in the Todd Phillips film on her social channels.

Seven. Pose alum Angelica Ross is making history on Broadway as she will be the first openly trans actress to play the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago. Eight. Idris Elba is set to star in the feature adaptation of the comic series Bang! David Leitch is set to direct the spy thriller for Netflix. Nine. Let the river run! Selena Gomez is set to produce a reboot of the iconic Mike Nichols film Working Girl which originally starred Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver, and Harrison Ford. Diary of a Future President‘s Ilana Pena is adapting the screenplay. Ten. R.I.P. Nichelle Nichols.