Host: Rob Logan [Twitter] [Twitch]

The Suicide Squad, The Witcher 3, & Universal movies on Prime Video – 2021-07-14

James Gunn wanted Dave Bautista for Peacemaker role

In a recent Entertainment Weekly interview, director James Gunn revealed that he originally wanted previous collaborator Dave Bautista to play the part of Peacemaker in his upcoming DC movie The Suicide Squad. Ultimately, the former WWE performer opted to turn down the offer in favor of the leading role he landed in Zach Snyder’s Army of the Dead. That’s when Gunn called John Cena, another actor with the same pro wrestling background.

In response, Cena said, “I didn’t look at myself as a second choice; I just looked at it as a chance to do the best I could.”

Fortunately for Cena, while The Suicide Squad is set to hit theaters and HBO Max on August 6th, an eight-episode spin-off Peacemaker series is scheduled to premiere on HBO Max in January of 2022.

DLC for The Witcher 3 to include items from Netflix series

CD Projekt Red will release its free next-gen update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt later this year. They’ll also be releasing free DLC inspired by Netflix’s live-action adaptation of The Witcher books. While the specific content of that DLC has not yet been shared, the key art shared by the studio makes mention of extra items. In 2020, the studio said those who already own the game on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One would get the new release for free, which is set to include features like ray tracing and faster loading times. In addition, Witcher fans can look forward to watching Nightmare of the Wolf, an animated prequel film centered on Geralt’s mentor, Vesemir next month, and season two of Netflix’s The Witcher in December.

Universal live-action movies coming to Amazon Prime Video

Amazon has struck a multi-year deal for exclusive Prime Video streaming rights for Universal’s live-action theatrical releases. As Deadline reports, it’s the first time Amazon has made such an agreement with a major US studio. The deal kicks in with Universal’s 2022 slate of movies. However, the deal is a little confusing, as it’s for a chunk of the pay-one window, which is the 18-month period after a movie’s theatrical run. Just recently, Universal and its NBCUniversal sibling Peacock reached a similar agreement for the first four and last four months of the window.

So, within four months of their theatrical release date, Universal’s live-action movies will start streaming on Peacock. Four months after that, they’ll move over to Prime Video for 10 months, then the films will go back to Peacock for at least another four months. Netflix currently streams Universal’s animated movies from Illumination and DreamWorks, and might still stream those animated releases for 10 months of the pay-one window that they’re not on Peacock, but either way, those films will also eventually hit Prime Video at a later date.