Fans of the Witcher won’t have to until the end of the year to see something new from the franchise. At Witchercon, Netflix announced it will debut Nightmare of the Wolf on August 23rd. The company first announced the animated prequel movie at the start of last year and shared today it will focus on Geralt’s mentor, Vesemir. Korean animation house Studio Mir, best known for its work on The Legend of Korra, worked on the project, as did The Witcher showrunner Lauren Hissrich.

The film should give fans of The Witcher something to enjoy while they wait for Netflix to release season two of The Witcher. Following multiple delays, the new season of the live-action series is slated to hit the streaming service on December 17th.

The Witcher will return to Netflix almost exactly two years after the fantasy series debuted. You can stream all eight episodes of the show's second season starting on December 17th. Season one premiered on December 20th, 2019.

Season two of The Witcher will pick up where the first batch of episodes left off. Following some COVID-related delays, filming for season two wrapped in April. The release date was revealed during WitcherCon. Netflix teamed up with CD Projekt Red for an event that celebrates both the show and CDPR's games.

Netflix also revealed the titles for the season two episodes. However, the finale's title remains top secret for now. There's no sign of a proper trailer just yet, but WitcherCon (which is still running at the time of writing) will close out with an interview with star Henry Cavill and the tease of a surprise or two.

Absolver studio Sloclap is working on a new kind of kung fu game, Sifu, and it requires a little more time and attention than developers originally planned. Sifu was supposed to hit PlayStation 4, PS5 and the Epic Games Store this year, but it's been delayed to early 2022. 

Sloclap shared the new release date in a trailer that also shows off the game's unique death system. Sifu is a kung fu-inspired game, much like Absolver, but it's narrative-driven and every time a player dies, they return to the fight as an older version of themselves. Sifu is all about hand-to-hand combat and magical age progression, and it tells a violent tale of revenge suitable for any age — well, teens and up, according to the ESRB.

The game's first trailer was inspired by Old Boy and today's video is called, "Sifu - Fight Club Gameplay Teaser," so we're sensing a film-centric theme, too.

Facebook “lost” an important policy for three years and only noticed after the Oversight Board began looking at the issue, according to the latest decision from the board. In its decision, the board questioned Facebook’s internal policies and said the company should be more transparent about whether other key policies may have been “lost.”

The underlying case stems from an Instagram post about Abdullah Öcalan, in which the poster “encouraged readers to engage in conversation about Öcalan’s imprisonment and the inhumane nature of solitary confinement.” (As the board notes, Öcalan is a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Facebook has officially designated as a “dangerous organization.”)

Facebook had initially removed the post, as Facebook users are barred from praising or showing support for dangerous organizations or individuals. However, Facebook also had “internal guidance” — created partially as a result of discussions around Öcalan’s imprisonment — that “allows discussion on the conditions of confinement for individuals designated as dangerous.” But that rule was not applied, even after the user’s initial appeal. Facebook told the board it had “inadvertently not transferred” that part of its policy when it moved to a new review system in 2018.

Though Facebook had already admitted the error and reinstated the post, the board said it was “concerned” with how the case had been handled, and that “an important policy exception” had effectively fallen through the cracks for three years.

“The Board is concerned that Facebook lost specific guidance on an important policy exception for three years,” the group wrote. “Facebook’s policy of defaulting towards removing content showing ‘support’ for designated individuals, while keeping key exceptions hidden from the public, allowed this mistake to go unnoticed for an extended period. Facebook only learned that this policy was not being applied because of the user who decided to appeal the company’s decision to the Board.”

The board also chastised Facebook for not being transparent about how many other users may have been affected by the same issue. Facebook told the board it wasn’t “technically feasible” to determine how many other posts may have been mistakenly taken down. “Facebook’s actions in this case indicate that the company is failing to respect the right to remedy, contravening its Corporate Human Rights Policy,” the board said.

The case highlights how Facebook’s complex rules are often shaped by guidance that users can’t see, and how the Oversight Board has repeatedly challenged the company to make all its policies more clear to users.

Though it’s only taken up a handful of cases so far, the Oversight Board has repeatedly criticized Facebook for not following its own rules. “They can't just invent new unwritten rules when it suits them,” board co-chair Helle Thorning-Schmidt told reporters after they said Facebook was wrong to impose an “indefinite” suspension on Donald Trump. The board has also criticized Facebook for not alerting users to key parts of its policies, such as its “satire exception.” It’s pushed the company to clarify its hate speech policies, and how it treats speech from politicians and other high-profile figures.

Facebook has 30 days to respond to the Oversight Board in this case, including several recommendations that it further clarify its “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations” policy and update its transparency reporting process.

What if Tony Stark met Erik Killmonger before one of his own weapons set him on the path to becoming Iron Man? That’s one of many hypothetical scenarios Marvel’s new animated series What If…? will answer when it debuts next month on Disney+. The first episode will hit the streaming platform on August 11th, with subsequent episodes to follow every Wednesday.

In development since at least 2019, What If...? is the fourth original Marvel series to make its way to Disney+ since the release of WandaVision at the start of the year. It’s also the first animated project to come out of the Marvel cinematic universe. That means many of the actors most closely associated with the MCU are reprising their roles, including Chris Hemsworth, Michael B. Jordan and the late Chadwick Boseman in his final performance as T’Challa.

Amazon has struck a multi-year deal for exclusive Prime Video streaming rights for Universal's live-action theatrical releases. As Deadline reports, it's the first time Amazon has struck such a deal with a major US studio. The deal kicks in with Universal's 2022 slate of movies.

Here's where things might get a little confusing. The deal is for a chunk of the pay-one window, which is the 18-month period after a movie's theatrical run. Earlier this week, Universal and its NBCUniversal sibling Peacock reached a similar agreement for the first four and last four months of the window.

Within four months of their theatrical release date, Universal's live-action movies will start streaming on Peacock. Four months after that, they'll move over to Prime Video for 10 months, then the films will go back to Peacock for at least another four months. Streaming rights can get pretty complicated!

The deal covers blockbusters such as Jurassic World: Dominion, Get Out director Jordan Peele's next horror film and Halloween Ends. Movies from Focus Features and Blumhouse are also part of the pact.

As for Universal's animated movies from Illumination and DreamWorks, those currently stream on Netflix. For the 2022 and later release slate, according to Deadline, Netflix might hang onto the streaming rights for Universal's animated flicks for the 10 months of the pay-one window that they're not on Peacock. In any case, the movies will later hit Prime Video. 

Meanwhile, Amazon's free streaming service IMDb TV will have exclusive streaming rights for 2020 and 2021 theatrical movies from Universal. The deal covers current box office champ F9 and The Invisible Man, along with some older animated movies like Despicable Me 2, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Shrek 2.

The Prime Video deal follows a major agreement between Netflix and Sony Pictures. Starting in 2022, Netflix will have exclusive rights to Sony's theatrical releases for the 18-month pay-one window. So, movies like Uncharted, the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel and Morbius are all Netflix-bound.

Like many in-person events, geek Mecca Comic-Con was upended by the pandemic. By most accounts, the decision to switch to a virtual conference backfired as social media activity plummeted by upwards of 90 percent. Cosplaying on the couch clearly isn't as gratifying as congregating with 6,500 passionate fans under one roof. With big guns Marvel Studios and DC Films already choosing to skip this year's Comic-Con@Home, the event needs all the support it can get. One company that hasn't given up on the conference is Amazon. 

For the second year in a row, it's hosting an online panel with talent from some of its biggest shows and movies. You'll be able to watch the action on San Diego Comic-Con's official YouTube channel starting at 2PM ET on July 23rd.

This year's lineup features a mix of female-led fantasy, blockbuster anime, teen slasher and crime. First up is The Wheel of Time, a series adaptation of the bestselling novels by Robert Jordan about a clan of female magicians starring Rosamund Pike. Amazon will be hoping the show is more Shadow and Bone than The Nevers. Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno will also be present to discuss the final chapter in the Rebuild movie saga, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time.

To tap into the '90s slasher revival kicked off by Netflix's Fear Street trilogy, Amazon is trotting out its modern spin on I Know What You Did Last Summer, featuring a fresh-faced cast of sacrificial lambs. This year's event will also see Amazon highlighting content from its streaming service that isn't called Prime Video. As such, cast members from IMDb TV's Leverage: Redemption will be on hand to discuss the return of the crime series.

The film that kickstarted (and nearly killed) Star Trek’s first second life is going to be remastered, once again. Star Trek.com (via Gizmodo), says that Paramount has green-lit a “full restoration” of Robert Wise’s 2001 “Director’s Edition” of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The site says that the project, which will take between six and eight months to finish, will be formatted in 4K, with Dolby Vision HDR and a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack. David C. Fein, Mike Matessino and Daren R. Dochterman, who worked with Wise on the 2001 DVD version, will all return to work on the 4K spruce up.

The Motion Picture (TMP)’s fraught production meant that the film was barely finished before it premiered, with Wise carrying the print himself to the premiere. Wise had said that the film was “unfinished,” and despite a healthy box office, took a pasting from critics who deemed it to be too slow and talky. At the dawn of the DVD era, Wise, Fein, Matessino and Dochterman collaborated on a re-edit of the film that better showed off Wise’s original vision. This included remastered visual effects and a remastered and re-edited score by Jerry Goldsmith. The effects for the 2001 version were produced by CGI pioneers Foundation Imaging, which was Star Trek’s (then) contractor for all computer generated work.

(After its theatrical run, ABC broadcast a “Special Longer Version” of the film that is notorious for including extra scenes with clearly unfinished effects. The most obvious of which is the start of Kirk’s EVA, where the airlock set is surrounded by studio scaffolding, intended to be replaced by a matte painting.)

It was a well-held myth in fan circles that a 4K version of the Director’s Edition was impossible because the CGI assets and film footage had been scanned and edited for standard definition. The bankruptcy of Foundation Imaging, which took place shortly after the film was released, also dashed hopes for any higher-definition re-releases. However, as Memory Alpha lists, producer David C. Fein confirmed in 2017 that the digital material necessary to facilitate a 4K remastering still exists.

Given how TMP’s reputation has been slowly rehabilitated over the last three decades, a 4K version of the film is very welcome. If only because, as well as a smart and interesting vision of the future, the model work and score are so good that they deserve to be seen in the best possible resolution. We can’t wait to experience this in 4K when it arrives at some point between December and next March.

Longer videos aren't the only new feature coming to TikTok. The short-form video app has begun allowing some users to pay creators for custom clips in the vein of startup Cameo. With Big Tech copycats in hot pursuit, it seems TikTok isn't against the idea of borrowing features itself, as long as they help it to maintain its grip on Gen Z. For now, only users in Turkey and Dubai appear to have access to the test, according to social media posts spotted by BuzzFeed.

The new feature is reportedly called "Shoutouts" and essentially lets you request and pay for a video from a creator using TikTok coins, the in-app currency purchased with real money and used to tip others. It seems creators can set a rate for their services, with the final product delivered to your inbox. In all, your custom video could take longer than a week to arrive as TikTok appears to be reviewing the clips first. After all, it doesn't want the feature to become the new OnlyFans. 

TikTok seemingly views shoutouts as way for users to request happy birthday greetings and pep talks from popular creators. Though, it's currently unclear how many followers a person needs to have in order to make money from shoutouts. Based on the ingenuity of its talent base, you can probably expect some of the results to be more creative than direct-to-camera chats. 

TikTok isn't the only social app emulating Cameo. Facebook is also working on "Super," a service that lets users pay to interact with influencers in live streams. Meanwhile, Cameo is doing gangbusters, according to its management. Last year, the video requests service raked in gross revenue of $100 million, 75 percent of which was paid to talent, reports Variety. That was up 4.5 times from 2019, with the app's celeb users delivering 1.3 million shoutouts in 2020 alone. 

Cameo was recently valued at $1 billion after raising $100 million from the venture capital arms of Google, Amazon and Japanese tech giant SoftBank.

Starting in 2022, Universal's movies will be available on Peacock first instead of on HBO. That means the next Jurassic World and the new Halloween movie will make their TV debut on the streaming service also owned by its parent company Comcast. According to Variety and The Wall Street Journal, Universal's films will appear exclusively on Peacock for streaming within four months after their theatrical release, as well as within the final four months of an 18-month window. 

Those 10 months in between, the films will be licensed to around two to three additional partners, though none of them will have exclusive rights to the movies. Universal has yet to release the list of additional partners, and it's unclear if HBO is one of them. Variety says that by adopting the segmented TV release schedule, Universal is hoping to avoid over-saturation or making its films seem stale. In addition, streaming platforms are apparently willing to pay top dollar for popular movies these days in an effort to stand out from their ever-increasing number of rivals out there. 

Whether the move leads to a boost in subscriber numbers for Peacock remains to be seen. Comcast made the streaming service available to more potential viewers just a month ago by releasing apps for the Amazon Fire TV and tablets and Samsung's smart TVs. Peacock also grew its live sports portfolio recently and announced that it's streaming 44 Premier Lacrosse League games for the season that started on June 4th.