Bandwagon Nerds News Report (9/6/2026): Ravenloft Rises, Resident Evil Tracks Big & Pattinson Meets Primetime

Netflix develops a Ravenloft series, Resident Evil tracks toward a franchise record and Robert Pattinson premieres Primetime at Venice.

September is beginning to lean heavily into horror.

Netflix is developing a live-action Ravenloft series built around one of Dungeons & Dragons’ most famous villains, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is tracking toward the largest opening in franchise history and Robert Pattinson brought his Chris Hansen-inspired thriller Primetime to Venice.

Gaming also owns Seattle this weekend as PAX West continues through Labor Day.

It’s the Bandwagon Nerds News Report for September 6, 2026!

Netflix Is Going to Ravenloft

Netflix is developing Ravenloft, a live-action Dungeons & Dragons series centered on vampire Darklord Strahd von Zarovich. John August will write and executive produce the project, while Alfonso Cuarón and Hasbro Entertainment are also attached as executive producers.

Ravenloft is a much more interesting television choice than simply trying to create another broad fantasy adventure.

Strahd gives the series a recognizable central character, while Barovia and the Domains of Dread allow Netflix to build something closer to gothic horror than traditional swords-and-sorcery television.

That distinction matters because fantasy television has become crowded. A Dungeons & Dragons show that resembles every other medieval fantasy series would have difficulty separating itself. A prestige horror series centered around one of tabletop gaming’s most infamous villains has a much clearer identity.

The previously announced Forgotten Realms project is reportedly no longer moving forward, which makes Ravenloft Netflix’s latest attempt to find the right corner of the D&D universe for television.

Resident Evil Could Break the Franchise’s Opening Record

Early domestic tracking for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil points toward an opening around $35 million, with strong early ticket sales creating the possibility that the film could climb closer to $50 million when it opens September 18. The current franchise record belongs to Resident Evil: Afterlife, which opened with $26.6 million domestically in 2010.

That would be a significant result for a franchise that has already gone through multiple cinematic identities.

Cregger’s version is not attempting to directly recreate one of the games or bring back the Milla Jovovich continuity. Instead, the film follows a new character moving through a Raccoon City outbreak while trying to preserve the atmosphere of the games.

That approach is risky because Resident Evil has one of gaming’s most recognizable collections of characters. It also means the movie does not have to spend two hours checking boxes simply to reproduce material players already know.

If the opening lands anywhere near the high end of the tracking, Sony will have evidence that audiences are willing to accept another reinvention.

Robert Pattinson Brings Primetime to Venice

Robert Pattinson premiered Primetime at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday. Pattinson plays a television journalist inspired by former To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen, although the film presents a fictionalized character rather than directly dramatizing Hansen’s life.

The connection has already created some tension because Hansen publicly questioned the project before seeing it.

Pattinson said he hopes Hansen ultimately views the inspiration behind the character as a compliment, but the larger attraction is seeing Pattinson once again choose something very different from the franchise work that still defines much of his public profile.

His post-Twilight career has repeatedly bounced between Batman-sized productions and smaller, stranger movies. Primetime fits comfortably into the second category.

Apple Picks Up The Waffle House Index

Apple Original Films has acquired The Waffle House Index, a science-fiction thriller starring Inde Navarrette. Navarrette will also executive produce the project, with Plan B producing and Louis Paxton directing from a screenplay by Andrew Nunnelly.

The premise takes its name from the informal disaster indicator associated with whether Waffle House restaurants remain open during severe weather.

The movie begins with Navarrette playing a waitress working overnight as a storm approaches before reportedly escalating well beyond a conventional disaster story.

Navarrette’s career has moved quickly after Obsession, with Marvel also casting her as Rogue in its upcoming X-Men movie. Taking a strange original science-fiction project between major franchise appearances is a good way to avoid becoming defined entirely by one superhero role.

Blumhouse Is Remaking Vincent Must Die

Blumhouse Atomic Monster, Vertigo Entertainment and AR Content are developing an English-language remake of the French-Belgian genre film Vincent Must Die. David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick will write and direct the new version, marking his feature directorial debut.

The original has one of those premises that almost explains itself: a seemingly ordinary man suddenly discovers that random strangers become violently determined to kill him.

That mixture of horror, dark comedy and social satire makes it less obvious remake material than another conventional supernatural franchise.

Blumhouse has built much of its reputation on taking simple premises and finding inexpensive ways to make them feel dangerous. Vincent Must Die fits that model unusually well, especially if the remake retains the original film’s escalating absurdity instead of flattening it into another survival thriller.

PAX West Rolls Through Labor Day Weekend

PAX West continues today in Seattle, with the 2026 event running through Monday at the Seattle Convention Center. The show features two expo halls, playable demos, panels, tournaments and appearances from developers and creators across the gaming industry.

The weekend has become particularly useful because it lands immediately after Gamescom.

Gamescom is built around massive announcements and global publishers. PAX operates at a much more hands-on level, where upcoming games actually need to survive people playing them on a crowded show floor.

That difference gives smaller projects an opportunity to generate attention without competing entirely on trailer budgets.

Persona 4 Revival Gets Its PAX Spotlight

Atlus brought Persona 4 Revival to PAX West on Saturday with a dedicated panel featuring members of the development team. The appearance also coincides with Persona’s 30th anniversary, while attendees have access to a playable version of the remake on the show floor.

Persona 4 occupies an interesting position inside the franchise because its reputation grew dramatically after its original PlayStation 2 release.

Persona 5 transformed the series into something much larger globally, meaning Revival will be the first version of Persona 4 many current players experience.

The challenge is preserving what people loved about Inaba and its characters while modernizing systems that now sit beside nearly two decades of improvements across Persona and other RPGs.

What to Watch: Star Trek Turns 60

Star Trek reaches its 60th anniversary on September 8, marking six decades since “The Man Trap” premiered on NBC in 1966. Anniversary theatrical events have already begun in several markets, including screenings built around the original television series and the first four Star Trek films.

Few entertainment franchises have demonstrated Star Trek’s ability to disappear, reinvent itself and then return in a completely different form.

The anniversary arrives during another complicated period for the franchise, but the broader achievement is difficult to ignore. A television series that lasted only three seasons has produced six decades of movies, television, games, books and enough cultural vocabulary that people who have never watched an episode still understand half the references.

September 8 is an easy excuse to revisit why that happened. The weekend’s biggest stories share a similar theme: old properties continuing to search for new forms.

Dungeons & Dragons is moving into gothic television rather than conventional fantasy. Resident Evil is preparing another cinematic reboot without relying on its established heroes. Persona 4 is being rebuilt for an audience that entered the franchise years after its original release, and Star Trek is somehow preparing to celebrate 60 years of doing this exact thing.

The successful versions understand that nostalgia gets attention but cannot carry the entire project. Familiar names open the door; the new version still has to justify why it exists.

This report includes information from: TheWrap.com, Deadline reporting, Variety reporting, Apple film reporting, PAXWest.com, SEGA.com, and SFChronicle.com.