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By now, most of us have heard whispers of Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe, Ubisoft’s mysterious, witchy new installment in the Assassin’s Creed universe. But behind the eerie teaser, the game’s creative director, Clint Hocking, has been brewing up more than just dark magic.

In a recent interview, Hocking confessed to the sins he committed while working on the game, whose name he’d never want to conjure again: Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Yes, that beloved stealth classic. Why? Because it was a full-blown development nightmare for him.

From stealth missions to stress: Assassin’s Creed Hexe Director had it all

Back in the early 2000s, Hocking wasn’t just the creative director, he was also the lead level designer and scriptwriter. That’s three full-time jobs. At once. And on a two-year tight deadline. Cue 80-hour work weeks, memory loss, and what he once described as literal brain damage.

The Sailor Moonanime is an epic fantasy classic for a reason. It starts out in the modern-day real world and follows a regular schoolgirl with her fair share of flaws and everyday concerns, but just beneath the surface is an extraordinary story. Usagi Tsukino has past-life ties to the lofty Moon Kingdom, which has a rich celestial history.

Naoko Takeuchi thoughtfully crafted the original Sailor Moon manga series. She poured all of her own interests into it, from folklore to fashion to science. There are nuanced rules to her world-building that may not be apparent to the casual viewer or easily memorable to audiences who grew up with the series but haven't revisited it in a while.

Updated by Lauren Younkin on March 22, 2025: Sailor Moon is a long-running franchise with a storied history, and the same can be said for its worldbuilding. With many different eras that include multiple versions of the beloved characters,...

Indonesian auteur Timo Tjahjanto (The Night Comes for Us, May the Devil Take You, V/H/S/94) is back with new movie The Shadow Strays, and it’s headed to Netflix soon.

The Shadow Strays premieres on Netflix October 17, 2024.

Watch the violent official teaser trailer below…

In The Shadow Strays, “Codename 13 (Aurora Ribero), a 17-year-old trained assassin, is under suspension because of a sloppy mission in Japan. The girl built a conscience when she met Monji, an 11-year-old boy who lost his mother to a crime syndicate.

“When Monji is captured, 13 is hell-bent on setting a path of destruction to rescue the boy, including going against her mentor and the organization that hires her, the Shadow.”

Hana Malasan, Taskya Namya, Agra Piliang, Andri Mashadi, Adinia Wirasti, Nobuyuki Suzuki, Tanta Ginting, Ali Fikry, and Kin Wah Chew also star.

The post ‘The Shadow Strays’ Teaser Trailer – Timo Tjahjanto’s Netflix...

Netflix has just announced its complete Fall 2024 lineup, giving us premiere dates for a small handful of horror movies coming to the streaming service this Halloween season.

Netflix previews in an official statement, “Netflix is firing up a new slate of thrilling titles just in time for autumn, and you’re invited to sit down and warm up. So turn on the TV and take a peek at your options — there are plenty of new movies just around the corner this fall.”

Here are the horror highlights from Netflix’s Fall 2024 schedule…

It’S What’S Inside – October 4

Fresh off the film’s premiere at Sundance earlier this year, Netflix opened up their check book and shelled out a whopping $17 million to acquire worldwide rights to It’s What’s Inside.

Oscar nominee Colman Domingo is an Exec Producer on It’s What’s Inside, the thriller that drew raves at...

Codename: Kids Next Door deserves a sequel that follows up on the creator's ideas for a follow-up series. The Galactic Kids Next Door would be a dark follow-up with global stakes and a major role reversal. Modern updates and turning Numbuh One as a complex villain could bring back the beloved Cartoon Network series.

One of Cartoon Network's most entertaining original shows, Codename: Kids Next Door, deserves a follow-up sixteen years after it concluded, and it already has the perfect set up. Cartoon Network has been behind many of animation's most memorable creations, with shows like Adventure Time and Steven Universe expanding beyond their original runs to incorporate spin-offs and sequel shows. Reboots of properties like The Powerpuff Girls and Ben 10 have been produced, but one of the best candidates for a follow-up only remains a possibility. However, the show's creator has teased what a sequel would be like if it were produced.

The 2024 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival is set to run from Thursday, September 5th through Sunday, September 15th in Toronto, Ontario, Canada – and with the start of the festivities just a month and a half away, TIFF has announced this year’s Midnight Madness lineup! The Midnight Madness program is considered to be “the wild side” of the film festival, as it involves “screenings of the best in action, horror, shock and fantasy cinema.” As reported by Deadline, the 2024 Midnight Madness lineup consists of ten films and “features five world premieres, all of which will screen at Toronto’s historic — and allegedly haunted — Royal Alexandra Theatre.”

Midnight Madness will open with the North American premiere of Revenge director Coralie Fargeat’s body horror film The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. Revenge was also part of a TIFF Midnight Madness lineup, so this is a bit of a homecoming for Fargeat.

Hacks will deliver Max comedy with a bevy of guest stars slated for the upcoming season.

Helen Hunt, Christina Hendricks, Christopher Lloyd, Dan Bucatinsky, George Wallace and Tony Goldwyn are all set to appear in Season 3, TVLine has learned. Character details remain Tba.

More from TVLineTVLine Items: Kelsea Ballerini to Host CMT Music Awards, Supernatural Vet's K-Drama Gig and MoreJesse Williams Tapped to Lead New Amazon Drama - What Does This Mean for Only Murders Season 4?And Just Like That: Sara Ramírez Not Returning as Che Diaz in Season 3

This comes after it was previously announced that Megan Stalter and Paul W. Downs,...

Exclusive: SkyShowtime’s drama original Codename: Annika is taking its art crime sensibilities around the world.

In one of the few international distribution stories you’ll read this week not directly related to the London TV Screenings, Mediawan Rights has snapped up sales rights to the Swedish-Finnish series.

Mediawan will sell it outside of European streamer SkyShowtime’s footprint, which covers parts of mainland and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, and second window rights within the operating territories.

Codename: Annika stars Sannah Nedergård as Emma Haka, a Finnish art crime investigator who infiltrates an auction in Stockholm during an undercover mission that proves to be more dangerous than expected. She is forced to assume a wild and fiery alias, Annika Stormare, and the lines between the two personalities begin to blur.

“We are proud to add this SkyShowtime Original Series to our distribution line-up, enriching Mediawan Rights’ catalogue and strengthening our international development strategy,...

New projects from Jenni Toivoniemi, Jon Blåhed, Erol Mintaş and Ester Martin Bergsmark are among selection

The Finnish Film Affair (Ffa), Helsinki International Film Festival’s industry strand, has unveiled the line-up for its market showcase of Nordic films and Finnish series running September 20-22.

Among the 31 projects selected is Jenni Toivoniemi’s comedy Butterflies, the director’s second feature after Games People Play which was also presented at the Ffa.

Also being showcased is Jon Blåhed’s new feature Raptures; Erol Mintaş’ Earth Song; Ester Martin Bergsmark’s Land Of Ferns; and Marika Harjusaari’s The Mire from the producer of Hatching.

‘Codename: Annika’: SkyShowtime Unveils Cast & Trailer

SkyShowtime has unveiled cast and trailer for Codename: Annika, one of the fledgling Paramount/Comcast Jv’s biggest originals to date. The series follows a Finnish detective, Emma Haka, played by Sannah Nedergård (Yellow Sulphur Sky), who is still completing her undercover training when she gets sent on a mission into Stockholm’s corrupt world of fine art trade. Unveiled at the Stockholm International Film Festival, Codename from Mia Ylönen and Aleksi Bardy will star the likes of Ardalan Esmaili (Easy Money) as Rasmus Ståhlgren, Eva Melander (Border) as Rina Olander and Helena Bergström (House of Angels) as Agatha Torstensson, along with Pekka Strang (Tom of Finland) as Raimo Korpi, Clarisse Lhoni-Botte (Rolling to You) as Béatrice Joly and Charles Martins (Emily in Paris) as Denver Carpentier. Show will launch next month on the streaming service that is available in territories in which...

Glamorous star of the 1960s television adventure series The Champions who went on to run an animal sanctuary

Alexandra Bastedo, who has died of cancer aged 67, found fame and sex-symbol status playing the secret agent and scientist Sharron Macready in the 1960s television fantasy series The Champions. She appeared with William Gaunt as Richard Barrett and Stuart Damon as Craig Stirling in the show about three agents working for the Geneva-based law-enforcement organisation Nemesis who gain superhuman powers after being rescued from a plane crash in Tibet by a mysterious lost tribe. With computer-like intelligence and Olympian levels of strength and endurance, they can communicate by telepathy and are assigned to cases where world stability is under threat.

It was one of the globally successful series made by the television mogul Lew Grade's international production and distribution company Itc. Bastedo described her butt-kicking character as a "gutsy girl before...

When it comes to foreign language films, fans are split into two groups; those who like them with subtitles, and those who prefer them dubbed into English. For a foreign movie to make any kind of commercial impact beyond the art-house circuit, they would need to be made, or at least be reasonably well dubbed, in English, since it’s the most common language for mainstream cinema entertainment. All too often dubbing tends to dampen the impact of a very good film, especially if the actors’ English voices sound completely wrong. Brilliant movies such as the French cop thriller La Balance (1982) and the Japanese social drama Battle Royale (2002) would never achieve their iconic status if they were released in badly dubbed English.

But dubbing can work to hilarious effect in the Godzilla movies and with some of the lesser spaghetti westerns. In some cases low budget American producers buy the...