June Newsletter: Appreciation, May Review, Preview of June Movies & TV Shows, and More News.

This newsletter edition covers the following (click on the title to skip to the section):

• Introduction
• Summer Internship
• May Film News
• News That We Couldn’t Cover
• Non-Review Essays in May
• Nollywoodweek Festival 2021 Daily Reports
• May reviews
• Highlights of June Releases
• Poll

Dear reader,

This month’s edition marks an end (more like a break) to coercing you to leave comments. With this month’s newsletter, I would like to say a very big thank you to all of our active readers who have been constantly leaving comments, helping us stay alive in the world of film. My sincere appreciation goes to you all. And to new readers, please leave comments…oops!

On that note, you can move to another level of support by sharing our content frequently, those you agree with , as well as the reviews you disagree with. You can send them all to your friends and roast the hell out of us in your private inbox. Also, telling them how much you agree with our thoughts would be appreciated. I see you playing a huge part in our growth. With that, you can always call yourself WKMUp’s day one, boasting “I jumped on WKMUp and hooked others with the blog before anyone else”. It doesn’t get hotter than that. Play the role of a ‘Day One’ for us and we will remember you forever. You could possibly receive an invitation to our summer parties. Binge parties, of course, not open grilling. Film blog, not food blog. Other cool items and merch could also come your way. So many perks of being a ‘Day One’, but I will stop for now. Keep an eye out in the coming months for an introduction of the ‘Day One’ benefits.

Summer season begins… 

We’ve a twitter thread of movies to look forward to between the months of June and September. The list comprises blockbusters, superhero movies, a number of horror flicks and the movie adaptation of that wild-ass twitter thread (from years ago)…yes, finally, ZOLA!

Which movie(s) or genre will dominate this summer? I believe people want to feel alive again, so action thrillers and superhero movies should reach high numbers, as people seek the rush and grand scale excitement that’s been missing from their lives for a while. You can find the thread here.

We have started putting out amazing content on social media, please follow us on Twitter and Instagram for engaging content. We’re funny sometimes and always up-to-date with the latest news.

Summer Internship

We are currently accepting applications for a summer internship program intended for teens. You can read the full job description here. Kindly share with your loved ones, you also count as one.

May Film News a.k.a ICYMI

• Netflix released a trailer for its next African original series, Jiva! It promises dance, drama, rivalry and bright colours— all SA style. Watch the teaser here.

On News That We Couldn’t Cover

• The cast of Knives Out 2, a sequel to the Rian Johnson whodunnit,  is growing. So far, we have Dave Bautista, Edward Norton, Kathryn Hahn, Janelle Monáe, and Leslie Odom Jr. They will be joining Daniel Craig, who returns as inspector Benoit Blanc.
• A sequel to 2011 movie, Attack on the Block, which starred John Boyega, is in the works.
• MGM, home to the James Bond franchise, is now owned by Amazon.
• A Rick and Morty spinoff, The Vindicators, is in the works.
• We were treated to a new Eternals trailer, an upcoming Marvel superhero movie, directed by Chloé Zhao, set to introduce the next phase of the MCU.
• La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) final season release dates announced: part 5 vol. 1 premieres on Netflix on september 3, and vol. 2 follows on december 3.
• About a Boy, a movie by Diji Aderogba, won the audience award at the Nollywoodweek festival after its world premiere at the four-day event.
• A Marvel series focusing on Danai Gurira’s Okoye (Black Panther) backstory is in development.
• Eyimofe makes history as the first Nigerian film on Criterion Collection.
• We should be seeing a new Aki and Pawpaw project soon. It should be a full blown out comedy like back in the days.
• HBO Ma x and Cartoon Network have announced two new DC animated series: Batman: Caped Crusader and My Adventures with Superman.
• Elevator Baby, 2019 Nollywood movie, directed by Akay Mason, has gotten a Bollywood remake titled Thank You Brother!

Non-Review Essays in May

• WKMUp sat down with budding Nollywood all hands-on director, Taiwo Egunjobi. We discussed his new movie, All Na Vibes and the state of Nollywood. He also shared his hopes and lets us in on his chosen style of filmmaking. Read here.
• An anime starter pack that also serves as our resident critic’s introduction into the anime world during the 2020 lockdown.

Nollywoodweek Festival 2021 Daily Reports

We reviewed the following movies:

Highlight of New Films and TV Series in June

Special mentions: Skater Girl (11th, Netflix), Zola! (30th, theatres), Luca (18th, theatres), iCarly (17th, Paramount+), Blindspotting (13th, Starz), Good on Paper (24th, Netflix), and The Mysterious Benedict Society (25th, Disney+).

The following TV shows return in June: Dave season 2 (16th, FXX), The Good Fight season 5 (25th, Paramount+), Too Hot to Handle season 2 (23rd, Netflix), Sistas season 3 (9th, BET), Feel Good season 2 (4th, Netflix), and Love, Victor season 2 (11th, Hulu).

Which of the film(s) and TV show(s) are you looking forward to the most?  Did we forget a certain one? Let us know in the comments below.

You can read the reviews to a number of the mentioned films and TV series in June. Keep an eye out. You can subscribe to email notifications and follow us on our social media pages.

A quick poll before you leave:

Bis bald,
Ikeade Oriade
(Managing Editor)