The Aquaman cast looks like it’s bound to make some waves. Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman is reportedly in talks to join the DC Comics film, according to The Hollywood Reporter, along with The Get Down star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Both are said to be in early talks.
Assuming negotiations go according to plan, Kidman will play the titular hero’s mom, Atlanna. In the comics, she’s royalty from the underwater kingdom Atlantis who escaped and ended up falling in love with a lighthouse keeper. The combination of their genes is what gives their offspring, Aquaman (played by Jason Momoa), his special ability to survive underwater.
Kidman may only be 12 years older than Momoa, her would-be son, but we’ll give them a pass on this. Aging probably occurs differently when you hail from Atlantis. In any case, as his mother, she’d be returning to a DC film for the first time in more than 20 years. She previously played the Caped Crusader’s love interest in 1995’s Batman Forever.
Like Kidman, Abdul-Mateen hasn’t officially boarded the project yet. The actor got his official offer Monday, according to THR, and now negotiations are underway. The studio is looking to bring him on board as the villain Black Manta.
As Black Manta, Abdul-Mateen would play a dangerous, trident-carrying bad guy. The villain gained notoriety in the comics for his determination to end Aquaman. He wears a customized wetsuit that’s designed specifically for battling the hero. It even shoots rays out of its helmet.
Abdul-Mateen would come to the film after starring as Cadillac in Netflix’s musical drama series The Get Down. He got practice in the water when he filmed his upcoming role in Baywatch, starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron. If he and Kidman join the Aquaman cast, they’ll star alongside Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, and Patrick Wilson.
Aquaman, directed by James Wan, is slated to begin shooting in April in Australia.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.