WIRE Buzz: Adam Sandler's Hubie Halloween; Tenet teases Easter egg; 'Other Space' to Dust

One of the first films resuming production in Hollywood after the coronavirus pandemic sequestered industry members in their homes is a Halloween-themed Netflix film starring Adam Sandler.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Steven Brill’s Hubie Halloween — which features the comic actor as Hubie Dubois, an eccentric devotee to Salem, Mass., and its “legendary Halloween celebration” — will shoot in Los Angeles on July 11.

It’ll only be pick-ups for a scene centering on Julie Bowen, according to THR, since most of the movie was already filmed in Massachusetts last year. California recently lifted its production ban, allowing the Hubie Halloween team to start finishing things up—after those working took a COVID-19 test on Monday. They’ll then quarantine until the weekend shoot, which may be the new normal for productions that were interrupted by the coronavirus shutdown. Those that need to start large-scale productions from the beginning, however, will likely face a much harder road and longer wait.

Hubie Halloween — which Sandler also co-wrote alongside Tim Herlihy — stars Sandler, Bowen, Kevin James, Maya Rudolph, Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi, Rob Schneider, Michael Chiklis, and Kenan Thompson. It does not yet have a release date on the streamer.

Next, Nolan obsessives won’t be surprised to see some of the mysterious marketing antics of Westworld co-creator Jonathan have rubbed off on his brother, Tenet director Christopher. 

While the HBO show is known for its in-depth, conspiratorial secrets laid deep in promotional websites, trailers, faux company pages, and more, Christopher Nolan’s work has rarely allowed the mind-blowing aspects of his canon to bleed into the marketing material surrounding it. Now, however, a new voice-driven experience on the official Tenet website is introducing a bit more spycraft into the film’s long lead-up.

Attempting to go to the site results in a message that “This is an audio experience. Please enable your microphone and have your sound turned on.” Speaking “Tenet” reveals a teaser filled with old footage, but saying “Twilight” — part of the two-part code phrase “We live in a twilight world / and there are no friends at dusk” spoken during the IMAX tease for the film — gives fans a downloadable GIF file revealing the other phrase.

The zoomed-in artwork also seems to depict Stonehenge-like archways in the background that people are moving through, which has led to speculation that they play some part in the sci-fi film’s twisty time antics.

Fans will have to wait to confirm these theories, as Tenet doesn’t come out until Aug. 12.

Finally, fans looking for a sci-fi comedy series with some serious bonafides will soon have a new option available on DUST.

According to a release, the sci-fi brand has picked up Ghostbusters director Paul Feig’s single-season comedy Other Space to stream through its library. Launched on the obscure Yahoo! Screen in 2015, Other Space ran for eight episodes...but then Yahoo! Screen was discontinued as a portal.

That meant renewal, at least on that streamer, was extremely unlikely. Feig hosted the series’ episodes on his personal tumblr account (until recently), hoping for a pickup elsewhere and, it seems, the first step has been taken with DUST’s exclusive streaming deal. The series stars Karan Soni, Neil Casey, Eugene Cordero, Conor Leslie, Milana Vayntrub, Jessica Chaffin, and Dave Franco. It focused on the hapless crew of a space ship. Basically a lower-budget, more acerbic The Orville, before The Orville.

Other Space hits DUST on Aug. 1.