WIRE Buzz: Watchmen series free for Juneteenth; WB teases Goonies, Sherlock, Beetlejuice; more

One of the most powerful recent genre shows when it comes to race and injustice, HBO's Watchmen, is having a free streaming weekend in honor of the Juneteenth holiday.

A perfect bingeable gift for the weekend, the comic follow-up's nine episodes open up with the riot on Tulsa's Black Wall Street and only get more timely as it goes on. Showrunner Damon Lindelof and his team don't let viewers off the hook as their superhero story touches on racism, reparations, and more during a time when antiracist advocacy is at the forefront of many minds around the world.

According to The Verge, this is "an extension of the network's content offering highlighting Black experiences, voices and storytellers," and a "timely, poignant series that explores the legacy of systemic racism in America" that HBO is proud to make available to all. Those wanting to watch during the course of their regular TV viewing can catch the marathon starting on Friday afternoon.

Otherwise, Watchmen will be free from June 19-21 on HBO's website.

Next, a strange series of Instagram posts from Warner Bros. seem to tease upcoming fall announcements for three genre film franchises: The Goonies, Sherlock Holmes, and Beetlejuice.

Something is coming in September for each — though the only one that has new footage (stuff not from the original films) is The Goonies, which teases out a VFX map, skull, and ship as the prelude to its tease.

Check it out:

As Slashfilm points out, these probably aren't teasing sequels or other new projects, but big ol' home release sets. The Goonies' remastered 4K Blu-ray set includes a version of that treasure map from the video, while Beetlejuice is getting a similarly beefy release — both planned for early September. Newswise, this likely means that fans of the Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock series should expect a nice, goodies-laden remaster set to be released in a few months around the same time.

Finally, a pair of '80s powerhouses are getting together for an animated superhero show. SYFY WIRE reported last year that Arnold Schwarzenegger (aka the Terminator and Mr. Freeze) will lead the animated series Stan Lee's Superhero Kindergarten. Now legendary filmmaker John Landis is joining the team to direct.

According to a release, the series from the late Lee, Fabian Nicieza, and writer Steven Banks isn't where Landis' involvement ends. The man behind An American Werewolf in London is helping out behind the scenes to develop "a live-action series and feature film spin-off of Stan Lee's Superhero Kindergarten."

"I am honored to work with Andy and Arnold for the first time in bringing Stan's vision to life with this action-packed series infused with comedy and heart," Landis said in a statement.

The series hits Amazon Prime in early 2021.