Across his three feature films, Get Out, Us, and Nope, Jordan Peele has established himself as one of the most innovative and exciting filmmakers in the business. He’s one of the few filmmakers whose name recognition alone is enough to sell an audience on a movie (as the team behind the upcoming football horror flick Him is undoubtedly hoping). While he has been very active in helping other filmmakers bring their visions to the screen, his own projects tend to take a while.

That’s why the recent news that Universal pulled his upcoming film from their 2026 release calendar is so concerning. Originally scheduled for a December 2024 release, before being moved to October 2026, the as-yet-untitled movie was delayed by two years, and no new release date has been announced. Could Peele’s next film be going the way of so many other canceled projects before it?

Why It’s (Probably) Not Time To Panic

Jordan Peele Should Take His Time With His Next Film

Concern over the fate of Peele’s next film isn’t exactly unfounded. Although it may seem like it’s still early in development, studios have certainly not been shy about canceling projects in the past. Universal’s rival, Warner Bros. Discovery, shelved mostly completed films like Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme, preferring to take the tax write-off rather than box office returns (though thankfully, it seems that Coyote will see the light of day). The movie industry is in a weird place right now, as risk-averse studios don’t want to gamble on anything less than a sure bet.

However, Peele is a filmmaker who still has a great deal of name recognition, and anticipation for his next work never dies down among horror fans. All three of his previous films (all distributed by Universal) made sizable returns on their relatively modest budgets, so Peele has hopefully earned some goodwill from the studio. He’s also proven that he’s not the type to rush the process or crank out a film every year: two years elapsed between Get Out and Us, and another three until Nope was released. While part of the delay was beyond Peele’s or Universal’s control (the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes played a role), it’s possible that all involved want to ensure they take the time to make the best film possible, particularly given the significant anticipation surrounding it. According to a report from World of Reel:

This isn’t the first time Peele’s plans have shifted. He was once targeting December 25, 2024, before scrapping that project in favor of something new. Now, word is that even this second idea might have been tossed aside, with the filmmaker reportedly brainstorming yet another direction as recently as this summer. One insider suggested Peele himself doesn’t yet know what this next movie will be. Not entirely uncommon for a filmmaker of his stature, but it does cast doubt on whether 2026 was ever realistic.

While studios are undeniably wary of risking financial losses, it’s clear there’s still a large audience for the kind of clever, thoughtful horror movies that directors like Peele are known for. The smash success of Zach Cregger’s Weapons for Warner Bros., which grossed nearly $240 million on a $38 million budget, shows that audiences are still willing to turn out for a good scare in theaters. While horror might not get a lot of awards recognition, it’s always been a safe bet at the box office, particularly when it gets the kind of hype that Weapons or any of Peele’s projects have received.

It’s not that there’s no reason to be concerned about the film being pulled from the calendar; any time a release is delayed, its future becomes that much more uncertain. This holds especially true for the current era of Hollywood, where the entire industry has become heavily reliant on major, four-quadrant releases. But it seems highly unlikely that Universal would completely drop a project that has the potential to be quite lucrative. Peele has more than proven himself creatively and commercially, and Universal would be wise to just let him cook. If they decide to let it go, another studio would likely welcome the chance to snatch up whatever unsettling vision Peele is conjuring.

The Phantasmal Flames expansion of the Pokémon Trading Card Game won’t be available for purchase for another few months, but a group of scalpers has already managed to buy it out. Earlier today, the Mega Evolutions-centric set was announced to be coming to the West on November 14 this year.

Though the release date is still two months away, PokéBeach reports that a group of scalpers has managed to hack the Pokémon Center and trick it into selling them the packs early. Packs were apparently pre-loaded into the official website today, which has allowed the group to buy out the sets before they even officially appear in the store to the general public.

Scalpers Boast Huge “Success” In Buying Out Phantasmal Flames Stock

“This Is Our Holiday Season”

Screenshots from the private Discord group Hidden Society show members boasting of their success at bypassing the online store’s safeguards and successfully checking out the upcoming sets. In the screenshots, a user named robyewest reports that the group’s collective efforts resulted in the sale of over 42,000 Phantasmal Flames products. The user goes on:

“This is OUR holiday season, let the criers cry and whiners whine, they can go tell their moms what happened today and break their monitors while we reap the benefits.”

It’s unclear at this point if the Pokémon Center will actually honor these purchases, as reports of alleged cancellations have already started to circulate. The company will likely pull and cancel the orders since they were made before the official release. Despite this, there seems to be nothing much stopping scalpers from repeating this massive haul when Phantasmal Flames officially arrives in November.

Pokémon TCG Scalpers Are Getting Out Of Hand

Despite The Company’s Best Efforts, Scalpers Prevail

Scalpers have become a serious issue for many products, and Pokémon TCG cards in particular are being targeted by resellers looking to turn a quick profit. Renewed interest in the cards has driven up demand, which makes it easy for scalpers to create artificial shortages and resell the products for huge markups.

This issue was especially prevalent with the incredibly popular Prismatic Evolutions set released early this year, which even caused fights to break out. Many Pokémon TCG fans fear that scalpers are making it not fun to collect what is, in essence, a children’s game and a fun collectible.

The Pokémon Company has taken several steps to try and reduce the effect of scalpers, including an anti-bot queue, but most efforts have failed to stop resellers from buying huge quantities of products out from under real fans’ noses. Despite the poor behavior of the Hidden Society group, many fans remain hopeful that the Pokémon Company will use this opportunity to ban its members.

Even if they do, though, there are ways to bypass bans. At the end of the day, the best method of dealing with scalpers is not to buy from them. Unfortunately, as long as reselling Pokémon Trading Card Game cards remains lucrative, it will continue to be difficult for real fans to actually enjoy their hobby.