Hello, everyone! It’s One Of Us’ weekly article series, “The Weekly Wrap-Up.” Covering everything from film announcements to comic books, “The Weekly Wrap-Up” ensures that the biggest stories of the week are analyzed and discussed by our team of writers. This week we talk about the teaser trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Captain America’s 75th Anniversary Television Special.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Teaser Trailer
While it’s only been several years since the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Warner Bros. is adamant about returning to J.K. Rowling’s imaginative (and profitable) fantasy world with the Harry Potter spin-off, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Directed by David Yates (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) and set 70 years before the birth of the Boy Who Lived, Fantastic Beasts opens in 1926 with British author and “magizoologist” Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) completing a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident were it not for a No-Maj (Muggle), a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt’s fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and non-magical worlds.
Though a “smidge” too short for some, the teaser provides just enough to whet one’s appetite for what will hopefully be an entertaining return to the world of Harry Potter. We get a few quick glimpses of Scamander’s companion thought the film, Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein (Katherine Waterston); the Magical Congress of the United States of America, the American equivalent of the British Ministry of Magic; and a quick look at Colin Farrell’s character, Percival Graves, who looks mildly concerned as he peers out of a rather large hole that was presumably made by one of the escaped beasts in question.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will hit theaters November 18, 2016.
Captain America 75th Anniversary Television Special
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the biggest and most popular blockbuster franchises in recent memory. Often debuting several films every the year, the MCU has managed to introduce dozens of characters in less than a decade. It’s because of this enormous success that many beloved and even overlooked comic book heroes are finally being embraced as cultural icons by mainstream audiences. One of those heroes is the shield throwing super-soldier and all-around good guy, Captain America. Thanks to actor Chris Evans, and films like The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (the best Marvel movie to date), Steve Rogers has received an enormous boost in popularity. So much so that ABC has announced a new television special that explores 75 years of the character’s history and stories.
Entitled Marvel’s Captain America: 75 Heroic Years, the special will feature various Marvel creators and associates, including Stan Lee, Joe Quesada, Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Jeph Loeb, Louis D’Esposito, Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell, as well as family members of Cap’s creators, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Here is an excerpt from the official press release:
“New York, 1940. A new era on the horizon. Little did the world know then that this decade would shape the course of history in ways never before seen. But two men, who walked those New York streets, a pair of artists and creators, had a strong feeling of what was to come. They were Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, two first-generation Jewish-Americans who believed in their country, believed that the atrocities taking place in Europe needed to be answered, and most importantly, they believed in freedom. And it was an image of freedom that they would create.”
“Captain America has been the moral compass that has inspired generations to do better and believe in more than themselves. Whether it be leading The Avengers or fighting for his beliefs, even when it meant taking sides against those closest to him during Marvel’s Civil War, “Cap” has been a beacon of light in the Marvel Universe and a central figure in the vast and dynamic world that Marvel fans know and celebrate today.”
Long before seeing his triumphant cinematic debut on the silver screen in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, I’ve been an unabashed fan and reader of Cap’s adventures. To me, Captain America is one of the most relatable and misunderstood characters in Marvel’s pantheon of heroes. Though often brushed off as a flag-waving boy scout by people who have refused to read his stories, Cap is a far more complicated individual than many realize. Though always working to be virtuous and to be a defender of those that can’t help themselves, Cap is constantly plagued by his status as man out of time. He understands that his sense of idealism might be outdated in the modern world, and that he may never be able to live up to the idealized legacy that so many people and heroes associate him with. It’s his self-doubt and optimism that make him a character worth caring about, whether it’s in a film or comic book. I’m thrilled to know that Cap will be getting his own special, and I’m hopeful that others will come to love the character as I do.
Captain America: 75 Heroic Years will air January 19 (8:00-9:00 p.m. EST) on the ABC Television Network.
