The special schools edition of popular construction and exploration title Minecraft is adding a programming twist with a Code Builder add-on that controls a special assistant within the game.
Announcing the feature at the May 2 MicrosoftEDU event in New York, Code Builder is available within Minecraft: Education Edition right away.
“Learning can be done best when you don’t think that you’re learning… you’re enjoying yourself, you’re making something,” explained Hadi Partovi, CEO of Code.org, in a video introducing the Code Builder suite.
His company is committed to increasing interest and participation in computer science education in the US, especially among female students, underrepresented minorities, and those from less well-off backgrounds.
“Code Builder is a natural extension of the game that students know and love, and a welcome into the world of programming,” said Minecraft Executive Producer, Michelle Dauphiny Becker.
Learn-to-code packages like ScratchX, Tynker, and Code Studio will be able to connect with Minecraft: Education Edition through Code Builder, the game edition’s blog announced.
Microsoft bought Minecraft as a whole, along with its developer Mojang, for US$2.5bil (RM10.82bil) in 2014.
It licenses Minecraft: Education Edition to schools through the use of a subscription-based account system that launched at US$5 (RM21.64) per account per year. — AFP Relaxnews
Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. James Watson in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ action adventure mystery Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.(Warner Bros.)
A month after Robert Downey Jr revealed that the third Sherlock Holmes movie is being planned, producer Joel Silver confirms that the film, to be directed by Guy Ritchie, could start its production later this year.
Silver, originally promoting The Nice Guys in an interview, supported Downey claim and also hinted that more Sherlock Holmes movies may arrive in the future, reported Ace Showbiz.
“It looks like it could happen this fall. Downey said he wants to do it. He’s gotta launch into another ‘Avengers’ movie right after the new year. So we’re trying to get it done,” Silver said.
“We have a script that we like. Jude Law is available and Downey is available, and we’re hoping we can get it done. If it works, great. If not, we’ll do it another time. But it looks like it could happen now.”
Downey Jr, Law and Ritchie’s respective schedules have been one big problem that keeps Sherlock Holmes 3 from happening.
Downey Jr has been busy with his role as Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man in Marvel’s movies while Law and director Ritchie are working on Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur.
Football star David Beckham will make his acting debut in Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and there are pictures to prove it.
Beckham, one of the most popular football players in the history of the sport, has long been rumoured to switch to acting post retirement. But aside from appearances in a few documentaries, and a cameo in Ritchie’s previous movie The Man from UNCLE, Beckham has stuck to playing the occasional match, and improving his Instagram game – which is where he shared this first look at his character Blackleg Leader from King Arthur.
Beckham appears to be playing the leader of a squad of soldiers (possibly under the command of Jude Law’s villain). And by the looks of it, things don’t turn out so good for Beckham’s character, who in another picture appears to have been badly scarred.
Beckham was earlier rumoured to be making a cameo in the first Kingsman movie. He also appeared in the comic book that inspired it.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is scheduled for a May 12 release and stars Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law and Djimon Hounsou.
Actors Tyrese Gibson, Nathalie Emmanuell, Vin Diesel and Ludacris attend The Fate Of The Furious New York premiere at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
The Fate of the Furious, the eighth instalment in the popular Fast & Furious franchise, has crossed the $1 billion mark at the international box office. That’s Rs 6400 crore.
The film, which released on April 12 in India, has collected $867.6 million from international markets and $192.7 million in the US since its release, reports variety.com.
The film holds the record for the highest opening weekend collection by amassing $542 million.
Directed by F Gary Gray and written by Chris Morgan, the film features Vin Diesel, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Scott Eastwood and Charlize Theron.
The film made Rs 67 crore in its opening weekend in India.
The Fate of the Furious is the first in the franchise since the tragic death of actor Paul Walker in 2013.
MONDAY UPDATE, WRITETHRU with GOTG2 actuals: Rocketing off in 37 markets this weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 came in nearly $5M higher than projected on Sunday. With a $106M opening at the international box office, the launch was notably stronger than forecast in both Europe (+$3.1M) and Latin America (+$1.1M). That ratchets the debut up to 64% bigger than the first Guardians, 57% bigger than Captain America: The Winter Soldier and 24% above Thor: The Dark World when comparing the same suite of territories and all at today’s exchange rates. Many markets have a holiday today for May Day.
The GOTG2 opening is in line with pre-weekend projections which hovered around the $100M mark. Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill got off to an especially good start on Tuesday last week, taking advantage of holidays in Italy and Australia/New Zealand. This is the same late-April sweet spot that has seen Disney release such Marvel tentpoles as Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Iron Man 3.
Although Civil War is not a fantastic comp here given that it hulks out as essentially an Avengers movie, it’s interesting to note that GOTG2 has opened above it in some key markets. Those include Germany and France which are both in the Top 5 hubs.
GOTG2 is currently in 58% of its offshore footprint with domestic and the rest of the world, including China but not yet Japan, pressing play on Awesome Mixtape #2 this coming week. It’s expected to continue to outperform the previous film with China potentially playing a pivotal role. The market was tops on GOTG in 2014, even after the movie released more than two months later than the rest of the rollout. It still charmed the PROC with $96.5M to lead all overseas plays.
In all openings this weekend, the James Gunn-helmed sequel was the No. 1 movie (save in Portugal, Turkey and Vietnam). It also bested the original in each market, except for Belgium which had previews the last time around. On 176 IMAX screens, and ahead of a big push this week, GOTG2 made $5M.
The biggest play is the UK with $16.9M, followed by Australia at $11.8M, Germany with $9.3M, Mexico at $8.2M and France with $7.9M. In the UK, Disney now has the top two openers of 2017 led by Beauty And The Beast and with GOTG2 in 2nd. The film’s Friday debut is also the 2nd biggest opening day ever for a Marvel Cinematic Universe title — behind Captain America: Civil War, and ahead of GOTG by 86%.
In the rest of the box office galaxy, Universal’s The Fate Of The Furiouspushed past $1B worldwide while Disney’s Beauty And The Beast has moved up to $1.142B global with a 9% increase in Japan’s 2nd frame. And, in India, S.S. Rajamouli’s Baahubali 2: The Conclusion had grossed an estimated 121 net crores ($18.2M) on its opening day to shatter records at home while the action sequel is also a monster in North America and other overseas play.
Breakdowns on the films above and more have been updated below; actuals will be updated on a rolling basis.
Disney
The ragtag troupe of Disney/Marvel space-savers rocketed to $106M at the international box office this weekend. The opening, which began on Tuesday in Italy and Down Under, comes in 64% above the previous GOTG movie and tops other sequel comps Captain America: The Winter Soldier (+57%) and Thor: The Dark World (+24%). The launch is in line with projections from ahead of the weekend where the range was $85M-$100M with most thinking it would get to the latter number, if not a bit higher.
Notably, GOTG2 outperformed Captain America: Civil War in some key plays, even though it’s not a perfect comp given it scales more as an Avengers installment. In only 37 material markets this frame, there are several majors to come including China, Russia and Korea this week. Japan tunes in on May 12. GOTG2 should continue to outperform the previous film, although China as ever will be key. The day-and-date release with domestic is better timing than 2014’s GOTG, and the market has been energized by the massive success of The Fate Of The Furious.
On the last movie, China was the top offshore play at $96.5M, followed by the UK ($47.4M), Russia ($38.5M), Germany ($24.6M) and Australia ($23.3M) to round out the Top 5.
This weekend, GOTG2 was No. 1 in all of its debuts, except Portugal, Turkey and Vietnam and was higher than GOTG the first everywhere save Belgium where the original had previews in the mix.
The UK was the biggest launch market for the space jam with a 67% share. It’s the 2nd biggest opening of the year, behind Disney’s own Beauty And The Beast; and the 2nd best first day for an MCU title (behind Civil War). The $16.9M bow is over 86% higher than the first film.
Australia came in with $11.8M after being boosted by the Anzac holiday earlier in the week. At the weekend, it was 27% bigger than GOTG. Germany kicked off with $9.3M and the 2nd best MCU debut ever. It’s over 11% ahead of Civil War there and better than GOTG. Mexico jumps up to No. 4 in the actuals with $8.2M and France rounds out the Top 5 at 16% higher than Civil War and 36% better than GOTG with $7.9M.
Other key market cumes include Brazil ($6.9M), Italy ($4.1M), Indonesia ($3.4M), Spain ($3.3M) and the Philippines ($3.2M). Austria saw the best MCU debut of all time.
IMAX pulled in $5M of the total weekend gross on 176 screens in 35 hubs. The UK portion of that was $1.4M for 50% better than GOTG. Standout performances in the large format were seen in Turkey (+139% on GOTG), Mexico (+80%), France (+73%), Australia (+69%) and Brazil (+57%). The film adds 700 more IMAX screens in 31 markets next frame, including China and North America.
BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION
ARKA
It is notoriously difficult to get solid numbers out of India, particularly when a movie is released in four different language versions as is the case with S.S. Rajamouli’s sequel to 2015 Telegu smash Baahubali. However, Day 1 estimates came in at 121 net crores ($18.2M) with 285 gross crore ($42.8M) through Saturday, according to local analysts. The worldwide gross of 217 crore ($32.6M) on Day 1 topped the entire first weekend of Salman Khan’s Sultan. Through Saturday, the global estimate is 382.5 crores ($57.5) which is, frankly, unheard of. It also topped box office king Aamir Khan’s Dangal opening on Day 1.
Outside of India, in seven markets including North America, it made $13.83M including $10.14 domestic.
In IMAX, shows sold out across the weekend scoring the No. 1 opening ever in India for the format with $334K on 10 screens, about 15% bigger than The Fate Of The Furious. The launch is also IMAX’s biggest global opening ever for an Indian title and the biggest domestic bow for a foreign language movie. On only 66 IMAX screens worldwide, it grossed $2.34M.
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion reunites the Rajamouli with star Prabhas, along with Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah Bhatia. The first film went on to be the third-highest grossing Indian title globally with an estimated $97M. It won the National Award for Best Feature Film in 2015. At opening, it grossed over $20M locally and had a weekend take of about $28M worldwide. The period war epic hails from Tollywood (as the Telugu industry is known) and is released in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam.
This one picks up with hero Shivudu (Prabhas) as he comes to terms with his legacy and the responsibility placed on him by this knowledge. Shivudu’s quest aims to find the answer to the question that’s plagued fans of the franchise: Why did Kattappa kill Baahubali?
Released on over 9,000 screens worldwide, the Prabhas-starrer received a rapturous reception at home and abroad. In India, it played on a record 6,500 screens. The Day 1 score there came in nearly 6 times bigger than the top opener of 2017, Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees. We will update with full-weekend figures as they become available and I’ll have a separate report with more detail a bit later.
HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONS THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS
Universal
Joining the $1B club, Universal’s high-octane 8th installment in this $4B+ franchise added $68.4M in 69 territories this frame. The international total is $867.6M for $1.06B worldwide. This is the fourth-highest-grossing Universal film worldwide after Jurassic World ($1.67B), Furious 7 ($1.52B) and Minions ($1.16B). It is also the studio’s 5th film to reach the $1B mark, and tops Jurassic Park’s $1.04B.
Japan was the only new play, also the final release, with $7.5M. That’s the best start for the franchise in the market, although it came in at No. 2 behind Beauty And The Beast whose ardent fans kept that film at No. 1.
Most notably this weekend, F8 grew to 2.43B RMB, making it the biggest imported movie of all time in the market. It is No. 2 ever amongst all movies with local pic The Mermaid still at No. 1 overall with 3.4B RMB. The dollar figure on F8 in the Middle Kingdom is $361M.
The Top 5 markets are now China, Mexico ($33.4M), the UK ($32.8M), Germany ($27.5M) and Brazil ($32.4M). F8 is Universal’s highest grossing film ever in Egypt, Indonesia, Paraguay and Venezeuela.
In IMAX plays this frame, TFOTF earned $5M on 858 screens. The global cume is now $58M in the format; China alone is $27M.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Disney
Coming off of a $17.2M weekend in 46 territories, the Bill Condon-directed Beauty has played to $662.4M worth of overseas audiences. Globally, the total is $1.142B, making it the No. 13 highest grossing movie of all time. This week it waltzed past Transformers: Age Of Extinction, Skyfall, Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King, and Transformers: Dark Of The Moon.
In Japan, Disney saw turnstiles spin 9% harder than on the first weekend. The cume there is now $33.6M and Golden Week is upon us. Elsewhere, holds were strong including in the Netherlands (-10%), Spain (-30%), New Zealand (-30%).
In Europe, the estimated cume to date of $267M, makes this the 2nd highest grossing film of the past 12 months in Europe (behind only Rogue One). In the UK/Ireland, Beauty And The Beast is the 8th biggest movie of all-time, and the biggest musical ever there with $87.4M..
THE BOSS BABY
DreamWorks Animation/Fox
Alec Baldwin’s briefcase toting tot cashed in with another $15.6M this weekend on 9,281 screens in 72 markets. The DreamWorks Animation pic that Fox is releasing is seeing super holds with an international cume of $248.2M.
The lead market is the UK with $29.6M after 4 frames while France has banked $20.2M after five. Holland jumped by 51% in its sophomore session ($3.6M cume). Spain dipped just 16% ($8.8M to date) and Poland also slipped just 16% for a 2.65M cume.
Boss Baby has also become the biggest grossing DWA title ever in Hong Kong (topping Kung Fu Panda 2). Korea is still on deck on May 3.
SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE
Sony
The blue boys and girl found $11.7M internationally this weekend. Animated in 62 markets and on 9K screens, the Sony release now has an overseas cume of $117.8M. In the 2nd China frame, the film added $5.1M for an $18.1M cume to date.
GOING IN STYLE
Warner Bros.
This Warner Bros’ remake lifted another $3M from the international box office on 2,370 screens in 46 markets. The overseas cume is now $24.2M. Australia dropped 34% from opening to total $2.1M to date. Mexico also had a good sophomore hold with $437K from 419 screens. The total there is $1.8M. Germany’s $516K weekend was a 32% drop for $2.9M to date. The lead market remains the UK at $3.4M. France and Italy get in on the action this week.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Universal
Get Out (UNI): $1.6M intl weekend (30 markets); $21.4M intl cume Ghost In The Shell (PAR/MS): $1.3M intl weekend ($1.1 in 40 PPI markets); $126.2M intl cume ($124.9M PPI) Sing (UNI): $800K intl weekend (10 markets); $357.6M intl cume – Japan now highest grossing offshore hub with $42.3M Logan (FOX): $118K intl weekend (13 markets); $383.2M intl cume Hidden Figures (FOX): $116K intl weekend (10 markets); $60M intl cume Split (UNI): $100K (18 markets); $136..8M intl cume
LOCAL-LANGUAGE
Bona
There were also a handful of new titles that performed well in Asia this weekend. The Fate Of The Furious was supplanted at the top of the China chart by Shock Wave. The Hong Kong action pic about a hostage situation grossed $24.4M to win the weekend, although F8 was ahead of it on the Sunday. Also debuting in the Middle Kingdom this session were Battle Of Memories, a sci-fi thriller from Leste Chen with $21.8M; romcom Love Off The Cuff with $13.7M; and Derek Hui’s drama This Is Not What I Expected with $12.3M. In Korea, political drama The Mayor led box office at $5M per comScore although Kobiz has it higher at $6.1M. That was followed by comedy/adventure pic The King’s Case Note with $4M per comScore, $4.9M according to Kobiz. F8 slipped to 3rd place there this weekend with a $23.2M cume.
