Turning Red to be a Disney+ streaming exclusive

Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red will bypass theatres and make its debut exclusively as a streaming premiere on Disney+. The film will still keep its premiere date of March 11.

It’s the latest film to either move off its theatrical spot or pivot to streaming in the wake of the spread of omicron, after Morbius shifted its January release to later in April.

Turning Red will still be released theatrically internationally where Disney+ isn’t available. The movie is about Mei Lee, a confident, dorky 13-year-old who discovers that when she gets too excited, she accidentally “poofs” into a giant red panda. The film features the voice talent of Rosalie Chiang and Sandra Oh.

Dwayne Johnson challenges Cookie Monster!

Dwayne Johnson may be leaving the Fast and Furious franchise in the rear-view, but he’s already speeding ahead to a new destination: Sesame Street.

The star has officially served the block’s resident cookie chomper, Cookie Monster, with a baked goods smack down challenge. “Tell Cookie Monster to move it over, cuz I’m coming to Sesame Street …. to eat cookies,” the wrestler, known as The Rock, tweeted at C.M.’s fuzzy pal, Elmo. “And I’m almost all out of cookies.”

Cookie Monster wasted little time responding to Johnson’s bluster. “Me say cookie challenge accepted,” Sesame Street’s sweet-toothed citizen replied.

It’ll be the first time that Johnson has ever appeared on Sesame Street.

Charles Martinet dreams in 2D

For many Nintendo fans, Charles Martinet truly is Mario. The voice actor has been bringing the character to life for nearly 30 years, and wants to continue doing so until the day he dies.

During a new interview with Games Radar+’s Retro Gamer team, Martinet revealed that he sometimes even dreams as the character, and some of those dreams take place in 2D, just like in Mario’s earliest adventures!

The voice actor has also brought several other Nintendo characters to life over the years, including Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi. Fans were shocked when Nintendo and Universal revealed that Martinet will not be playing the role of Mario in the upcoming Illumination animated film. The role will instead be played by Chris Pratt, while Luigi will be voiced by Charlie Day. Martinet will instead be voicing multiple cameo roles in the movie.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 15th, 2022