Frank Fritz, who served as the co-host on American Pickers for more than a decade, has passed away at the age of 60.

American Pickers co-host Mike Wolfe – who scoured the country in that famous white van with Fritz, searching for treasures both lost and sacred – shared the news on social media, paying touching tribute to his friend. “It’s with a broken heart that I share with all of you that Frank passed away last night. I’ve know Frank for more then half my life and what you’ve seen on TV has always been what I have seen, a dreamer who was just as sensitive as he was funny. The same off camera as he was on, Frank had a way of reaching the hearts of so many by just being himself.”

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A post shared by Mike Wolfe (@mikewolfeamericanpicker)

Wolfe concluded his message with, “Before the show we would take off together to places we never knew existed with no destination in mind and just the shared passion to discover something interesting and historic. We’ve been on countless trips and shared so many miles and I feel blessed that I was there by his side when he took one last journey home. I love you buddy and will miss you so much I know your in a better place.”

The structure of American Pickers found both Wolfe and Fritz taking to the highways and backroads of America, constantly looking to add to their collection of what might be considered “one man’s junk.” With the right amount of digging and haggling, the boys would often come home with just what they wanted. Fritz’s passions in particular lied in motorcycles, with his expertise unrivaled on similar programs. It was this – and his chemistry with Wolfe – that helped make American Pickers an immensely enjoyable show to watch and gave viewers a different glimpse into that pocket of the country. The show airs on History.

Fritz left American Pickers in 2021 amid health issues, and in 2022 he suffered a stroke. While he didn’t get back on the road with Wolfe, the show did continue and currently has 25 seasons.

RIP, Frank Fritz.

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Well, this could be fun. Deadline reports that DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation are developing Dynamic Duo, an origin movie which follows the early days of Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, two characters who held the mantle of Robin. The project will use a technology called Momo Animation, which is said to be a cross between stop-motion puppetry, CGI animation, and live-action real-time performance. I’m intrigued. It’s said that the technique is “visually breathtaking, dynamically expressive, and more human.“

Dynamic Duo will be made by Swaybox, a new animation studio set up by Arthur Mintz and Theresa Andersson. The film “follows the early days of Dick Grayson and Jason Todd aka the Robins. The duo call themselves the Dynamic Duo.  They’re orphan thieves, best friends who share dreams of a better life, but their friendship will be tested by competing visions of a future out of which will come a new Dynamic Duo….” Mintz will direct the movie from a script by Matthew Aldrich.

Swaybox was the studio behind the viral NFL Superbowl LVI commercial directed by Peter Berg in 2022. You can check out a behind-the-scenes video of the process right here.

James Gunn, Peter Safran, Theresa Andersson, and Matt Reeves will produce the project. In a statement, Reeves said, “I have wanted to make a film with Arthur and Swaybox for many years, and for that film to be Dynamic Duo, an incredibly special and unique Batman and Robin story for families, is a dream.” Despite Reeves’ involvement, it should be noted that the project isn’t connected to The Batman or The Penguin canon.

Gunn took to social media to offer his own statement. “Over the moon excited to announce the newest DC Studios/Warner Bros Pictures Animation greenlit film for theaters, DYNAMIC DUO, the story of Robin… or should I say, Robins, as in Dick Grayson and Jason Todd,” Gunn wrote. “The first feature film from the visionary Swaybox, a mix of animation, puppetry, and CGI, a script from the wonderfully talented Matt Aldrich, produced with our partners at Matt Reeves’ 6th & Idaho. This is something special.“

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Netflix has released a handful of first-look images for The Electric State, the new film from Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo. Based on the illustrated novel by Simon Stålenhag, the film takes place in an alternate, retro-futuristic version of the 1990s where sentient robots, who once peacefully served among humans, now live in exile following a failed uprising.

Check out the first-look images for The Electric State below!

The official synopsis for The Electric State reads: “The Electric State is a spectacular adventure from the directors of Avengers: Endgame set in an alternate, retro-futuristic version of the 1990s. Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) stars as Michelle, an orphaned teenager navigating life in a society where sentient robots resembling cartoons and mascots, who once served peacefully among humans, now live in exile following a failed uprising. Everything Michelle thinks she knows about the world is upended one night when she’s visited by Cosmo, a sweet, mysterious robot who appears to be controlled by Christopher — Michelle’s genius younger brother whom she thought was dead. Determined to find the beloved sibling she thought she had lost, Michelle sets out across the American southwest with Cosmo, and soon finds herself reluctantly joining forces with Keats (Chris Pratt, Guardians of the Galaxy), a low-rent smuggler, and his wisecracking robot sidekick, Herman (voiced by Anthony Mackie). As they venture into the Exclusion Zone, a walled-off corner in the desert where robots now exist on their own, Keats and Michelle find a strange, colorful group of new animatronic allies — and begin to learn that the forces behind Christopher’s disappearance are more sinister than they ever expected.“

The Electric State stars Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Norman, Giancarlo Esposito, and Stanley Tucci. The film also features the vocal talents of Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Hank Azaria, Colman Domingo, and Alan Tudyk. Anthony and Joe Russo direct from a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely.

While speaking with Vanity Fair, Anthony Russo says that the movie will be a “bridge” for their return to Marvel now that they’ve been tapped to helm Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. “This was unintentional as of several months ago, but this movie is actually a remarkable sort of bridge for us back to that,” Anthony Russo said. “It’s an interesting prelude to returning to Marvel and trying to continue that story forward.“

The film will debut on Netflix in March 2025.

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Daniel Day-Lewis is one of our greatest living actors, and he’s set to return to the big screen seven years after he announced his (second) retirement. He will star in Anemone, a new film from Focus Features and Plan B, which will be the directorial debut of his son, Ronan Day-Lewis.

“We could not be more excited to partner with a brilliant visual artist in Ronan Day-Lewis on his first feature film alongside Daniel Day-Lewis as his creative collaborator,” Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski said in a statement. “They have written a truly exceptional script, and we look forward to bringing their shared vision to audiences alongside the team at Plan B.” Day-Lewis also co-wrote the script alongside his son, which is being described as “an exploration of the intricate relationships between fathers, son and brothers as well as the dynamics of familial bonds.“

The film also stars Sean Bean, Samantha Morton, Samuel Bottomley, and Safia Oakley-Green.

More to come…

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After three seasons on Disney+, The Mandalorian will be making the leap to the big screen with The Mandalorian & Grogu. It remains to be seen where the character will go next, but Giancarlo Esposito believes that the Mandalorian movie will be the first of a new Star Wars trilogy.

The actor, who plays Moff Gideon in the series, spoke to fans during an appearance at Dragon Con (via Culture Slate). “As in the MCU… Disney will figure out how to join all of these characters into one really great movie or TV show. That’s my sense of where it will go,” Esposito said. “Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau have a new vision, continuing on with a Mandalorian movie… My sense is that it’s all going to converge at one point or another and we’re going to have another set of… [a] trilogy, or more, of films.“

The Mandalorian remains one of the most popular Star Wars projects produced during the Disney era of the franchise. This is just Esposito’s opinion, but it’s easy to believe that The Mandalorian (as well as the other shows that take place in the post-Return of the Jedi timeline) could take the lead for a new trilogy.

The Mandalorian & Grogu is currently in production under the direction of Jon Favreau. He will also produce alongside Kathleen Kennedy and Dave Filoni. “I have loved telling stories set in the rich world that George Lucas created,” Favreau said. “The prospect of bringing the Mandalorian and his apprentice Grogu to the big screen is extremely exciting.” Kathleen Kennedy added, “Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have ushered into Star Wars two new and beloved characters, and this new story is a perfect fit for the big screen.” Aside from Pedro Pascal as the titular Mandalorian, Sigourney Weaver is the only other confirmed member of the cast thus far.

In addition to The Mandalorian movie, we’ve also got Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s post-Rise of Skywalker film about Rey (Daisy Ridley) rebuilding the Jedi Order. Dave Filoni is also said to be developing a New Republic movie, which will tie together the stories featured in The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and The Book of Boba Fett.

There will also be a project directed by James Mangold (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) that takes place 25,000 years before the Skywalker Saga and explores the first Jedi and the discovery of the Force. “It was something that Jim [Mangold] immediately sparked to, and I think it’s a really nice compliment to what we’re doing with moving into the future with Rey, and then understanding a bit more of where this all came from,” Kennedy explained. “Because it will be at the heart of creating the new Jedi Order, so to get a real sense of where that might have began with the dawn of the Jedi could be pretty cool.“

The Mandalorian & Grogu will be released in theaters on May 22, 2026.

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1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street introduced the world to a new slasher icon: Freddy Krueger. The burned-up child murderer with a razor glove who hunts kids in their sleep to kill them was played by Robert Englund in eight films and a TV series. And while many might wish he would return to the role following 2010’s…

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1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street introduced the world to a new slasher icon: Freddy Krueger. The burned-up child murderer with a razor glove who hunts kids in their sleep to kill them was played by Robert Englund in eight films and a TV series. And while many might wish he would return to the role following 2010’s…

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Every October, without fail, I recommit to watching and playing as many horror movies and games as I can possibly fit. For one reason or another, however, I always drop off about halfway through the month with just a handful of accomplishments to actually show for my effort, and I’m sure this year will be no…

Read more…

Every October, without fail, I recommit to watching and playing as many horror movies and games as I can possibly fit. For one reason or another, however, I always drop off about halfway through the month with just a handful of accomplishments to actually show for my effort, and I’m sure this year will be no…

Read more…

This camera, this camera, this camera – tell the people what you have going on! First We Feast’s Hot Ones has become a pop culture phenomenon, but one thing it doesn’t have going for it is The Rock. Hot Ones has well over 300 episodes at this point but one of the most high-profile guests they haven’t been able to land is Dwayne Johnson…and it comes down to one specific request.

As host Sean Evans told Bloomberg, a mixture of demands and things cooling off have kept Dwayne Johnson out of the hot seat. “We’ve been pitching [The Rock] obviously for years and one time I got a note back that was like, ‘would you be willing to do, instead of wings, grilled salmon strips?’ And in my head I was like, that had to come from his mouth … that’s as close as we’ve gotten. And then it fell through.”

While plenty of Hot Ones guests have gone with vegan chicken wings, like Natalie Portman, Paul Rudd and “Weird Al” Yankovic, that Johnson requested something completely out of the realm of one of the show’s key hooks puts him in a field of his own. While having Johnson on the show would no doubt result in a cool interview – and we’d love to see him suffer a bit during The Last Dab – it just wouldn’t be the same without chicken wings. And considering his diet would absolutely include that form of protein, it stands as a pretty odd request.

Hot Ones launched nearly a decade ago in March 2015 but has picked up a lot of steam over the past few years. Such an internet powerhouse it has become that Netflix has reportedly been in talks to have Sean Evans host a number of live episodes. Hey, if they’re showcasing hot dog-eating contests, why not some conversation over hot wings?

Recent Hot Ones guests include Vince Vaughn, Ariana Grande, SZA, Heidi Klum, and even Donald Duck, invited on as part of the cartoon’s 90th anniversary.

What are your thoughts on Dwayne Johnson’s demands in order to appear on Hot Ones? Should the show relent or stand their ground?

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