Despite the big shake-ups at Warner Bros. Discovery, Static Shock’s creator assures fans that the upcoming DC live-action movie is still coming.

Static Shock creator Nikolas Draper-Ivey assures fans that the upcoming DC live-action film is still in the works. Ever since the Warner Bros. Discovery merger was completed earlier this year, many shake-ups have occurred behind the scenes. HBO Max and Discovery+ will be merged into one streaming service next summer, which has led to many titles getting pulled by the studio. While Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is retooling the studio’s strategies for their various IPs, the DC brand took a big hit in August. Despite having finished principal photography in late March, Warner Bros. Discovery canceled HBO Max’s Batgirl movie with Leslie Grace

Prior to Batgirl getting shelved, Warner Bros. Discovery canceled Wonder Twins, another HBO Max original movie. After Batgirl got the ax, it cast a shadow of doubt on the DCEU’s future. One project that was announced before the new regime came in was Static Shock, based on the popular Milestone Media comic. In 2020, Reginald Hudlin, along with Milestone Media’s Denys Cowan and Michael Davis, announced that they were working on a live-action movie centered around Virgil Hawkins. Michael B. Jordan came on board to produce Static Shock under his Outlier Society production banner, while Safety’s Randy McKinnon would write the screenplay.

While a report in August claimed that Warner Bros. Discovery had hit the pause button on Static Shock, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Nikolas Draper-Ivey, who is a co-writer and artist on Static: Shadows of Dakota, recently tweeted that despite what reports are claiming, the Static Shock movie isn’t dead, stressing to fans to not “worry about those articles and be patient.” At this time, Draper-Ivey couldn’t elaborate any further.

What Static Shock May Mean For Jordan’s Superman HBO Max Show

Since Draper-Ivey couldn’t reveal any further details, it’s unclear if the Static Shock script is still being written or if the film even has a director. It’s also unknown at this point if Static Shock will get a theatrical release or if Warner Bros. Discovery is considering producing it as an HBO Max original film. While Static Shock may still be alive, that isn’t the only DC project that Jordan has in the works for the studio. Since July 2021, Jordan has been developing a Superman project for HBO Max, focusing on Val-Zod, an alternative take on the Man of Steel. While Val-Zod tapped writers in October 2021, there haven’t been any further updates on it.

If Jordan’s Static Shock film is still going forward, that could be a good sign for his Val-Zod series on HBO Max, suggesting Warner Bros. Discovery still wants to collaborate with him on multiple projects. In Static Shock’s case, the film is the second attempt at a live-action project after Warner Bros. tried to develop a web series a couple of years ago. Given his popularity, primarily through his animated series, Virgil is long overdue for a live-action appearance. Hopefully, unless Warner Bros. Discovery changes its mind, the Static Shock movie will start to move forward in the coming years.

Source: Nikolas Draper-Ivey/Twitter

In a possible rerun of the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, multiple popular YouTubers are reporting that Samsung phones have a problem with swelling batteries.

Multiple popular YouTubers seem to be reporting that Samsung phones have a problem with swelling batteries as they age. Samsung is no stranger to battery-related controversies, with the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco still fresh in everyone’s mind. The Note 7, released in 2016, was initially praised in the media for offering a premium design and high-end features fit for a flagship smartphone but had to be eventually pulled from the market after numerous reports of fires and explosions. Things became so bad at one stage that airlines worldwide had to ban the device from flights to prevent midair incidents.

Samsung is the world’s largest Android phone manufacturer and one of the two largest smartphone vendors globally, alongside Apple. The company has an extensive portfolio that includes premium Galaxy S-series devices, as well as mid-range A-series, M-series and F-series devices in various markets around the world. While flagship Samsung devices have always been popular, the company’s recent mid-range offerings are also reasonably successful commercially and compete on even terms with Chinese vendors, such as Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus and others.

Many Samsung phones reportedly have a massive problem with swelling batteries that are causing the body of the phones to crack open. The news comes from Arun Maini, who runs the popular YouTube Channel, Mrwhosetheboss. According to Maini’s latest video, the problem is not just limited to one or two devices but extends to almost all Samsung smartphones in his collection. The laundry list of affected devices includes the Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10 5G, Galaxy S20 FE and even the relatively new Galaxy Z Fold 2.

Samsung Phones Affected By Swelling Batteries

In his video, Maini claimed that the issue exclusively affects Samsung phones in his collection, not devices from other brands, such as Apple, Google, Asus, etc. He also showed his extensive smartphone collection and claimed that all his older phones are stored exactly under the same conditions, meaning the Samsung devices were not subjected to any extra heat or pressure compared to the rest of the devices. Maini also claimed that he is yet to hear from Samsung since shipping the errant devices to the company to conduct investigations.

Maini’s claims about the swelling batteries seem to be backed by YouTuber Matt Ansini, who runs the popular channel ‘This Is.’ Ansini also faced a similar issue with his Galaxy S7 and other Samsung devices that are more than three years old. Maini and Ansini’s accounts were also corroborated by popular YouTubers Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) and Zack Nelson (JerryRigEverything), with the former claiming that the only battery swelling issues he’s ever encountered are with Samsung phones.

Source: Mrwhosetheboss/YouTube

Oprah Winfrey delivered an inspiring speech to close out Variety’s Power of Women dinner, presented by Lifetime. Winfrey was honored at the event alongside her “Queen Sugar” partner Ava DuVernay, both of whom turned the OWN series into a launching pad for female directors. Winfrey championed “Queen Sugar” for “defining the OWN network” and for “reflecting black families.”

“We are all looking for the same thing,” Winfrey said. “This is the one lesson I came away from doing ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show.’ The common denominator of our experiences is that we all want to know that we matter and we want a show that reflects our values.”

Winfrey was introduced by DuVernay, who spoke about their experience creating the OWN drama series “Queen Sugar,” which made history with the duo’s decision to exclusively hire women to direct the series’ 7-season, 88-episode run. The show employed 42 women directors, seven of whom — Shaz Bennett, Kat Candler, Patricia Cardoso, DeMane Davis, Aurora Guerrero, Stacey Muhammad and Victoria Mahoney — walked the red carpet in solidarity with Winfrey and DuVernay and still more “Queen Sugar” helmers took the stage before Winfrey gave her rousing speech.

“It’s groundbreaking what they’ve done,” Winfrey said of the show’s directors. “When I came back from opening my school, I was sitting with Maya Angelou and I said, ‘Maya, oh my God, you should have been there for the opening of the school because that school is going to be my greatest legacy.’ She said, ‘You have no idea what your legacy is going to be.’ I said, ‘Oh no, I think it’s really gonna be those girls.’ And she said, ‘I said, ‘You have no idea what your legacy is going to be because your legacy is never one thing. Your legacy is every life you touch.’ And so I think of every story, every show, every life that has been touched because of the idea that [Ava] had [to hire women directors].”

In their Power of Women cover story, Winfrey and DuVernay discussed the origins of their daring “Queen Sugar” mandate.

“I remember getting the call from Ava saying, ‘I have this idea: What if we just have all women directors?’” Winfrey said. “I go, ‘All women directors? Can we do that?’ Ava goes, ‘Yeah, we can do that.’”

DuVernay chimed in, “Because you own the network.”

In DuVernay’s estimation, Winfrey’s OWN was key to making this work. 

“These were all real things that we heard: ‘It won’t last.’ ‘There aren’t enough women directors to do it.’ ‘This is just a fluke,’” DuVernay recalled. “But seven seasons later, this has become a real movement in episodic directing that will reverberate through our industry for many years to come.”

With the seventh and final season of “Queen Sugar” underway on OWN, the pair also examined the show’s legacy.

“The fact that this is the longest-running dramatic television series that centers a Black family really says something about the state of American television over the history of the medium,” DuVernay shared.

Noting the dearth of these dramas, she added: “We have to ask: ‘Why has this not happened? Why has this not been launched and nurtured? Why has it not been seen and celebrated?’ These are all questions that I think our industry should be looking at. As ‘Queen Sugar’ goes away, what’s in its place?”