Arjun Kapoor opens up on sister Sonam’s ‘wonderful marriage’, lauds Anand for being ‘her pillar of strength’

These two issues, along with other contemporary issues, are likely to be discussed during the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) baithak at Ahmedabad from March 11-13, RSS sources said.

The ABPS holds a meeting every year to take stock of the organisation and its work, and chart the future course of action. The meeting is attended by all top leaders of the RSS, representatives from regions across the country and over 30 associated organisations.

“The issue of marriageable age is under discussion. There are many opinions. Among the tribals or in rural areas, marriages happen early. The government’s argument is (this inhibits) education and (results in) early pregnancy. But even the government does not appear to be in a hurry to push it through. The question is how much should the government interfere in such matters. Certain things should be left to the society,” a senior RSS leader said.

Sources said there were also opinions shared with the government to bring everyone’s marriageable age down to 18 years, but some social organisations opposed this.

In December last year, the government brought a Bill that seeks to increase the age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. Amid criticism from the Opposition, the Bill was sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for further discussion.

Sources said the Sangh has a similar opinion on the issue of marital rape and believes it should be left to the family to decide how to deal with it.

The twin issues, the RSS believes, go against its nationwide campaign to revive the culture of familial bond which it says has come under stress due to modern economic compulsions and western influence. The RSS runs a programme called Kutumb Prabodhan that has the family as the most important unit of society and pushes people to spend at least a day in a week with their larger family and eat together.

“There should not be a political discussion on these, rather a social one. Helpless societies demand laws for everything. A strong society must find a solution on its own. If governance improves with less government, so does society,” the RSS leader said.

The Sangh also believes that the recent controversy in Karnataka over the wearing of hijab in classrooms has been blown out of proportion. “While we see this as the Popular Front of India trying to increase its sphere of influence, we believe the matter should have been handled at the local level. That is why the Sangh is not pushing the matter. But it is also true that consistently coming up with ways to assert religious identity is not good,” the leader said.

The three-day ABPS meet is likely to discuss these issues. “One can’t say whether these will figure in formal resolutions, but several matters are discussed during the meeting informally as well,” the leader said.

While the government has yet not framed rules on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed in 2019, sources said the RSS is committed to both the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the country and will continue to push for them.

This year’s meet is also significant as it will discuss the centenary celebrations of the RSS in 2025. “Preparations for the centenary will be discussed, apart from plans on the expansion of the organisation. We have to reach to the mandal level, connect more people with us and have our swayamsevaks at places where they are not there yet,” the leader said.

The RSS has 55,000 daily shakhas and public outreach programmes in the country today. It aims to increase it to 1 lakh, sources said. To reach out to the youth and professionals, the RSS has also started night shakhas that start at 9.30 pm, and weekly meetings.

Yet Another Gnarly Shark Horror B-Movie – ‘Maneater’ Official Trailer

by Alex Billington
July 13, 2022
Source: YouTube

“Guys, it’s fine, dolphins are a good sign!” Saban Films has revealed an official trailer for Maneater, yet another new shark horror movie chomping its way onto screens this summer (along with The Reef: Stalked and Shark Bait). This is made by a B-movie director named Justin Lee, also director of this year’s The Most Dangerous Game remake, which means this looks almost like an asylum remake of some of the other, much better shark attack movies. After an accident during their vacation getaway to an idyllic island paradise, a group of friends is stalked by a large shark. The cast includes Nicky Whelan, Trace Adkins, with Jeff Fahey and Shane West. The only good part about this trailer is the shot of the clearly rubber shark prop, the rest of it looks like VHS bargain bin trash. Which might be just the kind of shark movie some folks like.

Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Justin Lee’s Maneater, direct from Saban’s YouTube:

What better place to drown your sorrows than an idyllic island paradise? That was the idea when Jesse’s friends convinced her to not let a broken engagement stand in the way of enjoying her paid honeymoon. Their sorrows weren’t the only thing going to drown on their trip especially with a man-eating shark swimming just below the surface. Maneater is directed by indie filmmaker Justin Lee, director of many junk films including Big Legend, A Reckoning, Any Bullet Will Do, Alone We Fight, Swell, Badland, Final Kill, Apache Junction, Hellblazers, A Tale of Two Guns, and this year’s The Most Dangerous Game as well. The screenplay is also written by Justin Lee. Saban Films will debut Maneater in select US theaters + on VOD to watch starting August 26th, 2022 at the end of the summer. Who’s ready for more angry sharks?

Find more posts: Horror, To Watch, Trailer

Review: Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator One-Off ‘Prey’ is Outstanding

by Alex Billington
August 5, 2022

One of the best action movies this year is only available to watch at home. Unfortunately you can’t watch it in theaters, where it belongs, and where you will have the best experience with it. Why? Ask Disney… Many critics are framing their reviews of this movie around this complaint because, well, we have to – this movie kicks ass and oddly Disney decided to screen it in theaters for critics, but it’s releasing for streaming only (I double checked). Prey is a Predator one-off movie not connected to the Arnold Schwarzenegger franchise beyond the fact that it involves an alien “Predator” warrior. It was supposed to be a surprise, and I think it would’ve been an even more exhilarating experience to sit down for an action movie and discover only once it starts that it’s actually a new Predator movie. Nonetheless, I had the privilege of watching Prey on the big screen and it totally rules. It’s the best theatrical experience I’ve had this summer since Top Gun: Maverick.

Over the last few decades, 20th Century Fox has tried and tried to revive the Predator franchise – with the 2010 sequel Predators (which was actually pretty good – one of the better sequels), then again with Shane Black’s 2018 movie The Predator (which was not very good despite Black’s involvement); we won’t even mention the Alien vs Predator movies because eesh. However, after all this time, the perfect Predator movie has finally arrived. Prey is so damn good it even rivals the original John McTiernan Predator movie from 1987, the original action classic, with this new one acting as an homage or tribute to that movie more than anything. It’s gritty and muddy yet still beautiful and invigorating, it’s packed with seriously tense action, and it’s all about using cunning tactics and the environment around you to outwit and outsmart a vicious Predator warrior intent on killing any and every animal it encounters. It’s the second feature film from Dan Tracthenberg, who has gone from podcasting to becoming a top notch Hollywood director, following 10 Cloverfield Lane previously. This is no sophomore slump – I enjoyed it even more than his Cloverfield film.

Prey is one of these contemporary female empowerment stories that actually gets it right and doesn’t come across as forced or performative. Actress Amber Midthunder, of the Fort Peck Sioux Tribe, stars as Naru, a young Comanche warrior who protects her tribe against a monster. She’s trying to prove herself as a warrior, but aside from her brother Taabe (played by Dakota Beavers), all the other male warriors look down upon her. They don’t think she belongs with them and they prefer she just stays back with the other women. But she is defiant and goes out on her own to hunt and scout, often accompanied by her dog Sarii, played perfectly by a pooch named Coco. I love how much of a dog movie Prey is, even though Sarii doesn’t get into too many fights, it’s still a joy to have this kind of doggie presence. After a Predator is dropped off in the lands of the Comanche Nation circa 1719, Naru ends up battling it because it won’t stop at anything and will probably come kill her entire tribe if she doesn’t. There’s a few other twists and turns in the plot, but the small scale storytelling works wonders for this concept. And don’t worry – all the action is big and thrilling.

I loved every last second of Prey. I wanted to stand up and cheer so many times. This is why it’s a must see in theater with an audience that’s amped up to be there. They’ll laugh and cheer and applaud at all the best scenes – this movie deserves that adoration. Trachtenberg and his crew nailed the action – not only getting the Predator right, but figuring out how to make each and every new scene exciting as Naru and her fellow tribesmen attempt to defeat this massive monster with bow arrows and axes and other simple weapons. In addition, it features gorgeous mountainous backdrops shot on location up in Canada by cinematographer Jeff Cutter. And a fantastic score by Sarah Schachner. I also don’t agree with a few complaints I’ve seen about pacing; the story quickly pulls you into Naru’s life and follows her rather intimately, gliding along like a rollerocaster with calm moments and intense scenes. All I want to do is go back to the cinema and watch this again right away. Alas, it’s only available to view at home now (on Disney+ in Europe / Hulu in the US).

Alex’s Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Follow Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing

Find more posts: Review, Sci-Fi

Emmett Till and His Mother’s Fight for Justice in ‘Till’ Movie Trailer

by Alex Billington
July 25, 2022
Source: YouTube

“The lynching of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all.” UA + Orion Pictures have debuted the first official trailer for a movie titled Till, telling the story of Emmett’s lynching and his mother’s fight for justice. A sad story, but one that must be told. See the never-before-told story of Mamie Till-Mobley’s quest for justice for her son, Emmett. Till was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi back in 1955 at the age of 14. Filmmaker Chinonye Chukwu refuses to show that brutality, instead focusing on the story of love between a mother and her son. “I hope viewers will empathize with the humanities on screen and see our present cultural and political realities within this film. And I hope that Mamie’s story helps us all to realize the power within ourselves to continue to fight for the change we want to see in the world, just as she did.” The film stars Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie, Jalyn Hall as Emmett, with Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett, and Whoopi Goldberg. It looks like an extraordinarily emotional and very moving film about this horrible racist event in America’s history.

Here’s the first official trailer (+ poster) for Chinonye Chukwu’s Till, direct from MGM’s YouTube:

“When I was approached to write and direct a story about Emmett Till, I found myself drawn to a singular figure at the center of his orbit. I saw an opportunity to subvert expectations and approach the narrative through another lens – from the maternal point of view of Mamie Till Mobley. Had it not been for Mamie, her son’s memory would have evaporated into thin air. She was the catalyst for a modern day civil rights movement that has laid a formidable framework for future activists and Freedom Fighters. I felt compelled to champion Mamie’s legacy and center her in the spotlight where she rightfully belongs.”

“The crux of this story is not about the traumatic, physical violence inflicted upon Emmett – which is why I refused to depict such brutality in the film – but it is about Mamie’s remarkable journey in the aftermath. She is grounded by the love for her child, for at its core, Till is a love story. Amidst the inherent pain and heartbreak, it was critical for me to ground their affection throughout the film. The cinematic language and tone of Till was deeply rooted in the balance between loss in the absence of love; the inconsolable grief in the absence of joy; and the embrace of Black life alongside the heart wrenching loss of a child.”
– Chinonye Chukwu

Till is a profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14 year old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie’s poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother’s ability to change the world. Till is directed by acclaimed Nigerian-American filmmaker Chinonye Chukwu, director of the films alaskaLand and Clemency previously, as well as a few other short films. The screenplay is written by Michael Reilly Keith Beauchamp and Chinonye Chukwu. Produced by Keith Beauchamp, Barbara Broccoli, Whoopi Goldberg, Thomas Levine, Michael Reilly, and Frederick Zollo. This hasn’t premiered at any festivals or elsewhere, as far as we know. Orion + UA will debut Chukwu’s Till movie in theaters exclusively starting on October 14th, 2022 this fall. Look any good? Who’s intrigued by this?

Find more posts: To Watch, Trailer

Another critic, Guy Lodge, called it “a massive shock”, adding: “She’s so witty and deadpan and clockwork-precise in Triangle of Sadness, and I was so excited to see a new South African talent on the international scene.”

Markella Kavenagh’s experience on the set of Rings of Power was unlike anything she says she’d worked on before. For an adaptation based on the fantasy mythos of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, the Australian actor — who plays the hobbit Elanor (Nori) Brandyfoot in the series — expected lots of studio work, CGI and green screens.

Instead, what is reportedly the most expensive TV series ever made did what it intended to do — pulled out all the stops.

“They kind of built the foundation literally in the groundwork for us,” Kavenagh told CBC News of the massive on-location construction done for the Amazon Prime Video show, which premiered Friday.

“They built all of these sets for us. They made them as real as possible, and we were able to just go in and just react to that, really.”

WATCH | Markella Kavenagh hints at Rings of Power’s big-budget scope: Amazon Studio’s Rings of Power may soon cost over $1 billion US. Star Markella Kavenah says that cost translated to larger-than-life sets. 

Massive budgets changing the landscape

That level of production is hardly surprising; it’s just another massive-budget series among a sea of others, which are slowly but surely changing both the TV and cinema landscape. 

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, a noted Tolkien fan, had his company acquire the rights to Lord of the Rings‘ appendices for a reported $250 million US. The appendices are additional information Tolkien included at the end of his books, and because of that Amazon does not even have the ability to include information from the books’ main story or its prequels like The Hobbit.

And with the first season of a five-season run costing an estimated $465 million US (subsequent seasons, though still wildly expensive, could require slightly reduced budgets as producers will be able to use existing construction and costumes), Rings of Power may conservatively cost the studio in excess of $1 billion US. 

While that would put it in league with the most expensive series out there, it’s far from alone. According to Variety, Game of Thrones cost HBO roughly $100 million per season over its eight seasons between 2011 and 2019. Netflix’s first two seasons of royal drama The Crown cost around $130 million, which according to the BBC, is comparable to the actual cost of the Royal Family for the British government. 

Similarly, Netflix’s Stranger Things fourth season cost a whopping $40 million per episode over its nine episodes. HBO Max’s House of the Dragon, which debuted only a week before Rings of Power, was a comparatively cheap $200 million according to Variety — a similar, though slightly lower, figure to the Alberta-shot series The Last of Us. 

There’s also Disney+’s WandaVision, Apple TV’s See and another upcoming Amazon production, Citadel. That project, from Captain America and Avengers directors the Russo Brothers, has a budget that’s reportedly ballooning to over $200 million for just seven episodes — the second-most expensive show ever made, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

New era for TV

While the TV industry has always been a big business, single-season budgets that dwarf Hollywood Blockbusters (for comparison, the budgets for both Top Gun: Maverick and The Batman were just shy of $200 million) did not used to be the norm. 

And screenwriter and University of Georgia film and TV professor Neil Landau explained it’s not only the money invested in these shows that’s changed, but the way production companies — and most importantly, streamers — view them.

As far back as 2010, outlets like the New York Times, Vulture, the Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair were noting the rising quality of TV shows like Breaking Bad, The Wire and Mad Men over film.

But where they were primarily cable TV shows that were unique among the mostly close-ended series, that’s no longer the case. Vast, serialized and cinematic shows are becoming the norm for production companies and show writers, who are starting to see television as an entirely new genre. 

“They call themselves filmmakers,” Landau said. “They’re shooting a feature film every week. You know, they’re not following the formula or a template. It’s extremely cinematic television for writers.”

That, Landau said, has come from the move from network and cable TV to streamers — who don’t require ad breaks or strict time blocks that often led to necessarily formulaic stories. They also don’t have the same risk of channel surfers leaving after the first minutes of an episode — allowing them to write more cinematic stories, since streaming services know audiences are likely to stay within their ecosystem whether or not they like a particular show. 

But as streaming became the dominant way audiences consume media, the field crowded. Since Netflix used to be the only option for most looking to stream content, studios would license their content to be hosted there. 

“That’s not true anymore,” Landau said, noting how studios like Disney, Apple and HBO have all opted to make their own platforms instead of looking to Netflix. “[Audiences are] across all the platforms. So now it’s like, who’s going to make the most noise to actually get eyeballs to pay attention when there are over 500 choices?”

WATCH | ‘Epic’ Rings of Power series takes Lord of the Rings fans thousands of years into the past: Amazon spent a reported $1 billion US making the first season of Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, a series CBC’s Eli Glasner calls ‘epic and elemental. An amazing start.’

How to ‘cut through the clutter of the streaming wars’

Matthew Belloni, former editor of The Hollywood Reporter and founding partner of media news outlet Puck, says that’s driving studios and streamers to spend big on tentpole series. The name of the game is having something notable enough to bring audiences into the ecosystem. 

And for Amazon particularly, Belloni said, actually making money on Rings of Power or any other series is mostly an afterthought. Bezos (who famously quipped in 2016 that when Amazon wins a Golden Globe, “it helps us sell more shoes”) has a company that is far more than a streaming service. It — and the vast majority of other streaming services, which are mostly offshoots from more diversified companies — doesn’t need to make a profit on its shows. 

That’s what has allowed Amazon to spend as much as it has on Rings of Power, and motivated an advertising campaign that Belloni compared to “a traditional movie-style press rollout on steroids.”

As long as Rings of Power captures attention — either through cinematic storytelling, or simple curiosity about its high price tag — it will have done its job. And, according to Belloni, it seems to be working. 

“The success of this show will validate the strategy of going big,” Belloni said. “And …  if anything, everybody else is learning from HBO Max’s experience with Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, that this is the way to go. That these big, big projects that are getting media coverage like this is the way to cut through the clutter of the streaming wars.”

Canadian, indie film at risk of being overwhelmed

But Toronto film and TV producer Marina Cordoni says that success comes at a price for film — especially Canadian film.

During pandemic closures, and even after, theatres have struggled to survive and eke out a profit. That’s made it immeasurably harder for films to earn a profit. And though Blockbusters can weather the storm and still manage to pull in an audience, Cordoni said it makes it virtually impossible for indie films to find their audience. 

At the same time, people’s tendency to stay home to watch shows has led to the proliferation of long, cinematic-style series mainly from America — largely at the expense of homegrown film.

“All I’m hearing from the networks being the traditional ones and or the streamers, is that they’re moving away from film and concentrating on series,” she said. “Streamers have a monopoly on the audience now because people don’t need to leave their homes.”

If that continues, she said, it could have serious consequences for film.

“Otherwise,” she said, “I believe, we’ll lose it and we’ll lose our place in the world, in a sense, on the world stage.”

WATCH | Amazon’s billion-dollar bet to hold on to subscribers: E-commerce giant Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings show is a billion dollar bet aimed at holding onto subscribers in an increasingly competitive streaming service environment.

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What does the resolution say?

Flagging the issue of unemployment, it asked for society to come forward and participate in building an Atmanirbhar Bharat where the economic model is based on Indian values.

“Thrust must be given to Bharatiya economic model that is human-centric, labour intensive, eco-friendly and lays stress on decentralisation and equitable distribution of benefits and augments village economy, microscale, small scale and agro-based industries,” the resolution said.

The resolution underlined thrust areas as rural employability, unorganised sector employment and employment of women as solutions to unemployment. “Efforts are essential to adopt new technologies and soft skills appropriate to our societal conditions,” it said.

It highlighted the decline of the manufacturing sector, and said boosting it could generate a lot of employment. It also urged the youth to come out of the mentality of seeking only jobs.

“An environment conducive to encouraging entrepreneurship should be created by educating and counselling people, especially youth, so that they can come out of the mentality of seeking only jobs. Similar entrepreneurial spirit also needs to be fostered among women, village folks and people from remote and tribal areas,” it said.

Why the resolution?

It comes at a time when India’s unemployment rate has been rising, and when the effects of demonetisation and the pandemic have hit the economy and dried up opportunities.

According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data, the unemployment rate went up to 7.91% in December 2021 from 6.3% in 2018-19 and 4.7% in 2017-18. In urban areas, this has gone up to 9.30% in December 2021 from 8.09% in January 2021, and in rural areas, to 7.28% from 5.81%. The manufacturing sector is said to have lost 9.8 million jobs between 2019-20 and December 2021.

The issue has brought the government under attack from the Opposition and now the RSS believes it has to be addressed through a concerted effort. In fact, according to Sangh sources, six organisations affiliated to the RSS that work in the field of economy had a three-day brainstorming session last month on the state of the Indian economy.

“The issue that came out for coordination was employment generation. We agreed that it was easy to abuse the government. But without harnessing the strength of the society, it was not possible to generate employment. If governments could end unemployment, there would be none anywhere. And so a campaign by the name of Swavalambi Bharat Abhiyan was launched,” said Ashwani Mahajan, National Co-Convener of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch.

According to Mahajan, the Abhiyan is an attempt to decentralise employment generation and take it to the grassroots level so that all the employment is not concentrated in a few cities.“The resolution encapsulates this idea. The entrepreneurship of our youth is our strength. So why should we think that employment should be only through jobs. This thought of 60-70 years has to change,” Mahajan said.

How will it be implemented?

The RSS aims to implement it by pushing the government to support small and medium enterprises in the manufacturing sector and by working with the youth at the grassroots to “help them engage into entrepreneurial ventures through agri-allied activities and other self-employment opportunities”.

“Our manufacturing used to be 17-18% of the GDP, now it has reduced to 15%. Markets of API, electronics, cycle, toys, all were eaten away by China. Because of the pandemic there is a change in the mindset of the government. Dependence on China is being increasingly minimised. Government has done a lot to boost manufacturing through various ways, including tariff barriers. Now the society too has to rise to the occasion,” Mahajan said.

According to Sangh sources, there are ample opportunities for creation of jobs in rural India through industrialisation, food processing, agri-allied activities such as animal husbandry, bamboo farming, pisciculture etc. “Government can’t achieve this alone. Society has to come forward. Who will organise them? We have taken the responsibility. The ABVP too has been roped in,” an RSS leader said.

According to Mahajan, the Sangh is pushing the idea that only an employment-based growth model is a good model and Atmanirbhar Bharat cannot alone achieve it. “In all of this, if we see any policy of the government is not fitting in, we will tell the government as well,” Mahajan said.

Is it the first time RSS has taken up the issue?

The RSS has always believed that the governments must follow economic models that are seeped in Indian values and take into account India’s social structure and rural life. Some of its most prominent leaders, such as Dattopant Thengadi, consistently articulated a labour-intensive Swadeshi model as being the best suited for the Indian economy. Following the liberalisation of the economy in the early 1990s, the RSS has vociferously rooted for this model.

In 1992, as the Indian economy opened, the ABPS had passed a resolution on “Swadeshi” and “Unemployment”. It said, “The near total dependence on others leading to growing economic slavery and massive unemployment, too, can be directly traced to attempts at fashioning our economic development after a hybrid Soviet-Western model based on capital intensive and labour-displacing technology, completely ignoring the genius, our life values, the present conditions and needs and future aspirations of our people.”

This Labor Day weekend promises a bounty of new movies and shows to watch on Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu and all the major streaming services. 

This weekend’s lineup is led by the big behemoth that is The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The highly-anticipated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work is a prequel that takes place several millennia before the events of the Blockbuster movies. But the action features a few familiar characters, like elves Galadriel and Elrond.

“Metalocalypse” co-creator Brendon Small has offered an update on the upcoming original movie based on the hit original series. The movie will be released globally on Blu-ray/dvd and on digital transactional video on demand (TVOD) and electronic sell through (EST) for a 90-day exclusive window, followed by premieres on HBO Max and Adult Swim.

Speaking to Sara Parker of the 93.3 WMMR radio station in Philadelphia, Small stated about the film: “I can tell you… what has already been released, which is that we are making a feature ‘Metalocalypse’ movie, and that’s what we’re in production on right now. So we’re right in the middle of making the movie, so all the questions that were still lingering after ‘The Doomstar Requiem’ — a one-hour long rock opera special — are being answered… I don’t wanna say too much about it, but it’s a very big project. We’re all excited to be knee deep in it right now.”

When pressed for a release date, he commented with a smile: “That will be up to [Adult Swim] to discern. I just know that I’ve still got work to do.”

“Metalocalypse” was one of the first original productions to air on Adult Swim. “Metalocalypse” first aired on Adult Swim in 2003 and ran for four seasons, ending with the half-hour special “The Doomstar Requeim” in 2013. During its run, Small also produced four albums by the show’s fictional band DETHKLOK, which have sold one million album-equivalents. “The Dethalbum” was released in September 2007 and debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 chart.

“Metalocalypse” movie synopsis: “The power-hungry Tribunal unveils their secret and deadly ‘Falconback Project’ as the world grows in embattled chaos and the menacing Doomstar breaches the Earth’s atmosphere while the mysterious and twisted dissent of a band member threatens the future of DETHKLOK. Picking up directly after the heroic rescue of Toki Wartooth: Can DETHKLOK choose between their egos and the greater good of the world to embark on a gauntlet of dangers that will try their very souls and finally write the song that will be their salvation?”

The new movie is created by Small and Tommy Blancha. The movie soundtrack will be released on WaterTower Music.

As previously reported, DETHKLOK will co-headline the 2022 Adult Swim Festival Block Party, set to take place August 5-7 across four venues — The Fillmore, The Foundry, Punch Line and Brooklyn Bowl — in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. DETHKLOK will play on August 7 at The Fillmore. Also scheduled to headline the event are RUN THE JEWELS (August 5 at The Fillmore) and TIERRA WHACK (August 6 at The Fillmore). In addition to music, there will be “live panels, exclusive premieres, watch parties, games, giveaways, and merch.”

DETHKLOK last performed in November 2019 as part of the Adult Swim Festival at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. The show marked DETHKLOK‘s first live appearance since taking part in the 2014 edition of Festival Supreme in L.A. DETHKLOK played a 19-song set that included live premieres of the tracks “Impeach God” and “Comet Song”. Joining mainman Small (guitar, vocals) at the gig were Gene Hoglan on drums, Nili Brosh on second guitar and Pete Griffin on bass.

Adult Swim, launched in 2001, is WarnerMedia‘s No. 1 brand for young adults offering original and acquired animated and live-action series. Airing nightly from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. (ET/PT) on its linear channel, and also available through HBO Max, Adult Swim is basic cable’s No. 1 network with persons 18-34 and 18-49, and is seen in 94 million U.S. home, reaching over 40 million viewers via HBO Max.