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We are now only a couple of weeks away from Disney+ finally hitting our screens and even though we now know almost everything that is coming to the giant new streaming service, the company still has some tricks up their sleeve as we learned today at an exciting event in Hollywood. Presented in conjunction with the International Documentary Association the Mouse House unveiled a slate of new non-fiction programming as well as premiering some of their most anticipated documentary shows.

During the presentation at Neuehouse, the studio was intent on putting across their experience in documentary film making.  “Disney has a rich history in nonfiction storytelling that dates back to the 1940s,”  Ricky Strauss, president, content & marketing, Disney+ said. “The projects announced and showcased here today reflect Disney+’s commitment to building on Walt’s storytelling ethos and core values of creativity, innovation, and exploration.”

As well as the new projects, which you can read all about below they also previewed Kristen Bell’s Encore! About high school drama groups reuniting to put on their performance one more time, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, which follows the titular eccentric as he explores things that people love through his own unique lens, and most excitingly for parks and Disney diehards Leslie Iwerks (yes the granddaughter of UB!) The Imagineering Story which delves into the world of the people who create the experiences at Disney’s worldwide network of theme parks. 

Howard

“Disney+ has acquired the worldwide distribution rights for the critically acclaimed documentary Howard. Directed by Don Hahn (Beauty and the Beast), Howard is the untold story of Howard Ashman, the brilliant lyricist behind Disney classics like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and creator of musicals including Little Shop of Horrors. The film will stream exclusively on Disney+ in 2020.”

Marvel 616

Disney

“Multi-talented artist Gillian Jacobs (“Love, “Community”) will direct the first episode in the previously announced documentary anthology series Marvel’s 616. From the perspective of what it means to be a woman in what’s perceived to be a male-driven industry, “Higher, Further, Faster” will shine a light on the trailblazing women of Marvel Comics and explores how they found ways to tell stories of representation and inclusion. Jacobs will be joined by Paul Scheer, David Gelb, and Andrew Rossi, among others, to helm additional episodes of the series. The episodes will focus on a range of topics including an intimate look at the cosplay community, Marvel’s influence and relationship with hip-hop, illustrators who live and work internationally, and following a high school theater production of Marvel and Disney’s “Spotlight” program. Marvel’s 616 will stream exclusively on Disney+ in 2020.”

Untitled Micky Mouse Documentary

Disney

“Academy Award, Grammy Award, and Emmy Award-winning documentarian Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, 20 Feet From Stardom) is producing an untitled Mickey Mouse Documentary for the service. Directed by Jeff Malmberg (Marwencol, Shangri-La), the film will work to decode Mickey’s deeper significance, getting to the core of what his cultural impact says about each of us, and about our world. From Tremolo Productions and Lincoln Square Productions, the film will strive to be the definitive analysis of Mickey as a cultural icon.”

People and Places

Disney

“People & Places will re-launch Walt Disney’s Academy Award-winning series of documentary short films. Following in Walt’s footsteps, the series will focus on real-life stories of extraordinary people and places from around the globe that embody the Disney ethos — all told by a mix of up-and-coming and established filmmakers.”

Science Fair

Disney

“Disney+ will also be the exclusive global streaming home for National Geographic’s Emmy Award-winning documentary film Science Fair, which will be available when the service launches on November 12. The winner of audience awards at Sundance Film Festival and SXSW Film Festival, Science Fair follows nine high school students from around the globe as they navigate rivalries, setbacks and, of course, hormones, on their journey to compete at The International Science and Engineering Fair.”

Wolfgang

Disney+

“Wolfgang, directed by David Gelb (Jiro Dreams of Sushi), will be an intimate portrait of the life and work of the original “celebrity chef,” Wolfgang Puck.”

You’ll be able to check out all of these and more when Disney+ hits on November 12th.

The post Disney+ Reveals an Exciting Slate of Non-Fiction Programming appeared first on Nerdist.

A white South Carolina DJ has been accused of trafficking Black girls, with some speculating the numbers could be in the hundreds.

Jason Roger Pope, also known as DJ KID, faced a judge earlier on Monday in a bond hearing in which he withdrew his request for the hearing. However, his lawyer noted they may file another one in the future.

Pope has been in behind bars since being arrested and charged in August for human trafficking and sex crimes. In a two span period starting in 2017, Pope allegedly forced four underaged girls, as young as 13, to perform sex acts at his home. One of his alleged victims, a 17-year-old girl, told police Pope gave her money, drugs and/or other items in exchange for sex,  WMBF News reports.

He was arrested on three counts of trafficking in persons, three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and one count each of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, promoting the prostitution of a minor and kidnapping.

But police records going back as far as 2011, show that Pope has been arrested for sexual misconduct with minors in the past, Fox 42 reports.  A2011 incident report indicates a 13-year-old accused Pope of having sex with her after a friend introduced them. He allegedly gave her marijuana and alcohol and she later found out he had AIDS, according to an incident report.

“I suspected a long time ago that things weren’t right over there because of who he had coming in and out,” a longtime neighbor of Pope’s told the Atlanta Black Star. “They looked like they were very young, underage maybe.” 

The post South Carolina DJ Accused of Human Trafficking And Sexual Crimes Against Black Girls appeared first on Essence.

Ever since it roared onto the screen 26 years ago Jurassic Park has delighted audiences with its combination of incredible science fiction storytelling and groundbreaking special effects. It also spawned a franchise that has spanned almost thirty years, five feature films, as well as multiple video games, shorts, LEGO spin-offs, and comic book adaptations. The wild world of Isla Nublar was destroyed in the last film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, but the dinosaurs survived apparently taking over the human world as we know it. The upcoming sequel will reunite the cast of the original film, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum, the latter of whom we sat down with at a Disney+ documentary event in Hollywood where he teased his excitement for the new entry.

Universal

Though he was there to talk about his new Disney+ show The World of Jeff Goldblum, the talk quickly turned to Jurassic Park. “You know I’m meant to be in the next one…” he enigmatically teased. When Nerdist asked him how that was going, Goldblum laughed, “I got the script, I read it, I like it, I like it. I can’t say too much but there are some really nice things to it. I really really like it. And Laura and Sam, Bryce and Chris, come on!” Though the latter Jurassic World films have been far from universally loved (but they’re good actually) they have made a lot of money, so the third sequel was really inevitable. What surprised many fans was the potential of the film with the return of Dern and Neill, which is obviously a feeling Goldblum shares.

The first Jurassic World movie centered on a revamped version of the original park, one that had been successfully running for so long that it had almost lost its novelty. That drove the park’s scientists to try and craft more vicious and impressive dinosaurs which of course, didn’t end well at all. The second entry took a turn towards the Gothic as J.A. Bayona crafted a horror ghost story that featured dinosaurs instead of ghosts. Another blockbuster smash the weird film set up the status quo for the new movie as well as reintroducing Goldblum to the fray for the first time since 1997’s Jurassic Park: The Lost World.

“I loved the last movie, I loved working with J.A. but this time, you know Colin Trevorrow who wrote Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and directed the first film, he’s directing and writing this next one and he’s great, it’s been so great to work with him. And we’ll be in London to shoot!”

Universal

We’re just as excited as Jeff to see where the Jurassic World franchise goes next especially after the exhilarating Battle at Big World short that was recently released to tease the strange new world that has been left behind after the events of Fallen Kingdom. We’ll still have a while to wait until the highly-anticipated film hits the big screen though, as it isn’t set to be unleashed on audiences until June 11, 2021.

Featured Image: Universal

The post Jeff Goldblum Teases His Excitement for JURASSIC WORLD 3 appeared first on Nerdist.

#watchmenhbo #Hbopartner

It was a hot night in Atlanta and the line was long. Over 400 people piled into the building, cascading yellow light cascading of the slick walls. Atlanta showed out for HBO’s The Watchmen screening in a big way, with more bodies than chairs getting ready to see HBO’s newest epic. The Sunday night ritual (not to be confused with the Sunday truce from The Wire, a participant of the ritual) of having a blockbuster TV show in the primetime spot was magnified to dizzying levels with Game of Thrones. Now, Game of Thrones is gone, but the excitement for The Watchmen screening may prove that Sunday nights still have a full dance card for the network.

This was the second of screenings for the Watchmen, the first taking place at NYCC. While that screening was a big event taking place at a huge, multi-genre event, the event that took place in Atlanta had a different excitement for it. People put on pants just to be there, stood in line under a setting Georgia sun, then sat on barstools to watch the hour-long show. The first episode (and the subsequent ones) are arresting in it’s imagery and spectacle. Gasps, breathlessness and more laughs than you would expect were a garnish upon the evening. Atlanta came out to see a show and they got one.

I was lucky to be in the building for all of it, on a panel that followed the screening hosted by the peerless Kid Fury. My fellow panelists Karama Horne aka The Blerdgurl and Tatiana King Jones of the famed For All Nerds podcast and myself volleyed our impressions back and forth. We dove into our first impressions, how it relates to the Watchmen graphic novel, the maturation of comic book lore and what storytelling looks like in this social climate. And Regina King. We could’ve talked about Regina King and her character Sister Night well into the morning hours. We tried. They had to kick us off the stage.

Following the panel was the reception with food, photographs, drinks and mingling. General conversation happened of course, but what everyone really wanted to talk about was more Watchmen. The event had mad that type of impact on people. This is no small thing. The event was Blerds and built for the Black Atlanta community. HBO has no shortage of Black viewers and subscribers, but those audiences are often so specific. Insecure and Black Lady Sketch show are obvious answers. But many of the Triple-A budget shows lack people of color or their perspective. Regina King is the star and the cast boasts a huge diverse range of performers. But this isn’t a zeroed in perspective, this is one of HBO’s next landmark series aimed at capturing everyone. It was inspiring to see that in Atlanta (and I imagine everyone by the end of the week) was there for it.

Watchmen debuts on 10/20/2019 at 9pm EST, only on HBO

My brother, my friend, my colleague, my mentor, my partner-in-art! I ? #DamonLindelof We are only 2 days away. Still pinching myself. @watchmen #WatchmenHBO pic.twitter.com/Q8dDyTsLij

— Regina King (@ReginaKing) October 18, 2019

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The post Who Watches The Watchmen? Atlanta Just Did And It Was Amazing appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.