The two big surprises at the box office continue to make noise as with Friday’s take, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie  has become the No.1 film of the year globally, passing The Super Mario Bros Movie with $1.365B. At the same time, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is set to reach $850M globally through Sunday, passing the filmmaker’s 2010 Inception as his 3rd highest-grossing title ever worldwide. Barbie is showing in 75 overseas markets and through Friday has grossed $763.4M at the international box office. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer is due to surpass Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as the No. 3 movie of 2023 globally, coming in behind just Barbie and Super Mario. With the success of Oppenheimer, Universal now has three of the Top 5 films this year globally to date. 

BOOM! Studios today revealed a first look at PINE AND MERRIMAC #1 from Eisner-award nominated writer Kyle Starks (I Hate This Place), fan-favorite artist and co-creator Fran Galán (The Amazing Spider-Man) and letterer Pat Brosseau (Batman: The Knight). A new detective tale arrives in comic stores in January 2024. In Jamesport, on the corner of Pine and Merrimac sits a small, unassuming detective agency. Former homicide detective, Linnea Kent–along with her husband, an ex-professional MMA fighter and the unofficial brawn to her brains–puts her former life behind her and moves far away from the violence and death of her job in the big city to open up a quiet little detective agency in a quiet little town. At first, the simple cases this nook of the world has to offer were exactly what she was looking for. But there’s more to the quaint hamlet than Linnea could have possibly imagined, and something truly sinister pulling the strings… PINE AND MERRIMAC #1 features covers by Fran Galán, Erica Henderson (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl), Annie Wu (Black Canary), and Jae Lee (The Dark Tower). PINE AND MERRIMAC is the newest release from BOOM! Studios’ eponymous imprint, home to critically acclaimed original series, including BRZRKR by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt, and Ron Garney; Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera; Grim by Stephanie Phillips and Flaviano; Stuff of Nightmares by R.L. Stine and A.L. Kaplan; Damn Them All by Simon Spurrier and Charlie Adlard; Once Upon a Time at the End of the World by Jason Aaron, Alexandre Tefenkgi, Leila del Duca, and Nick Dragotta; Know Your Station by Sarah Gailey and Liana Kangas; A Vicious Circle by Mattson Tomlin and Lee Bermejo; The Neighbors by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and Letizia Cadonici; Ghostlore by Cullen Bunn and Leomacs; Sirens of the City by Joanne Starer and Khary Randolph; Coda by Simon Spurrier and Matías Bergara; Rare Flavours by Ram V and Filipe Andrade, and the upcoming Underheist by David and Maria Lapham. The imprint also publishes popular licensed properties, including Dune: House Harkonnen from Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, and Michael Shelfer; Mighty Morphin Power Rangers by Melissa Flores and Simona Di Gianfelice; and The Expanse: Dragon Tooth by Andy Diggle and Rubine. PINE AND MERRIMAC #1 will be on shelves January 3, 2024. It is available for pre-order at your local comic shop. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including iBooks, Google Play, and Kindle.

Pine and Merrimac #1 A Main: NOV230017

Pine and Merrimac #1 B Variant: NOV230018

Pine and Merrimac #1 C 1:10 INCV: NOV230019

Pine and Merrimac #1 D 1:25 INCV: NOV230020

Pine and Merrimac #1 E FOC Reveal Variant: NOV230021

Pine and Merrimac #1 F Unlockable Variant: NOV230022

Denis Villeneuve participated in a “Dune: Part Two” press conference in South Korea and went on record saying the upcoming “Part Two” is a “much better” movie than his 2021 original. The sequel, arriving in theaters in March 2024, once again stars Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya and picks up the story of Paul Atreides as he leads the Fremen in a battle against the villainous Harkonnen empire. Considering the first “Dune” movie was a box office hit with $402 million (despite being released on streaming at the same time) and an awards darling with 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture, and six wins (original score, sound, film editing, cinematography, production design and visual effects), it’s quite notable Villeneuve is going on record calling the upcoming sequel a better movie. The director has also gone on record expressing interest in making a third “Dune” movie, one based on Frank Herbert’s follow-up novel “Dune Messiah.” Back in August, Villeneuve told Empire magazine: “If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream. I will say, there are words on paper [for a third film].” (via Variety)

In Jonathan Hickman’s 2019 House of X and Powers of X, the dawn of Krakoa ushered in a revolutionary period of X-Men comic book storytelling. Now, the Krakoan age comes crashing down and the current group of X-creators are making sure it goes out on a high note! Two interconnected series—Gerry Duggan and Lucas Werneck’s FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X and Kieron Gillen and R.B. Silva’s RISE OF THE POWERS OF X—will close out the era. The mythos-shattering events of these twin sagas will bleed out into special limited series including CABLE, DEAD X-MEN, RESURRECTION OF MAGNETO, and X-MEN FOREVER. In addition, current X-Men ongoing titles WOLVERINE, X-FORCE, and X-MEN will also deal with the dramatic repercussions of Krakoa’s fall with the culmination of nearly five years’ worth of intricate plotting and redefining character arcs. Today, fans can learn about the various X-Men issues hitting stands in March. It’s the peak of the FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X and the final war of Krakoa is fought on multiple fronts throughout time and space! Harsh defeats and inspiring victories await as Nathan Summers teams up with his younger self to take down the new threat of the Neocracy in CABLE, Betsy Braddock assists a group of fallen X-Men on their desperate mission in DEAD X-MEN, and Storm and Magneto face off against an iconic X-Men villain in the afterlife in RESURRECTION OF MAGNETO. In addition, the Phoenix Force’s role in mutantkind’s future is revealed in X-MEN FOREVER and one of the greatest best friend duos in the Marvel Universe reunite for some good old fashioned vengeance in X-MEN #32! Also in March, Wolverine and Sabretooth continue their bloodiest and most momentous showdown ever in new installments of SABRETOOTH WAR and Beast finally gets what’s been coming to him as X-FORCE reaches its milestone 50th issue.

It looks like Marvel won’t be bringing its battle over the rights to Spider-Man and Doctor Strange into the new year. Attorneys for the company and the estate of Steve Ditko on Wednesday notified the court that they’ve reached an amicable settlement and expect a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice to be filed in the coming weeks. This all started back in 2021 when Marvel filed a series of lawsuits in response to copyright termination notices from Larry Lieber and the estates of Gene Colan, Steve Ditko, Don Heck and Don Rico. A very long list of characters were at issue including Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk and Thor. In June, all but one of the matters settled. The last remaining dispute was with the heirs of Ditko, who co-created Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Marvel was represented by Dan Petrocelli and Molly Lens of O’Melveny, and Patrick Ditko was represented by Marc Toberoff. (via The Hollywood Reporter)

After one Japanese title delivered at the sleepy December box office last weekend, that being Godzilla Minus One, here’s another that’s set to dominate: Studio Ghibli and GKIDS’ Hayao Miyazaki‘s The Boy and the Heron which is looking at a No. 1 lead with $10M+ after $2.39M Thursday and early access previews. The comp here is quite literally last weekend’s Japanese live-action title Godzilla Minus One which saw previews of $2.1M before minting a $4.7M Friday, and 3-day of $11.4M at 2,308 theaters. The Boy and the Heron played at 1,774 theaters yesterday in U.S. and Canada with showtimes starting at 5PM. The pic is booked at 2,205 theaters this weekend, including IMAX and PLF. It’s the first ever Studio Ghibli film to be presented in Imax. There were awards-qualifying preview engagements that began on Thanksgiving in New York and Los Angeles and those figures are going to be rolled into daily grosses on a prorated basis over the next two weeks per GKIDs. (via Deadline)

Loki scored its biggest tune-in of season two for the week of its finale, rising by almost 200 million minutes over the prior week. That’s the good news. The bad news for the Marvel/Disney+ series is that despite the jump, Loki still finished its second season well behind the first in terms of viewing time, according to Nielsen’s streaming ratings. Kids’ favorite Bluey led the overall rankings for the week of Nov. 6-12, and Friends continued to post higher than usual numbers two weeks after the death of star Matthew Perry. Loki had 753 million minutes of viewing for the week (its finale debuted on Nov. 9), a 34 percent jump from the previous week and its best showing of the season by a wide margin. The previous season two high was 588 million minutes for Oct. 9-15. Over the six weeks of season two, the series racked up about 3.39 billion minutes of viewing (including repeat viewing of the first season, as Nielsen counts all episodes of a show in its streaming rankings). Season one’s six episodes in the summer of 2021 amassed 5.23 billion minutes of viewing, putting season two down about 35 percent. (via THR)

At the core of the Marvel Universe, there exists a pantheon of omnipotent forces that shape the very building blocks of reality! Many of these strange beings have been around since the earliest days of Marvel Comics, and are now being transformed before reader’s eyes in Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti’s revolutionary G.O.D.S. series which will delve into their nature and motives like never before. And who better to spotlight their new designs than one of the pioneer architects of the Marvel cosmos—artist Ron Lim! Known for his galaxy shaping work on Silver Surfer and the Infinity sagas, Lim will depict Schiti’s new designs for Marvel’s cosmic entities in six COSMIC HOMAGE VARIANT COVERS. Gracing the covers of G.O.D.S. #3-8, see Lim take on Schiti’s modern looks for Oblivion, Living Tribunal, Master Chaos, Lord Order, Infinity, and Eternity in homages to his iconic covers for the Cosmic Powers series, the 1994 series where he and Ron Marz spun revelatory tales starring cosmic powerhouses like Thanos, Terrax, and more. “It’s so cool revisiting these covers after all these years,” Lim shared. “I remember how much fun I had working on them. Valerio Schiti’s new character designs are fantastic and it’s a blast drawing them on these homage covers!” Lim’s latest COSMIC HOMAGE VARIANT COVER for next month’s G.O.D.S. #4 showcases the new design for THE LIVING TRIBUNAL. Check it out now and preorder it at your local comic shop today!

The first teaser trailer for Mr. & Mrs. Smith from Amazon’s Prime Video showcases the beginnings of a relationship between its two lead characters — and a lot of bullets. The series, loosely based on the 2005 film starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, has Donald Glover and Maya Erskine playing the two title characters. The show is something of an inverse of the movie: Rather than a married couple discovering each other’s real job as a rival assassin, Glover and Erskine will play two people recruited for a spy agency and told to pose as a couple. The teaser showcases the relationship developing in between shots of gunfights, explosions and chase scenes. It also gives glimpses of some of the show’s stacked guest cast, which features Alexander Skarsgård, Eiza González, Sarah Paulson, Sharon Horgan, Ron Perlman, Billy Campbell, Úrsula Corberó, Paul Dano, Michaela Coel, John Turturro, Parker Posey and Wagner Moura. (via THR)

Teaser Trailer: https://youtu.be/dPhhRFkrNts

Today Skybound, in collaboration with leading toy and game company Hasbro, revealed all-new interior pages from G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #303 by legendary series writer Larry Hama (Marvel’s Wolverine), fan-favorite artist Chris Mooneyham (DC’s Nightwing, Sgt. Rock and the Unknown Soldier) and colorist Francesco Segala (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers). Featuring covers by the incomparable Andy Kubert (Marvel’s X-Men), issue #303 of the iconic series arrives in comic book shops on January 17, 2024. The Joes send a covert team to learn the truth about Springfield, but Serpentor Khan has a deadly surprise in store for them... In addition to the main cover by Andy Kubert and colorist Brad Anderson, issue #303 will also feature an open-to-order variant cover with a black and white version of Kubert’s stunning main cover, and a 1:10 incentive cover series by Brad Walker (Detective Comics) and colorist Francesco Segala. The return of G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero continues the historic collaboration between Skybound and Hasbro, alongside the all-new shared Energon Universe that features Void Rivals by Robert Kirkman (Invincible, The Walking Dead) and artist Lorenzo De Felici (Oblivion Song), TRANSFORMERS by writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson, Duke by writer Joshua Williamson (DC’s Superman, Dark Ride) and artist Tom Reilly (The Thing), and Cobra Commander by writer Joshua Williamson and artist Andrea Milana (Impact Winter: Rook). Fans should expect can’t-miss moments from every issue of the Energon Universe, as secrets are unveiled along the path to answering the BIG questions, including #WhereIsMegatron. G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #303 (Lunar Codes below SRP: $3.99) will be available on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 at comic book shops and digital platforms including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, comiXology, and Google Play.

The full list of variant covers is below:

G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #303 Cover A by Andy Kubert and Brad Anderson (Lunar Code)

G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #303 Cover B by Andy Kubert (Lunar Code)

G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #303 Cover C (1:10 incentive) by Brad Walker & Francesco Segala (Lunar Code)  

Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon is hitting Netflix a little bit early this month. On social media, the Netflix account teased a special December 21 release date at 7pm PT. So, the countdown is already on for Zack Snyder's latest project. CCXP last week brought some new reveals about the film. The convention also saw the director stepping onto the show floor to offer direct instruction to fans who wanted to get into their own custom trailer for the film. So, the hype just continues to build. In fact, Rebel Moon's first chapter is just the start of the ride with the sequel already announced and in the works. In the newest Rebel Moon teaser, the pulse-pounding action takes center stage. But, Rebel Moon: Part One: A Child of Fire fans are already whispering about the ending. Snyder only threw gasoline on the fire when he teased a cliffhanger in an interview with Total Film. "The truth is that movie one is a set-up for movie two," Snyder revealed. "The end is a crazy cliffhanger that launches you into The Scargiver." (via ComicBook.com)

Teaser: https://twitter.com/i/status/1732761897269633143