WIRE Buzz: Dumbo features Arcade Fire cover; Michael Emerson exudes Evil; more

Today’s WIRE Buzz involves a heaping helping of horror news, a geeky streaming service’s death, and a new clip from Tim Burton’s live-action Dumbo remake that features an Arcade Fire cover of a classic tune. So all horror, basically.

Dumbo’s trailers have featured “Baby Mine” — the Academy Award-nominated song written for the original — before. First it was Norwegian singer Aurora covering the song; now, Arcade Fire is trying their hand at the lullaby. The version debuted in a small clip from the upcoming film that Disney posted on its Twitter account.

Check it out:

Arcade Fire’s warbling cover accents a few new lines from the villainous V. A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton) and the same inspirational shots of a baby elephant taking flight that ended the animated film. With all this music jammed in there, it’s no wonder that scene happens partway through the new film — there needs to be more time for songs.

Dumbo soars into theaters on March 29.

Next up, an upcoming exorcism drama pilot is adding a famous face. Lost and Saw star Michael Emerson is going to lead the CBS pilot Evil alongside Katja Herbers and Mike Colter, Deadline reports.

The show, from The Good Wife creative team Robert and Michelle King, will follow a trio of buddies — a non-believer psychologist (Herbers), a Catholic priest-in-training (Colter), and a “blue-collar contractor” — as they team up to approach possible supernatural occurrences with an X-Files-like mix of mindsets. Emerson plays a character named Townsend, who seems to be set up as the series villain — a subject matter expert for a murderer’s defense team that may be a truly dark leader of some evil organization in his spare time.

More news to come if the pilot is picked up for series.

In sad geek news, Nerdist and Geek & Sundry’s streaming service Alpha is no more. TechCrunch reports the $4.99-per-month subscription to the sites’ various videos and original series is ending as of March 31. It will no longer accept subscriptions or renewals but those already on the hook will be able to watch their videos through the end of the month.

Alpha was acquiring original content as late as August 2018, which makes the service’s death a bit of a surprise, though in a statement to subscribers, the company explained that Twitch will now be the main home to these series:

“As part of an ongoing partnership with Twitch, the library of Alpha content will be streamed to the Twitch platform effective immediately. Some titles are already being shown on the Geek & Sundry Twitch Channel, and episodes that have been streamed will remain viewable as VODs to subscribers.” As niche streaming services continue to fall, major players like Twitch and YouTube continue to snap up the content left in their wakes.

Finally, a SXSW horror flick has found a distributor. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Robert Patrick and Amanda Crew-starring Tone-Deaf was picked up by Saban Films ahead of its festival premiere. The film from Richard Bates Jr. is about a woman that goes on a small vacation...to a home owned by a psychopath. Eesh.

SWSW Conference and Festival begins on March 8.