Paul Glynn
Culture reporter
BBC/Disney/Marvel/Getty
This week, another new Marvel movie arrives in the form of Fantastic Four: First Steps.
But that’s not all the next seven days have in store.
Pokémon Presents appears to place Pikachu in the DJ booth, while Ray of Light-era Madonna gets the remix treatment, and Happy Gilmore returns to the greens after almost 30 years.
Read on for what’s coming up this week…
‘It’s clobberin’ time!’
The 37th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – the first of phase six – lands in UK cinemas from Thursday, so we hope you’ve been keeping up.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps stars Pedro Pascal as Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as the Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing – complete with his catchphrase: “It’s clobberin’ time!”
Set in the 1960s, the films sees the heroes forced to defend Earth from a hungry space god named Galactus, played by Ralph Ineson, and the Silver Surfer, played by Julia Garner.
But don’t worry if you haven’t seen all or any of the previous 36 MCU films, as director Matt Shakman says his latest attempt to bring comic book heroes to the big screen exists in its “own universe”.
“There’s really no [other] superheroes,” he told Empire. “There’s no Easter eggs. There’s no running into Iron Man or whatever. They’re it, in this universe. I love the interconnected Marvel Universe, but we get to do something so new and so different. Eventually, this world will meet up with other worlds – but for now this is our own little corner.”
John Malkovich was due to appear in the film as Red Ghost, however Shakman told Variety it was “heart-breaking” to ultimately have to leave his scenes on the cutting room floor.
Gilmore happy to be back
BBC/Getty
Adam Sandler’s much-loved goofball golfer Happy Gilmore is back on the greens for the first time in nearly three decades, so watch your heads.
The original 1996 movie saw the aspiring hockey player switch sports to comedic effect, and now Sandler, 58, will reprise his role on Netflix from Friday.
Happy Gilmore 2 will see the main character dusting off his clubs in order to raise money to put his daughter Vienna, played by the actor’s real life daughter Sunny Sandler, through ballet school.
Other stars of the original including Julie Bowen, Dennis Dugan, Christopher McDonald and Ben Stiller all return.
New faces also join such as Lavell Crawford – who plays the son of Gilmore’s late, great caddy Chubbs Peterson (Carl Weathers) – and Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, as well as Kym Whitley.
Gotta mix ’em all
By Andrew Rogers, Newsbeat reporter
Here’s a question for you. What do you get when you cross Pikachu with a set of DJ decks? We have no idea either but we’re set to find out on Tuesday during the Pokémon Company’s latest announcement round-up for the months ahead.
Known as Pokémon Presents, these livestreams reveal everything coming up for the fictional creatures: from their trading card game to collaborations with big fashion houses.
This time, it’s been teased with a picture of its main mascot Pikachu with DJ equipment, leading some to speculate there could be a new rhythm game on the way.
More certain is that we’ll hear more about the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A game, as well as updates on Pokémon’s growing number of mobile games.
If that wasn’t enough Pokémon, we may also see more from the next series of Netflix spin-off show Pokémon Concierge launching in September too.
Madonna in the mix
BBC/Getty
Perhaps like DJ Pikachu, the Queen of Pop, Madonna, is set to drop her long rumoured and superbly named Veronica Electronica project on Friday.
The album features rare and unreleased remixes from her dancefloor-filling, Grammy-winning electronic 1998 album Ray of Light, which, at the time, put her back at the very top of the pop game once again in her 40th year.
It’s being released digitally and on vinyl – for all you crate diggers – as part of her Silver Collection of ongoing career-spanning special releases.
Last month, the US singer, now 66, released Peter & Victor’s Collaboration Remix Edit of her song Skin as the first offering, followed by a previously-unreleased original demo from the classic album sessions entitled Gone Gone Gone.
Other highlights this week
- A love story from the Second World War era, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, begins on BBC One and iPlayer from Sunday at 21:15 BST
- Super Mario Party Jamboree Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV – to give the update to the popular family game its full name – is available from Thursday, with new features, modes and minigames
- The Modfather Paul Weller returns on Friday with a new album of unexpected covers and golden oldies, called Find El Dorado