Media mogul Mo Abudu and Hollywood star Idris Elba are joining forces to empower talent from Africa and the diaspora through their respective production companies, Green Door Pictures and EbonyLife Media, per a report on Variety. The new partnership aims to provide opportunities through capacity building as well as large-scale global productions. New education and mentoring initiatives will launch through the partnership to foster both the lost generation and a new generation of creatives.

Through their collaboration, Elba and Abudu aim to nurture a more inclusive and diverse media landscape for stories from Africa and its diaspora. They are calling on industry leaders, the wider public sector, governments and multilateral agencies to help them grow talent globally and build capacity around the continent of Africa.

Abudu and Elba want to build on industry education in order to support and empower African talent. This will be achieved primarily through EbonyLife’s Creative Academy in Lagos, Nigeria, which will support graduates from the program.

The duo will also create a new development slate of stories originating out of Africa or set in the diaspora as feature films and TV series for the global market. The slate will focus on bringing authentic, Afro-centric stories that resonate with audiences around the world. The co-productions will target broadcasters and streamers as well as the theatrical market.

Abudu added: “We believe that Africa has the talent and the stories to captivate the world. It’s our mission to offer the best in industry education, mentorship, and production opportunities, so that our graduates can become valuable contributors to the global media landscape. We plan to hit the ground running and explore the very best that African and Black stories have to offer global audiences.”

Elba said: “I have always been passionate about using my platform to make a positive impact. By partnering with Mo, we aim to offer free, world-class industry education to the next generation of storytellers and bring their authentic voices to the forefront. This partnership is a step towards creating a more inclusive and diverse media landscape, one that represents the voices and experiences of Africa and its diaspora around the world.”

Source: Variety

The third movie in the pint-sized Marvel hero’s franchise, ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ has been premiered in Nigeria today, earlier than expected by a full 24 hours. While good news for teeming fans, the early-bird reviews the flick has been receiving have been less than stellar. One particularly caustic review likened it to Marvel’s biggest bomb, ‘The Eternals’. Whether the negative word-of-mouth will cause a chink in the film’s armour remains to be seen, as sometimes critics and the paying public have divergent views.

All the theatres across major Nigerian cities like Abuja, Lagos, and Porth Harcourt, which are part of major chains, have updated info online showing double viewings in both regular and 3-D versions.

All the theatres across major Nigerian cities like Abuja, Lagos, and Porth Harcourt, which are part of major chains, have updated info online showing double viewings in both regular and 3-D versions.

The new movie takes place almost entirely in the Quantum Realm, a mutating sub-atomic sphere that exists outside our space-time continuum. It’s essentially an anything-goes FX playground, where our heroes (Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lily as the titular masked crusaders) go for their new adventure, seeing the introduction of classic baddie MODOK, as well as the MCU’s next major villain, Kang the Conqueror, played commandingly by Jonathan Majors.

The story is said to be a crucial one for the next direction the sprawling Marvel cinematic universe heads to.

Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are poised to return to direct the next film in the ‘Bad Boys’ franchise. Sony Pictures confirmed that the as-of-yet untitled sequel is in early pre-production with the ‘Ms. Marvel’ showrunners returning to direct from a script by Chris Bremner. The filmmakers, who also helmed Warner Bros.’ scrapped ‘Batgirl’ movie, directed 2020’s ‘Bad Boys for Life’, which reunited Smith and Lawrence as detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, 25 years after the first ‘Bad Boys’ film was released.

Shortly after the threequel hit theaters, Sony announced that a fourth ‘Bad Boys’ film was in development, and ‘Bad Boys for Life’ went on to earn $426.5 million at the worldwide box office as one of the last pre-pandemic era blockbusters.

Smith and Lawrence announced that the upcoming movie was officially charging ahead by releasing a reunion video on social media with the caption, “IT’S ABOUT THAT TIME!”

The video follows Smith as he drives to Lawrence’s home (camera in tow), saying, “Yo, I’ve got an announcement. Y’all better stop scrolling.” As a little hint, Smith plays the opening bars of “Shake Ya Tailfeather,” Nelly, P. Diddy and Murphy Lee’s song from the 2003 ‘Bad Boys II’ soundtrack. “I wish I was you, not knowing what I’m about to show me.”

Arriving at Lawrence’s door, the duo declare that the fourth film is officially on the way. “It’s about that time!” Lawrence yells. “Bad boys for life baby,” Smith chimes in, calling out the duo’s catchphrase and reinforcing the “For life,” as they comically acknowledge that the third film’s title effectively wasted the pun they could’ve used for the upcoming fourth movie. “We shouldn’t have called it that though,” Smith quips.

In July, Lawrence gave an update on the project in an interview for the cover of Ebony magazine, confirming that the movie was still in development after Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, which had caused some to speculate about its fate.