‘Tron: ares' is set to storm comic-con and more of what to expect on day 2
The other major presentations planned for Friday include updates on the final season of Outlander and its prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood Alien: Earth and Predator: Badlands.
An estimated 135,000 people from around the globe are expected to attend Comic-Con 2025, which runs through Sunday in downtown San Diego. Fans on opening day got a preview of Five Nights at Freddy's 2 The Toxic Avenger, and a joke-filled session with comedians Gabriel Fluffy Iglesias and Jo Koy.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Only banjos in the building: Steve Martin will co-host the 2025 IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards
Get those banjos ready because this isn't a joke: Actor and comedy legend Steve Martin will co-host the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards for the first time alongside Grammy-award winning roots musician Alison Smith. This years show will take place Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern in Chattanooga Tennessee at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium. Fans are able to purchase tickets via Ticketmaster. 'I'm thrilled to be hosting with Alison Brown and connecting with all my bluegrass friends as opposed to my kinda dumb comedy friends,' Martin said in a statement. 'The IBMA Awards show is always one of my very favorite nights of the year,' Brown added. 'I'm so honored to co-host this year with my banjo pal Steve Martin.' Martin is a longtime lover of bluegrass first picking up the banjo as a teenager. He's released a number of albums and even created the bluegrass musical Bright Star for Broadway – a complex love story set against the American South written by Martin and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Edie Brickell. In addition to their hosting duties, Martin and Brown's collaborative single 5 Days Out 2 Days Back has been nominated in three categories: song of the year, music video of the year, and collaborative recording of the year. IBMA is the International Bluegrass Music Association.
Al Arabiya
19 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Judge dismisses lawsuit filed by Alec Baldwin for malicious prosecution in fatal 'Rust' set shooting
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – A New Mexico judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by actor Alec Baldwin for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations in the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western movie 'Rust.' The judge in a ruling made public Wednesday dismissed the case without prejudice for lack of any significant action with the claim, which was filed in state district court earlier this year. Baldwin's attorneys will have 30 days to file a motion seeking reinstatement. Luke Nikas, Baldwin's lead attorney, told The Associated Press in an email that the dismissal amounted to a nonevent since his team has been waiting to prosecute the case. 'We have been in good-faith settlement discussions with the parties to the lawsuit and will be refiling promptly if those discussions are not promptly and favorably resolved,' he said. Defendants include special prosecutor Kari Morrissey and Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, along with three investigators from the Santa Fe County sheriff's office and the county board of commissioners. A charge of involuntary manslaughter against Baldwin was dismissed at trial last year on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense. The trial was upended by revelations that ammunition was brought into the Santa Fe County sheriff's office months earlier by a man who said it could be related to the killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The allegations in Baldwin's tort claim include defamation, with his attorneys saying that prosecutors and investigators targeted the actor and coproducer for professional or political gain. Hutchins died shortly after being wounded during a rehearsal for the movie 'Rust' in October 2021 at a film-set ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when it discharged, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer–but not the trigger–and the revolver fired. The actor recently spoke to The Associated Press at San Diego's Comic-Con International, saying he couldn't believe what happened that day in court as the trial came to an abrupt end and that his life over the last year has been far better than the few years that preceded it. Still, Baldwin and other producers of 'Rust' are being sued in New Mexico state court by the parents and younger sister of Hutchins. Court records show a deposition for Baldwin in that case was put off in May and has yet to be rescheduled.
Al Arabiya
21 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
American eagle's 'good jeans' ads with sydney sweeney spark a debate on race and beauty standards
US fashion retailer American Eagle Outfitters aimed for a big impact with its new ad campaign starring actor Sydney Sweeney. The campaign included clever and provocative language, intending to push boundaries, according to the company's chief marketing officer. The question now is whether the public reaction to the denim campaign is what American Eagle intended. Titled 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,' the campaign sparked debate about race, Western beauty standards, and the backlash against woke American politics and culture. Much of the negative reception focused on videos that used the word 'genes' instead of 'jeans' when discussing the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor known for the HBO series 'Euphoria' and 'White Lotus.' Some critics interpreted the wordplay as a nod, intentional or unintentional, to eugenics, a discredited theory that humanity could be improved through selective breeding. Marcus Collins, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, suggested the criticism could have been avoided by including models of various races making the 'genes' pun. Collins said, 'You can either say this was ignorance, or this was laziness, or say that this is intentional.' Other commenters on social media accused detractors of overanalyzing the campaign's message. Megyn Kelly, former Fox News host, wrote on X, 'I love how the leftist meltdown over the Sydney Sweeney ad has only resulted in a beautiful white blonde girl with blue eyes getting 1000x the exposure for her good genes.' American Eagle did not respond to requests for comment. The ad campaign comes as the retailer grapples with sluggish consumer spending and higher costs from tariffs. In late May, American Eagle reported that total sales were down 5 percent for its February-April quarter compared to the previous year. A day after Sweeney was announced as the company's latest celebrity collaborator, American Eagle's stock closed up more than 4 percent. The company's shares were trading nearly 2 percent on Wednesday. Like many trendy clothing brands, American Eagle needs to differentiate itself with a famous face or by saying something edgy, according to Alan Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce. Adamson compared the Sweeney campaign to Calvin Klein jeans ads from 1980 featuring a 15-year-old Brooke Shields. Chief Marketing Officer Craig Brommers told Retail Brew that 'Sydney is the biggest get in the history of American Eagle,' and the company planned a fitting promotion. The campaign features videos of Sweeney wearing slouchy jeans in various settings. Her image will appear on 3-D billboards in Times Square and elsewhere, on Snapchat, and in an AI-enabled try-on feature. American Eagle also plans to launch a limited-edition Sydney jean to raise awareness of domestic violence and donate the sales proceeds to the nonprofit Crisis Text Line. In a news release, the company noted Sweeney's 'girl next door charm' and 'main character energy.' In one video, Sweeney approaches an American Eagle billboard of herself with the tagline 'Sydney Sweeney has great genes,' then crosses out 'genes' and replaces it with 'jeans.' A teaser video showed Sweeney saying, 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue.' The video appeared on American Eagle's Facebook page but is not part of the official campaign. While remarking that someone has 'good genes' is sometimes a compliment, the phrase also has sinister connotations. Eugenics gained popularity in the early 20th century, and Nazi Germany embraced it to carry out Adolf Hitler's plan for an Aryan master race. Civil rights activists have noted signs of eugenics regaining a foothold through the far right's promotion of the 'great replacement theory,' a racist ideology alleging a conspiracy to diminish the influence of white people. Shalini Shankar, a cultural and linguistic anthropologist at Northwestern University, said she had problems with American Eagle's 'genes' versus 'jeans' campaign because it exacerbates a limited concept of beauty. 'American Eagle, I guess, wants to rebrand itself for a particular kind of white privileged American,' Shankar said. 'And that is the kind of aspirational image they want to circulate for people who want to wear their denim.' Many critics compared the American Eagle ad to a misstep by Pepsi in 2017. Pepsi released a TV ad that showed model Kendall Jenner offer a can of soda to a police officer while ostensibly stepping away from a photo shoot to join a crowd of protesters. Viewers mocked the spot for appearing to trivialize protests of police killings of Black people. Pepsi apologized and pulled the ad. The demonstrations following the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis pushed many US companies to make their advertising better reflect consumers of all races. Jazmin Burrell, founder of brand consulting agency Lizzie Della Creative Strategies, said she's noticed more ads and signs that prominently feature white models. 'I can see us going back to a world where diversity is not really the standard expectation in advertising,' Burrell said. American Eagle has been praised for diverse marketing in the past, including creating a denim hijab in 2017. Its Aerie lingerie brand was recognized for creating a wide range of sizes. A year ago, the company released a limited-edition denim collection with tennis player Coco Gauff. The retailer has an ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion program primarily geared toward employees. Two days before announcing the Sweeney campaign, American Eagle named the latest recipients of its scholarship award for employees who are driving anti-racism, equality, and social justice initiatives. Marketing experts offer mixed opinions on whether the attention surrounding 'good jeans' will be good for business. 'They were probably thinking that this is going to be their moment,' said Myles Worthington, the founder and CEO of marketing and creative agency WORTHI. 'But this is doing the opposite and deeply distorting their brand.' Melissa Murphy, a marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, said she liked certain parts of the campaign but hoped it would be expanded to showcase people besides Sweeney for the sake of the brand. Other experts say the buzz is good, even if it's not uniformly positive. 'If you try to follow all the rules, you'll make lots of people happy, but you'll fail,' Adamson said. 'The rocket won't take off.'
