8 September 10 - 16, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents On thin ice For the first time in years, the Dallas Stars aren’t hosting a Pride Night. Some fans aren’t happy. BY ALYSSA FIELDS O n Aug. 28, the Dallas Stars re- leased their 2026-2027 theme night promotional schedule. It contains all the classics like Hockey Fights Cancer Night and Halloween Night. There’s even an Anime Night. What it does not in- clude, to the dissatisfaction of many fans, is a Pride night. It’s a surprising change in the usual schedule for the team, and comes at a par- ticularly interesting time. Since the debut of “Heated Rivalry,” the smash-hit fictional TV show about two professional hockey players who fall in love, hockey ticket sales have surged 30%. This season will mark the first time since at least 2020 that the night has been left off the annual theme night calendar, though that year’s iteration was canceled in light of the pandemic. Before then, the team hosted a “You Can Play” night which featured Pride-themed player equipment on the ice. Already, the choice has received backlash from devout fans. “It’s getting harder and harder to stay a dallas fan,” wrote one fan on the team’s offi- cial Instagram. “Especially with no pride night. C’mon you chose western and anime night over that?” Other teams in the league, like the Los Angeles Kings, have kept their Pride Night. The Boston Bruins have a rainbow-branded “Hockey Is For Everyone” night instead of an explicit Pride night. Not all teams have released their theme night schedules yet, but even the Nashville Predators have a Pride Night on Jan. 5. In response to our inquiry about why the theme night was dropped with the context of the growing popularity in LGBTQ+ spaces, the Stars vice president of communi- cations, Joe Calvillo, relayed the team’s offi- cial statement: “The new Hockey Unites Night allows our organization to use our platform to cele- brate and support a different underrepre- sented community each season.” This year’s title for the Stars’ Hockey Unites Night is “Hockey Unites: Women In Sports Night.” Interestingly, the Boston Bru- ins’ themed nights schedule includes both the aforementioned “Hockey is For Every- one” game as well as a “Women In Sports Night.” The Stars now controversially join the Texas Rangers as a major league sports team that does not have an official Pride- themed game. The Mavericks and the Cowboys have yet to release their theme calendars, so they still have time to avoid the errors of their contemporaries. We’ll be watching. ▼ FILM A NEW KIND OF EVIL DALLAS WAS ONE OF THREE CITIES THAT GOT AN EARLY LOOK AT THE NEW ‘RESIDENT EVIL’ MOVIE BEFORE IT HITS THEATERS ON SEPT. 18. BY AUSTIN ZOOK S ince the video game franchise de- buted in 1996, there have been seven bad “Resident Evil” movies and zero good ones. Writer/director Zach Cregger (“Barbarian,” last year’s “Weap- ons”) is hoping to change that when his new take on the iconic series hits theaters Sept. 18. On Tuesday night, AMC NorthPark hosted a special early preview event for the film, giving a lucky audience (filled with very stylish influencers and this film nerd writer) the chance to see the first 30 minutes of the new film two weeks early. Dallas is one of just three cities to host a preview like this (along with Los Angeles and New York), which was followed by a livestreamed Reddit AMA with Cregger himself moderated by Juju “Straw Hat Goofy” Green. Along with a bevy of local influencers, we got the invite and, if the footage we saw is any indication, Cregger’s done the impos- sible and made a “Resident Evil” adaptation that honors the franchise’s video game roots without being slavishly devoted to it. It’s a lean, mean scare machine with some great laughs (Cregger was a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Whitest Kids You Know, and he flexes those bona fides in his horror flicks) and plenty of easter eggs for die-hard fans. The film introduces a new character to the “Resident Evil” universe, a medical cou- rier named Bryan, played by Austin Abrams, who previously acted in Cregger’s breakout horror, “Weapons.” He’s basically the guy responsible for getting donated organs from Hospital A to Hospital B before the trans- plant is no longer viable, an important but unglamorous job. When the movie starts, Bryan’s wrapping up his shift and gets a last minute request to make a run outside his usual zone to Rac- coon City, a seminal location in the fran- chise. It’s up in the mountains, it’s late, it’s starting to snow… but the trip pays double his usual rate, and Bryan accepts. That’s the setup. The movie takes a few minutes to introduce you to Bryan before launching into his journey to Raccoon City without much throat clearing, which is ideal because the full feature is only supposed to be around 94 minutes long. What we saw in the movie’s first act was a hellish journey on an icy road where things go from bad to weird to worse for a guy who slowly has to learn what the audience knows from the be- ginning: that he’s a character in a “Resident Evil” movie. Lauren Drewes Daniels You won’t see as many rainbows at the AAC this year. ▼ Culture
