Warner Bros. Give a Star-Studded CinemaCon Presentation
Events, Fantastic Beasts Movie, Films, News, Redmayne,Warner Bros., Yates
Warner Bros. showcased their huge list of talented actors and crew members involved in making their highly anticipated films at this year’s CinemaCon in Las Vegas, including clips from Fantastic Beasts and Yates’ Legend of Tarzan.
According to Business Wire, Warner Bros. focussed their presentation on trailers and some never-before-seen footage from the films, illustrating a statement by CEO Tsujihara about the diversity of their works, encompassing huge feature films (such as Fantastic Beasts!), dramas, action adventures, horror thrillers and comedies.
Making a video appearance for The Legend of Tarzan, Dwayne Johnson; Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz introduced the film at the panel, showing just how talented the cast for David Yates’ film has been!
Even more excitingly, Warner Bros. closed with a look at Fantastic Beasts, with on-stage appearances by Eddie Redmayne, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler and Colin Farrell, who helped introduce the new trailer (below), and an exclusive look behind the scenes of the film.
Read more about the presentation here!
More on “Fantastic Beasts” at CinemaCon: Interviews with Eddie Redmayne, Dan Fogler and Colin Farrell!
The Warner Bros. presentation on April 12th at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas gave a ‘big picture’ on what to expect in Summer 2016, and of course the biggest thing attendees wanted to hear about was Fantastic Beasts. Therefore, it was only fitting that Eddie Redmayne, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol and Colin Farrell hit the stage to rile up the crowd and promote the film:
More images from the event can be found over at Getty Images here.
Access Hollywood caught up with Eddie Redmayne at the event, for a short interview about the Potter franchise. He ‘opens up’ about whether or not he was a fan of the original series (obviously he was!). Catch the video below:
Associated Press released a similar interview of Eddie and Collin Farrell talking about the magic of the series, and Colin raves about having a personalised wand.
Eddie’s so engrossed in the series already – we can’t wait to see how he does as Newt (judging by Pottermore’s interview, we’d say he’s definitely doing great).
Collider also met with Dan Fogler, to talk about his role as muggle (no-maj) ‘Jacob’ in Fanatic Beasts. They graced us with a video of their interview (below), and even gave us a handy time index:
- 0:17 – What it means to him to be part of the Harry Potter universe.
- 1:15 – His “surreal” and lengthy audition process.
- 3:36 – The experience of making the movie.
- 4:22 – How the story will surprise people.
Comic Vine also released a video with Dan (below), on finding out about the role and more on his character’s 1920’s New York / Brooklyn accent:
You can read a transcript of the interview over at Snitch Seeker here.
How Spider-Man Totally Changed Black Panther’s Role In Captain America: Civil War
Joe and Anthony Russo’s Captain America: Civil War is overflowing with characters seen in previous Marvel Studios films, but two of the biggest highlights of the movie are the heroes being newly introduced: Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. What’s interesting about these two heroes is that the blockbuster doesn’t craft big origin stories for them, instead showing them deep into their respective heroes’ journeys… but this wasn’t always the case. In fact, it was the web-slinger moving in and out of the script that eventually convinced the writers to just have Black Panther exist in the MCU instead of showing how Prince T’Challa wound up wearing his special Vibranium costume.
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of sitting down with screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely during the Captain America: Civil War press day in Los Angeles, and it was during our conversation that they revealed how the characterization of Black Panther in the movie was affected by Spider-Man. As it turns out, the writers were toying around with putting the wall-crawler in the film long before Marvel finalized their deal with Sony Pictures for the character, and it was in preparation for things going south that they started playing with T’Challa’s place in the story and how far along he would be into the costumed hero game. Markus explained,
Originally, T’Challa and T’Chaka were just the representatives of Wakanda, sort of the voice of other countries in the world going, ‘You people are out of control,’ and then to be aggrieved by possible Bucky actions. Frankly, just not have him be Black Panther yet. He’s getting his own movie, you know. He’s the prince of a country! That’s pretty good for a movie. Maybe we get to play with Spider-Man and all that. When things maybe looked like we weren’t going to get Spider-Man, it was like, ‘Let’s put the costume on that guy!’ And then he became so integral to the story as it evolved that once Spider-Man came back, we didn’t take him out. So, it was a problem that created a really nice situation.
Having seen Captain America: Civil War (and not wanting to give anything too big away), I can tell you that the integration of Black Panther winds up being seamless. Admittedly they do change some very minor details from the comics, but the immediate introduction to the superhero character works perfectly in the context of the film, and the secrecy of Wakanda as a nation provides a totally reasonable explanation as to why we’re only now hearing about him now, in the 13th film of theMarvel Cinematic Universe.
Later this year we will see the release of Doctor Strange, which will tell the origin story of the titular Master of the Mystic Arts, but Captain America: Civil War definitely suggests that comic book movies could eventually move forward and leave this kind of set-up storytelling behind – trusting audience’s to grasp who a character is without two hours of exposition and backstory. Beyond 2016, it’s possible that we’ll also see an origin established for Captain Marvel when her movie comes out in 2018, but James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming, Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok, Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man And The Wasp, and the Russo brothers’ two-part Infinity War will all be beyond that first step.
Captain America: Civil War will be in theaters on May 6th.
How Spider-Man Totally Changed Black Panther’s Role In Captain America: Civil War
DeepMind: inside Google’s super-brain
From the start, the enemy aliens are making kills — three times they destroy the defending laser cannon within seconds. Half an hour in, and the hesitant player starts to feel the game’s rhythm, learning when to fire back or hide. Finally, after playing ceaselessly for an entire night, the player is not wasting a single bullet, casually shooting the high-score floating mothership in between demolishing each alien. No one in the world can play a better game at this moment.
This player, it should be mentioned, is not human, but an algorithm on a graphics processing unit programmed by a company called DeepMind. Instructed simply to maximise the score and fed only the data stream of 30,000 pixels per frame, the algorithm — known as a deep Q-network – is then given a new challenge: an unfamiliar Pong-like game called Breakout, in which it needs to hit a ball through a rainbow-coloured brick wall. “After 30 minutes and 100 games, it’s pretty terrible, but it’s learning that it should move the bat towards the ball,” explains DeepMind’s cofounder and chief executive, a 38-year-old artificial-intelligence researcher named Demis Hassabis. “Here it is after an hour, quantitatively better but still not brilliant. But two hours in, it’s more or less mastered the game, even when the ball’s very fast. After four hours, it came up with an optimal strategy — to dig a tunnel round the side of the wall, and send the ball round the back in a superhuman accurate way. The designers of the system didn’t know that strategy.”
In February, Hassabis and colleagues including Volodymyr Mnih, Koray Kavukcuoglu and David Silver published a Nature paper on the work. They showed that their artificial agent had learned to play 49 Atari 2600 video games when given only minimal background information. The deep Q-network had mastered everything from a martial-arts game to boxing and 3D car-racing games, often outscoring a professional (human) games tester. “This is just games, but it could be stockmarket data,” Hassabis says. “DeepMind has been combining two promising areas of research — a deep neural network and a reinforcement-learning algorithm – in a really fundamental way. We’re interested in algorithms that can use their learning from one domain and apply that knowledge to a new domain.”
DeepMind has not, admittedly, launched any products — nor found a way to turn its machine gameplay into a revenue stream. Still, such details didn’t stop Google buying the London company — backed by investors such as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Li Ka-shing — last January in its biggest European acquisition. It paid £400 million.
Teen Wolf Season 6: Meet the New Teacher We Already Don’t Trust
Beacon Hills High School is welcoming a new teacher in Teen Wolf‘s sixth season. (Any chance he isn’t harboring a supernatural secret?)
Pete Ploszek (Workaholics, Shameless) will recur on the MTV drama as Garrett Douglas, a “charming” educator likely to catch the eye of several students, our sister site Deadline reports.
Few details are known about Teen Wolf’s upcoming season, but given BHHS’ penchant for hiring shady teachers — I haven’t forgotten about you, “Jennifer!” — it’s entirely possible that Mr. Douglas is connected to the Nazi werewolf who broke free in Tuesday’s finale.
“I can absolutely confirm that the soldier has left the machine and will be a part of Season 6, a threat,” showrunner Jeff Davis recently told TVLine. “It was something we were planning for a while, and we weren’t sure if we were going to use that final shot, but once we started shooting Season 6, we figured we might as well use it.”
Your thoughts on Teen Wolf‘s newest addition? Drop ’em in a comment below.
‘Teen Wolf’ Season 6 Air Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Peter Hale Returns; Will Tyler Hoechlin Reprise His Role As Derek?
“Teen Wolf” Season 6 is still months away from its premiere on MTV but fans are already excited to learn more about what’s next for Scott, Stiles and the rest of the Pack. Spoilers for the upcoming season hint that Peter Hale will be back in Beacon Hills, which led to speculations that Tyler Hoechlin may also reprise his role as Derek.
This article contains spoilers. Read on if you want to learn more about this story.
“Teen Wolf” Season 6 spoilers reveal that Peter Hale will be returning to Beacon Hills and his character is supposed to appear in episode 2, reports Movie Pilot. This led to speculations that another Hale will be returning to town.
As many fans and viewers can remember, Tyler Hoechlin announced his departure from “Teen Wolf” in Season 5. The show, however, still left the story open for Hoechlin’s return in the series as Derek Hale.
However, “Teen Wolf” Season 6 spoilers reveal that Hoechlin still will not be appearing in the first half of the upcoming season. There also won’t be any new Hales arriving in town; instead, the show will be introducing three new teenagers to the cast in an attempt to focus on a younger Teen Wolf.
Carter Matt also reports on Cody Christian’s possible return in “Teen Wolf” Season 6. While his character, Theo, was presumed dead after the Season 5 finale, several reports claimed that Theo is still alive and will be back in Season 6.
Christian also seemingly confirmed his character’s return during a Comic-Con in Perth, Australia, which definitely came as good news to fans and viewers. However, the 20-year-old actor recently clarified that his statement was not a confirmation of his character’s return.
Teen Wolf: Arden Cho Isn’t Returning for Season 6—Watch Her Announcement (VIDEO)
Another one bites the dust. Arden Cho, who played Kira Yukimura on MTV’s supernatural teen drama Teen Wolf, announced via YouTube on Monday that she won’t be returning for the show’s upcoming sixth season.
“I just want to say I love Kira Yukimura so much,” Cho said in the video, which you can watch above. “I love the Yukimura family. I loved my experience on Teen Wolf. I love the cast and crew, it’s been an amazing three-and-a-half years. It’s gone by so fast, but unfortunately, it looks like we are wrapped up with Kira’s storyline and she won’t be coming back for Season 6.”
“Sometimes I think in a show where there’s so many characters, there isn’t always room for everyone and everyone’s storylines, so I guess that was it,” she continued. “I do wish we would have developed a little bit more of her powers and [the] skinwalkers and just [that] there would have been more of an epic ending, but you never know with Teen Wolf. I mean, people might come back. It is what it is.”
Teen Wolf is no stranger to losing cast members, but this is the first time it sounds like it may have been a creative decision and not the actor’s choice to leave. It’s a bummer to have to say goodbye to Cho, even though it’s true that her character was often relegated to the sidelines in Season 5 or disappeared altogether as the show attempted to tell a very ambitious but messy storyline that basically worked out in the season finale because the show said it worked. And to that point, the veteran series has struggled in recent seasons to give its female characters well-developed storylines that encourage character growth. But writing them out of the story in between seasons without giving them a proper ending—because Kira’s story was not “wrapped up” at all, she just went to the desert to work on harnessing her powers and was always expected to return—is not really what we had in mind when we listed our 5 Ways to Fix Teen Wolf and said the show needed to “figure out the women of Beacon Hills.”
While a smaller cast and a more streamlined version of the series is desirable, dropping Kira from the story may prove to be just another mistake in another long line of mistakes for the series. And although her character thankfully isn’t dead—well, let’s just assume she didn’t die out in the desert, anyway—the character being written out in this way doesn’t exactly look good given the way female characters have been treated lately on television. Last week, no less than six shows killed off major or recurring female characters, and that was after the outrage following a fan-favorite female character’s death on The 100. It also calls into question what creator Jeff Davis said following the Season 5 finale, which was that the writers were planning on returning to WWII and Cho’s turn as a Kitsune trapped in a Japanese interment camp. Storylines can always change, of course, so we can’t really fault him for that, but the news of Cho’s departure doesn’t really alleviate any of our concerns about where Teen Wolf is headed in Season 6.
Her departure also just reminds worried fans of how the revolving door at the MTV series has hurt it overall. Because Teen Wolf is no stranger to saying goodbye to cast members: Colton Haynes left the series after the show’s second season, leading lady Crystal Reed departed at the end of Season 3 (but later returned as a guest star to play the ancestor of her character Allison Argent in Season 5) as did Daniel Sharman, and Tyler Hoechlin left for greener pastures after Season 4. Along the way, the series also said goodbye to characters played by Gage Golightly and Adelaide Kane after the actresses were cast in pilots, and Max and Charlie Carver, who played twins Aiden and Ethan, were written out after Season 4. Meanwhile, fans are still wondering WTF happened to Keahu Kahuanui’s Danny. Storylines have been dropped time and again on Teen Wolf but this may be the most obvious and potentially the most confusing version of this we’ve seen yet.
What do you think of Cho’s departure? Will it help or hurt the show?
Teen Wolf: Arden Cho Isn’t Returning for Season 6—Watch Her Announcement (VIDEO)
Teen Wolf Renewed For Season 6
During their yearly panel at San Diego Comic-Con yesterday it was confirmed that Teen Wolf will be back for Season 6. SDCC has been a frequent location for the Teen Wolf crew to announce new seasons, a fairly impressive feat considering new seasons of the show have traditionally premiered in June. They’re only three episodes into Season 5 so they must be confident that the current season will not falter in the show’s ongoing success. While ratings have dropped slightly this season the show is still a strong performer for the network and in cable TV overall, bringing in around 1.5 million viewers.
Six seasons is a solid run for any show, and since there was no announcement made that Season 6 would be the last, it will be interesting to see if we get a Season 7 announcement a year from now. Unless something abysmal happens in the ratings between now and then it’s likely. It was also not announced how many episodes would be in Season 6. Most seasons of the show have been limited to 12 but Season 3 was 24 episodes long and Season 5 is being broadcast in two parts with a total of 20 episodes.
The success of Teen Wolf has lead MTV to turn other film’s into series including the most recent Scream series, which, like Teen Wolf takes inspiration, and little else, from its originator (many of the stars of Teen Wolf hadn’t even seen the film when they started filming). Scream however has not seen the early success that Wolf saw, a testament to whatever lighting in a bottle the creators have apparently caught here.
In addition to the Season 6 info the panel also premiered a new trailer that focuses on the second half of the current Season 5, check it out below:
While no date for Season 6 of Teen Wolf was announced it’s likely about 11 months away. With plenty of Season 5 left however fans will not be left wanting any time soon. Teen Wolf airs Monday nights on MTV.
These were the top selling Wii U eShop games last week
These were the top selling Wii U eShop games last week
Nintendo has revealed the top selling games on the Wii U eShop of last week, and unsurprisingly, the list is topped by Pokken Tournament, which managed to knock off Minecraft from the top spot. Minecraft has historically been the top selling downloadable game on the Wii U ever since it was released on Nintendo’s platform.
Here’s the list of the top 20 selling Wii U eShop games:
1. Pokken Tournament
2. Minecraft: Wii U Edition
3. Super Mario 3D World
4. Super Mario World
5. Super Mario Maker
6. Zelda: Ocarina of Time
7. Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
8. Yoshi’s Story
9. Super Mario 64
10. Pikmin 3
11. Super Mario Bros. 3
12. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
13. Super Mario Bros.
14. Paper Mario
15. Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 1
16. Zelda: A Link to the Past
17. EarthBound
18. The Legend of Zelda
19. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
20. Donkey Kong Country
Of the top 20 games, only two are not made by Nintendo. And both are Minecraft games.
Batman V Superman: Batcave Can Be Explored In Virtual Reality
Even though many film critics, culture writers and prominent comic book industry veterans thought Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’s interpretation of the two most iconic superheroes was completely off — a snarling Superman? a mopey Clark Kent? a Batman who kills? a Bruce Wayne who has one night stands? — they would probably agree that Warner Brothers and Zack Snyder at least got one thing right: the Batcave.
In a brilliant piece of cross-promotion, Warners has teamed up with Google to provide a stunningly detailed 360-degree tour of the underground lair, which can be experienced on Google Streetview on a computer, smartphone, or — best of all — on a VR headset.
The movie cost US$250 million to make, and Snyder obviously didn’t skimp on set design, because the Batcave is impressively detailed.
I snapped on my Samsung Gear VR headset and began at the lake side glass house (it’s titled Bruce Wayne’s residence in the Google app, so not sure if this is exactly Wayne Mano) that served as the backdrop for a brief scene between Wayne and Alfred early in the film. Swiping the touchpad on my VR headset forward, I was able to “walk” down the house’s corridor, through a tunnel/driveway, and into the cave. The first thing that greets me is the Batmobile, and boy, does it look intimidating in VR.
I circled around the vehicle and marveled at the intricate details of its quarter-panel. Turning around, I could see Batman’s lab — no doubt where he crafted that Kryonite grenade.
Explorer deeper into the lair, I came across a room dedicated to Batman’s many guns (he kills in this movie, remember?), and a Robin costume, stored inside a glass case. While the backstory behind that specific costume was not explained in the movie, fans familiar with the Batman comics know it belongs to Jason Todd, the second Robin who’s murdered by the Joker (he has since come back to life in the comics … don’t ask). Chances are we’ll see the scene of Jared Leto’s Joker committing the crime in a flashback scene in this summer’s Suicide Squad.
Take a closer look at the suit to see that its been vandalized by the Joker
Unfortunately, while the Samsung Galaxy S6′s quad HD display — from which the Gear VR pulls its visuals — may be stunning for a mobile phone screen, it’s underpowered when stretched to an all-encompassing virtual reality. There’s a bit of pixelation when examining things up close. Still, it‘s a very immersive experience that any fan of Batman should check out.
Batman V Superman: Batcave Can Be Explored In Virtual Reality
‘Batman V Superman’ Heads Toward $171M Pre-Summer Opening Record: Why Complain? – Late Night Update
4TH UPDATE, Writethru Saturday 12:26 AM: After a spell of big-budget disasters last year from Jupiter Ascending to Pan, it’s finally raining cash on theWarner Bros. lot in Burbank, CA as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, is set to post the biggest pre-summer opening day with $81.3M (beating Furious 7‘s $67.4M) and weekend with $171M (outstripping The Hunger Games’ $152.5M) at 4,242 theaters. That’s the widest for any release prior to May and BvS also owns the records for the top March and Easter debuts. Reported earlier on Friday: Flash grosses show BvS winning over China with $21.2M. Add that to the two-day $44M tally and the pic’s foreign cume is north of $65M.
“It’s highly unusual to see a superhero movie that’s been panned like this with such a huge opening. Typically they open big and get great reviews,” said one insider, scratching their heads over the audience’s blasé B CinemaScore and the 30% Rotten Tomatoes rating.
Quite often branded tentpoles are teflon to poor reviews, and, yes, BvS is another example of the trend. Only Bond films have to sweat critical response since their fans skew older and that demo reads reviews. But it isn’t often that we see a movie open to $100M-plus off of panned reviews and OK audience reactions. Of note, BvS joins Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 ($138.1M opening, B+ CinemaScore, 24% rotten) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($109M opening, B+ CinemaScore, 19% rotten).
So before we even discuss what may have gone wrong here with BvS this weekend,let’s discuss what went right.
Warner Bros.’ decision to release a summer tentpole over Easter weekend was genius. More kids are off from school now than during the first weekend of the B.O. summer (first weekend in May). Seventy-six percent K-12 schools were out on Good Friday with another 45% off on Monday. Rather than get crushed by the next four-quad release on the summer calendar, WB protected BvS by moving it to this Easter in August 2014; well before Furious 7 set the frame on fire last year with a $147.1M opening. At this point, BvS will have plenty of breathing room in the weeks to come with the only obstacles potentially being Disney’s live action take on The Jungle Bookand Universal’s Snow White prequel The Huntsman Winter’s War.
WB already knew that Easter audiences could lay golden eggs: the studio launched Clash of the Titans over the holiday space in 2010 ($61.2M opening). At one interval, BvS was scheduled to open during the first weekend in May, but then Marvel plopped Captain America: Civil War there. Prior to May, BvS was originally scheduled to debut on July 17, 2015, but than Ant-Man pushed it out. By moving BvSto Easter 2016, WB CEO Kevin Tsujihara was aware of the risks and rewards: 2015 was bound to be an off-year for the studio without BvS in the mix, but the studio had to get the franchise right since it was all about re-launching DC 2.0 on the big screen. While a B Cinemascore comes with a 2.9 multiple, the thinking is that BvS will leg out at 2.25x its opening to $385M stateside. The film needs to make roughly $900M worldwide if it’s going to break-even theatrically off its estimated production and P&A cost of $400M.
Next, the WB marketing and PR team did a stellar job at keeping the want-to-see alive for BvS over a 32-month period. BvS was announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2013. Disney first piqued our interest with a teaser trailer 13 months before the Dec. 18, 2015 release date of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. BvS director Zack Snyder dropped the first teaser 20 months ago at Comic-Con 2014. $150M global P&A spend and several trailer drops later, Warner Bros. finds itself with the best pre-summer opening of all-time. According to ComScore PostTrak polling, 18% of all moviegoers said that in-theater trailers influenced them the most to see BvS, while 17% said it was the online trailer and 11% cited TV spots.
In regards to what went awry with BvS, Warner Bros. could take a note from Disney when it comes to controlling word of mouth, specifically critical reviews. Disney was tasked with re-invigorating a major franchise, Star Wars, that was dormant over the last decade. As such, they made sure all the critics watched Episode VII at the same time. If there was any doubt that there was any potential bad word of mouth, Warner Bros. could have contained most of the critics at one screening, rather than spreading them out across a few during the last week. Poor reviews wound up tainting BvS unnecessarily after winning premiere audiences over in New York and London. Had Warners confined major city critics to watching BvS on a specific day, they could have potentially lessened the blow here, and even curbed their B CinemaScore. It’s something to consider with the next DC title, Suicide Squad, around the corner in August.
Now in the wake of bad reviews and OK audience responses, team Snyder –which is in pre-production on Justice League — faces the challenge of changing their game up. At this time, despite any amount of money being deposited in Warner Bros. coffers from BvS, it would be prudent to listen to critics and fans’ story notes, especially the near universal complaint that BvS is too long, too brooding, too hackneyed (did we really need to see Bruce Wayne’s parents die for the umpteenth time on the screen?). This is all for the sake of DC 2.0’s longevity moving forward.
At the same time, critics might acknowledge the strides that Warner Bros. has made in elevating the Batman and Superman franchises. Given critics’ acerbic reactions, you’d think they were asked to sit throughGigli or Superman III again. While WB botched Superman in the 1980s withSuperman III and Superman IV, BvSwasn’t a property they were just going to waste away. A lot of thought went into nurturing and getting this beast as good as possible with all studio departments working at full cycle.
Warner Bros. finally made the movie that most Batman fans wanted a see: A movie that was akin to an adaptation of Frank Miller’s beloved The Dark Knight Returnscomic book series, which ends with Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne beating the crap out of each other. No amount of dagger-throwing by New York Times critic A.O. Scott orWall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern was going to prevent audiences from watchingBvS. Not to mention, they finally got to see Wonder Woman’s bigscreen debut (a Fandango poll revealed that 88% were interested in seeing the movie just for her). Rev4 movie theater metrics showed that of those polled over the last two weeks in their theater sample, 75% said they wanted to buy a ticket to BvS to 18.5% who replied “No”. Sixty-percent of those polled by ComScore last night said they bought tickets in advance.
When WB began launching its Batman films in 1989 via Tim Burton’s psychedelic goggles, Miller’s Dark Knight Returns had already been in release for three years. At the time, the property was too ambitious for Warner Bros. to make: Batman was an old man, the story took place in an ultra-violent Gotham and it presented this high concept notion of the city’s good guys going at each other’s throats. A few years ago, I asked BvS screenwriter David Goyer if Dark Knight Returns is the movie that everyone wants to see, then why didn’t Warners already make it? His response was that the property was too risky to just spring on mass audiences; their palette needed to be primed before springing Dark Knight Returns on them. And that’s essentially the evolution that’s been going on from Burton to Christopher Nolan to Snyder.
*****
BvS’ $27.7M Thursday reps 34% of its Friday figure, beating all superhero preview nights outside of The Dark Knight Rises’ midnight shows ($30.6M). Not only are Imax, RealD, 4DX drivers for BvS’ biz, but this film is projecting 41 times on Saturday at the Hollywood Arclight, with showtimes ranging from 8:30AM to 2:30AM. Meanwhile, over at the AMC Empire at 42nd Street in NYC,BvS boasts 53 showtimes from 8:30am to 3AM.
The Snyder mashup is currently estimated to take a 35% decline on Saturday for $52.8M. That percent decline is on par with Avengers: Age of Ultron‘s second day. ComScore PostTrak audience gave BvS a 73% grade in the very good/excellent boxes. Definite recommend rate to friends remains at a solid 60%. Looking at the family responses — it’s pretty damn good. Parents give BvS a very good/excellent score of 79% while kids under 12 grade it at 87%. Seventy-nine percent of all parents are spreading good WOM to their friends about Snyder’s movie while 75% of all the kids that watched it are telling their friends immediately about it. Boys made up most of the kid crowd at 60% with 45% between the ages of 10-12. Primary reasons why they showed up? 18% said it was because it was a superhero/comic book movie, 16% were Batman fans, while 9% came out for Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot.
Guess what’s in second place? Disney’s Zootopia, which is looking at an estimated $23.9M in its fourth frame, off 36%, elevating its cume by Sunday to $241.3M. That’s 6% ahead of where Pixar’s Finding Nemo was at the same point in time and 46% ahead of Disney original animated feature Frozen through its first 24 days.
Universal’s distribution of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 from Playtone/Gold Circle/HBO is now looking at a Friday of $7.7M, putting its opening at $19.1M in third place at 3,133 venues. Estimated production cost was $18M, which is 3.6 times more expensive than the 2002 movie. Audiences still love this fluffy movie 14 years later with an A- CinemaScore. It’s hard for some to find a comp for this. The first Greek Wedding wasn’t monitored by CinemaScore and studios don’t make sequels for blue hairs anymore (remember Grumpier Old Men?)
Lionsgate’s The Divergent Series: Allegiant falls to fourth with an estimated $3.9M for Friday and a black eye -66% second weekend decline of $9.8M putting its 10-day at $46.9M. That’s steeper than the -59% second frame drop weathered by Insurgent a year ago when it came up against DreamWorks Animation’s Home and Warner Bros.’ Get Hard. Sony/Affirm’s Miracles From Heaven at 3,047 is a tad thinner than projected with a second sesh of $9.3M and a running cume of $34M in fifth place. Still the labels have something else to be happy about: their sword and sandal film Risen has risen to 10th place with just under $1M and a six weekend total of $36M.
More good news for superhero movies this weekend: 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool by Sunday will be within $900K of overtaking Warner Bros.’ American Sniper as the second highest R-rated film at the domestic B.O. Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ still rules the adult record with $370.8M.
Weekend industry estimates as of 9:21PM for Easter weekend 2016, March 25-27:
1).Batman v Superman (WB), 4,242 theaters/ $81.3M Fri.* / 3-day cume: $171M/ Wk 1
*includes $27.7M previews
2). Zootopia (DIS), 3,670 theaters (-289)/ $9.8 Fri. (+2%)/ 3-day cume: $23.9M (-36%)/Total Cume: $241.3M/Wk 4
3).My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (UNI), 3,133 theaters/ $7.7M Fri.+ / 3-day cume: $19.1M / Wk 1
+includes $1.02M Thursday previews
4).Allegiant (LG), 3,740 theaters/ $3.9M Fri. (-67%)/ 3-day cume: $9.8M (-66%)/Total cume: $46.9M Wk 2
5).Miracles From Heaven (SONY), 3,047 theaters/ $3.3M Fri.(-20%) / 3-day cume: $9.3M (-37%)/Total Cume: $34M Wk 2
6).10 Cloverfield Lane (PAR), 2,802 theaters (-625)/ $2.1M Fri. (-42%) / 3-day cume: $6M (-52%)/Total cume: $56M / Wk 3
7). Deadpool (FOX), 2,336 theaters (-588) / $1.66M Fri. (-26%) / 3-day cume: $4.7M (-41%) / Total Cume: $349.2M / Wk 6
8). London Has Fallen (FOC), 2,173 theaters (-838)/ $993k Fri. (-47%)/ 3-day cume: $2.8M (-59%)/Total Cume: $55.5M/ Wk 4
9) Hello, My Name Is Doris (RSA), 488 theaters (+360)/ $483K Fri. (+85%) / 3-day cume: $1.5m (+48%)/Total Cume:$3M/ Wk 3
10). Risen (SONY), 634 theaters (-571)/ $349K Fri. (+20%) / 3-day cume: $947K (-17%) /Total Cume: $36M /Wk 6
11) Eye in the Sky (BLST), 123 theaters (+88)/ $288K Fri. (+160%) / 3-day cume: $924K (+119%)/Total Cume: $1.6M/ Wk 3
Notables:
Oopiri (INDIN), 90 theaters/ $160K Fri. / 3-day cume: $437K (-90%)/ Wk 1
Ambarsariya (WHP), 49 theaters/ $125K Fri. / 3-day cume: $345K/ Wk 1
Midnight Special (WB), 5 theaters/ $26K Fri. (-58%) / 3-day cume: $82K (-57%)/PTA: $16K/Total: $343K/ Wk 2
I Saw the Light (SPC), 5 theaters/ $15K Fri./ 3-day cume: $44K/PTA: $9K/ Wk 1
The Bronze (SPC), 333 theaters (-834)/ $13K Fri.(-90%) / 3-day cume: $37K (-90%)/Total: $609K/ Wk 2
PREVIOUS, 8 AM: Whatever war of words Warner Bros’ Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice lost with critics with a 30% Rotten Tomatoes score, it’s making up for nine-fold at the box office. Last night, Zack Snyder’s Dark Knight and Son of Jor’El smackdown had a great Thursday at the B.O. reaping $27.7M, punching out the preview cash made by Disney/Marvel’s Age of Ultron ($27.6M from 7PM shows), Avengers ($18.7M, midnight) and Iron Man 3 ($15.6M, 9PM) as well as Warner Bros. 2008 midnight shows from Dark Knight ($18.5M).
BvS Thursday night also drives Universal’s Furious 7’s $15.7M preview from a year ago off the record books, becoming the best pre-Easter preview. F7’s Thursday repped 23% of its opening Good Friday figure of $67.4M. That number was the best pre-summer opening day before turning into the best April and Easter opening of all-time with $147.2M. DespiteBvS’ reviews, weekend projections continue to be in the $160M+ range. Advance ticket sales for BvS have been estimated to be between $20M-$25M; 60% of those polled by ComScore last night said they bought tickets ahead of time. Some believed that if the reviews had hit 60% rotten, that the pic’s FSS would surge to $175M, however, last night’s ticket sales indicate that the best is yet to come. Essentially, Friday could potentially generate over 90% additional ticket sales on top of last night’s results for BvS, when you consider that Avengers: Age of Ultron made 33% of its $84.4M first day from Thursday showtimes starting at 7PM, while Avengers grossed $18.7M or 23% of its $80.8M opening day from midnight previews.
According to ComScore PostTrak, which polls throughout the weekend, the word of mouth is great for BvS. Seventy-one percent of Thursday’s crowd gave BvS an excellent or very good grade. Even better news for Warner Bros. after those reviews: 60% of the audience said they would definitely recommend BvS to their friends while 33% said they’ll probably tell them about it. Older males were out in force (no surprise) at 69% guys, 57% over 25. Fifty-one percent saw it in 3D. Twenty-five percent said BvS exceeded their expectations while 60% said the film met their expectations.
Typically such superhero pics are critic-proof (Man of Steel‘s at 56% rotten wasn’t impeded by any negative ink posting a $116.6M opening). Star Wars: The Force Awakens threw the preview B.O. bar up to all-time high of $57M back in December, and among superhero movies, The Dark Knight Rises midnight shows best BvS’ Thursday with $30.6M. BvS Imax hubs, which repped 41% of the audience per ComScore, made $3.6M, the best pre-Easter for the format ever.
In its first day abroad, BvS grossed $7M, ranking N0. 1 in Wednesday markets Spain, Norway, France and Italy. In total, BvS will be in projecting at 35,000 screens around the world, with an eye at cracking a global debut of $350M+. We should be getting another update today.
Meanwhile Universal/Gold Circle/Playtone/HBO’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 stood as tall as it could during previews against BvS grossing $1.02M from 2,395 venues that started at 6PM. Many project a $15M opening for the sequel to the 2002 romantic comedy, which is $200K shy of the original’s 4-day Labor Day wide break as the pic was platformed for five months prior. Again, Uni, is playing similar chess moves at the B.O. as they did during Star Wars: The Force Awakens gargantuan weekend by going after women (and older folk) who have zero patience for BvS. MYBFGW2‘s Thursday night beats the $769K made by the R-rated Sisters.
Warner Bros. has a lot riding on the line with BvS. Above and beyond the estimated $400M pricetag (that includes P&A), the film is their chip at rebooting DC Comics features in the wake of Christoper Nolan’s successful $2.46B Dark Knight trilogy and the God-awful Green Lantern ($200M production cost, $219M global B.O.) which was a sour note in their extended universe superhero adaptations.
Easter used to be a meh time to launch a movie, but that’s changed. Dollar by dollar, year by year distributors have swelled Easter weekend to a new bar, proving that audiences aren’t holier than thou in their moviegoing, rather love to get out of the house during the holiday break. Weinstein/Dimension took the weekend to a new level with its $40.2M debut of Scary Movie 4 in 2006. Then Warner Bros. pulled out all the stops with its post-Avatar 3D breakthrough Clash of the Titans which debuted to $61.2M. Then Uni’s F7 blew the hinges off the bunny frame with a $147.1M FSS. Seventy-six percent of all K-12 schools are out today with another 45% out on Monday. Heck, Warners should just count BvS as a 4-day opening.
Outside BvS, Disney’s Zootopia topped the Thursday B.O. with $4.5M raising its three week total to $217.5M, followed by Lionsgate’s The Divergent Series: Allegiant in second with $1.88M and a seven day cume of $37.1M.
‘Batman V Superman’ Heads Toward $171M Pre-Summer Opening Record: Why Complain? – Late Night Update
Marvel Updates for This 2016 Hype!
As you guys may know Captain America : Civil War is hitting the top charts as of right now especially with its trailer hitting over $100 million, I mean views which I grossing way over the film and interest rate for Batman v Superman : Dawn of Justice. It is set to believe that at this interest rate Civil War will throw all its competition out the water! Now that’s something to brag to your DC friends. I will be happily to agree with information I to be right now have been released about Stan Lees cameo, the big surprise is he gives us is that he will for the first time make a major cameo as a hero that occurs in the comics and to hint it even more it’s on the side with less CGI put into effort. Stan Lees cameo isn’t just all that we are looking forward to it’s also the deaths just as they released in the trailer, yes it was Bucky but it goes with the plot involving an infinite crisis between split universe involving Galactus as the main cause of this event. Due to the fact of it not being original Bucky it was confirmed he would’ve joined Iron Mans side. Including on this next news topic update which will talk about the new Spider-Man played by Tom Holland where plot turns out he has his own plot going on but it is similar to the edge of time plot Involving Spider-Man 2099. Now it seems like a bunch of info but Civil War was made to give a bunch of marvel Heros their own spin offs to keep going and making this MC universe last for various long amounts a time to make sure it’s memory never gets lost. Last Topic but not least there will be a list of upcoming movies that MCU and some good news the fans will love. We have movies upcoming such as Avengers : Universal Times which will be helped in production by you guys. That’s right we will have polls on most casting and ideas or you can custom a text or message and send it to us to approve it. We will update new and more information at our Twitter.
Marvel Future Fight Update Features Thanos’ Black Order
MARVEL FUTURE FIGHT UPDATE FEATURES THANOS’ BLACK ORDER
MARVEL Future Fight Unleashes
New Gameplay Elements, Raid and Thanos’ Subordinates
Latest update to MARVEL Future Fight includes new level of Super Villains leading the raid
Netmarble Games Corp., the fastest-growing mobile game company in Asia, today announced that its global blockbuster RPG MARVEL Future Fight is having a major update this month, featuring new gameplay elements, such as raid, real-time battle system in Timeline Battle, as well as more powerful Super Villains. Marking the massive update anticipated to deliver the ultimate combat challenge and fun, Netmarble unveiled a teaser showcasing upcoming changes.
The update introduces Proxima Midnight, Black Dwarf, and Corvus Glaive, the three Black Order members who serve Thanos, one of the most popular and darkest Super Villains in the Marvel Universe.
Alongside character updates, the raid content will bring a new level of intensity and fun to the game. The raid features new Black Order characters appearing as bosses, stages with completely fresh themes, and advanced approaches to team up and contest. In addition, the introduction of real-time battle system to Timeline Battle will allow players to experience further strategic gameplay and get ready for the next challenge, while checking weekly updated ranking reflecting the player’s performance of previous week.
“One of the world’s most beloved RPGs featuring contents well-aligned with the Marvel Universe, MARVEL Future Fight has kept its fans continually entertained,” said Seungwon Lee, Chief Global Officer, Netmarble Games. “We strive to always keep MARVEL Future Fight updated with thrilling raid content and awesome characters to have fans coming back for more Super Hero, Super Villain excitement.”
Additional exciting gameplay features in this massive update include:
· New Super Villains: Proxima Midnight is the best female fighter from Thanos’ Black Order, Black Dwarf is the most powerful member of the Black Order, and Corvus Glaive is the most loyal of Thanos’ followers.
· New raid contents: Bosses with high difficulty and new battle patterns have been added. Stages have received new themes, team formations, and battle methods.
· Real-time battles: Players can now create decks with advantages over other players in real-time battles. MARVEL Future Fight fans can also change special gears to be able to snipe specific characters and use strategy.
· Comic card system: New system to replace the existing cover system will allow players to collect cards to increase the stats of Heroes. Cards can be earned in specific stages and are available in stores.
MARVEL Future Fight features a story written by famed Marvel Comics writer Peter David and numerous Marvel characters including Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Spider-Man, and Daredevil. Players can build their own team of Super Heroes to face off against Super Villains such as Doctor Octopus or Ultron, all while enjoying gorgeous graphics and innovative controls. MARVEL Future Fight also features co-op for added support and action packed entertainment.
MARVEL Future Fight has launched in 149 countries and has hit the Top 10 charts in 118 countries including Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and the UK. Surpassing 30 million downloads in its first six months, MARVEL Future Fight has held its place at the top of both the App Store® and Google Play™ Store worldwide charts, landing overall at #6 for May 2015*. MARVEL Future Fight dominated the iPhone® games ranks, reaching #1 in daily downloads in over 40 countries including the United States, South Korea, and France. Listed among ‘Best Games of 2015’ by Google Play based on downloads, revenue, user evaluation, and outstanding quality, MARVEL Future Fight has achieved global recognition for its entertainment value and depth, fascinating players around the world.
*Source: May 2015 AppAnnie Report
MARVEL Future Fight is available worldwide in the App Store® and Google Play™.
App Store®: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/marvel-future-fight/id955705796
Google Play™: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netmarble.mherosgb
For more information on MARVEL Future Fight, please visit http://marvelfuturefight.netmarble.com.
Gambit, Alien, Predator and More Fox / Marvel Release Updates
Gambit, Alien, Predator and Fox / Marvel release updates
20th Century Fox has moved around their upcoming release date schedule this weekend and the changes include some untitled Fox / Marvel release updates.
First up, the studio has removed the Gambit movie from its schedule for now. To be directed by Doug Liman and starring Channing Tatum and Lea Seydoux, the comic book adaptation was previously scheduled to open on October 7, 2016.
Staying with the Fox / Marvel release updates, the studio has set an Untitled Fox / Marvel Film for a release on October 6, 2017, while another Untitled Fox / Marvel Film will be coming to theaters on January 12, 2018. Could one of these be the Deadpool sequel? We’ll have to wait and see. The first project will face Andy Serkis’ The Jungle Book: Origins at Warner Bros. on October 6, 2017, while the latter is going up against the Blade Runner sequel at Warner Bros. and Paramount/MGM’s Sherlock Gnomes on January 12, 2018.
Ridley Scott’s Prometheus follow-up, Alien: Covenant, has been moved up two months from October 6, 2017 to August 4, 2017. There, it will face Pitch Perfect 3 and Blazing Samurai. Alien: Covenant will star Michael Fassbender, Demian Bichir, Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, Jussie Smolett, Amy Seimetz, Carmen Ejogo and Callie Hernandez.
20th Century Fox has also scheduled director Shane Black’s The Predator for a release on March 2, 2018, a date it has to itself for now.
The studio has moved up the Tim Burton adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children from Christmas Day to September 30 of this year, which is quite a crowded day.
They have moved back the animated Ferdinand from April 7, 2017 to July 21, 2017 (where it faces Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets). The studio has also moved Why Him back to Christmas Day (from November 11, 2016) and taken The Mountain Between Us off of its schedule for now (was previously February 10, 2017).
Read more at http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/661273-gambit-alien-predator-and-more-fox-marvel-release-updates#kH5k1hTrGbzQ9Kvg.99
Gambit, Alien, Predator and More Fox / Marvel Release Updates
Fox Updates Alien Films’ Release Dates, Announces Untitled Marvel Films, Removes Gambit
Good news for sci-fi fans. 20th Century Fox has updated its roster of films in 2017 and 2018 with alien-inspired films. Bad news for comic book fans though, as Gambit has been removed from the studio’s release schedule.
Weeks ago, a teaser poster of Predator was released via Facebook with the possible title ofThe Predator. Now, the film company has announced the official release date of the movie on March 2, 2018. The film’s script is penned and will be directed by Iron Man 3’s Shane Black. Fred Dekker is also co-writing the script. Not much is known of the upcoming ThePredator, aside from Black saying that it’s a sequel rather than a reboot of the 1987 film.
Meanwhile, Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant has been moved to an earlier release of August 4, 2017. It was previous scheduled for release on October 6, 2017. It looks like the studio is trying to cash in on the summer release window. Alien: Covenant is known to feature Katherine Waterston, Demian Bichir, Michael Fassbender, Jussie Smollett, and Danny McBride.
As for Gambit, it appears the film won’t be pushing through this year since Fox just removed the superhero film from its release schedule. Gambit is still under development though, but its release date is now unknown. Gambit will be Fox’s eighth X-Men film, the latest being X-Men: Apocalypse up for release on May 27.
In addition, Fox also announced the release of two new Marvel projects. The first one is slated for a October 6, 2017 while the second one is up for a January 12, 2018 release.
There’s no clue as to what films the two aforementioned dates are for, but I’m guessing those spots will be filled in by Gambit and Deadpool 2.
Fox Updates Alien Films’ Release Dates, Announces Untitled Marvel Films, Removes Gambit
Diablo III Players Discover New Secret Cow Level
In honor of an artist who worked on World of Warcraft and Diablo, and who passed away two years ago, Diablo devs secretly snuck a mini-event into Diablo III. It’s a special version of the famous Cow level and players found it pretty quickly.
It’s very easy to unlock compared to other Diablo III secrets. You only have to go to Immortal Throne in Act III’s Ruins of Sescheron. The dungeon is randomly generated, but the throne room is always in the west-northwest part of the sanctum. Once there, Kanai’s soul will awake and open a portal to a special version of the Cow level.
Here’s a video by YouTuber MadTom showing the process:
The Kanai event has actually been present since Patch 2.4.0 launched, but is only available during March – the real world birth month of Kevin Kanai Griffith, the artist for whom Kanai’s Cube (and King Kanai) is named.
For those of you who may not know, Kevin was a talented and dedicated member of the Diablo III development team who passed away in October of 2014 from a rare form of cancer.
It’s worth checking out the event quickly, especially if you haven’t seen the Cow level yet: According to Blizzard community manager Nevalistis, the portal to Kanai’s Stomping Grounds will be gone at the end of March.
Spider-Man Is Totally Okay With Letting Someone Else Be Spider-Man
The original wall-crawler is a little salty about Miles’ costume, though. Because even he has to admit that it’s cooler.
Spoilers follow.
For those who may not know who Miles Morales is, he’s a teenage Spider-Man from a now-dead alternate universe. He started webbing up bad guys after the death (and eventual resurrection) of that universe’s Peter Parker and became part of Marvel’s main Earth-616 reality in the aftermath of the publisher’s bigSecret Wars event.
One of the big questions surrounding Miles’ intergration into the mainline Marvel Universe was how the publisher was going to handle the relationship between Peter and Miles. Spider-Man #2 gives readers a look at the two Spider-Men’s first meeting. Written by Brian Michael Bendis, with art from Sara Pichelli, Gaetano Carlucci, Justin Ponsor and Cory Petit, it shows Peter both endorsing and kvetching about the new web-slinger.
Their initial encounter gets presented in a flashback as a random run-in. There’s no mention of Miles’ Ultimate Universe history. As far as Peter seems to know, this is just another kid with spider-powers and web-shooters who jumped in to help.
What I enjoyed most about this issue is that you can get a sense of how Miles is going to be different than Peter. He quips a bit, as his predecessor does, but comes across as less angsty and more earnest than Peter did in his earliest adventures. Bendis writes Miles as a kid who gets to follow in the footsteps of his idol, which builds sympathy for the new Spider-Man. But that sympathy isn’t universal. When a nervous cop points a gun at Miles after he saves the day from rampaging demon prince Blackheart, saying he doesn’t know who he is, Peter Parker’s response says it all.
The difference in melanin levels between the younger and older Spider-Men doesn’t go unnoticed in the fictional Marvel Universe. In a sequence showing clips of a reaction video, a young fan waxes enthusiastic about the world’s increasing superhero diversity. However, Miles isn’t exactly okay with all of what she says.
Other parts of Spider-Man #2 show more cantankerous media reactions to Miles’ world-saving debut and push forward the idea that Miles will be filling the Spider-Man void left in Manhattan, since Peter is now the jet-setting CEO of a high-tech company. Spider-Man #2 deftly does the necessary work of making it feel like Miles Morales belongs in the Marvel Universe. The driving tension is all set up: he’ll have to reckon with Peter Parker’s legacy and deal with the public’s perception of him, with context that Peter never had to confront. So far, this series is off to a very good start.
Spider-Man Is Totally Okay With Letting Someone Else Be Spider-Man
Minecraft Overworld Update Introduces New Skins, Redstone Gameplay
Minecraft Overworld Update Introduces New Skins, Redstone Gameplay
Minecraft Windows 10 Beta and Pocket Editions get new features.
Microsoft and Mojang have rolled out the first major Minecraftupdate of the year, bringing “new gameplay functionality” to the Windows 10 Beta and Pocket Editions of the hugely-successful sandbox creation and survival game.
The Overworld Update introduces redstone components that allow for advanced mechanical objects such as repeaters, hoppers, and dispensers to be created. Also included are witches and witch huts, the ability to dye armour using cauldrons, and more. A full list of new additions can be found below.
- Finally make more advanced mechanical contraptions for your world with additional redstone components. Comparators, repeaters, dispensers, droppers, hoppers, trapped chests and various additional Minecart types will all be available. Invent all the things!
- Tangle with spooky witches and their huts during your adventures. Witch huts found while exploring swamps also now contain an exciting new feature – their cauldrons will be filled with a randomly generated potion that you can snag for your own if you’re feeling sticky-fingered.
- Speaking of cauldrons, they can now be used to dye your armor an array of beautiful colors.
- Display your coolest loot in your home with Item Frames – or mount your maps on the wall to plan your adventures with a world overview.
- Other gameplay elements new to Pocket Edition andWindows 10 Beta are slime blocks, wearable pumpkins, red sandstone as well as improved chicken jockey mobs.
- Even beyond gameplay elements, we’re also now introducing the ability to import and export maps into the Windows 10 Edition Beta, making it easier for you to share your favorite worlds with friends.
- And for those of you who love racking up Gamerscore, there are eight new achievements on the Windows 10 Edition Betatotaling 170 additional Xbox Gamerscore that you can get.
- Camouflage – Kill a mob while wearing the same type of mob head.
- Dispense With This – Construct a dispenser.
- Tie Dye Outfit – Dye all 4 unique pieces of leather armor.
- Map Room – Place 9 fully explored, adjacent maps into 9 item frames in a 3 by 3 square.
- Trampoline Bounce – 30 blocks upward off of a slime block.
- Freight Station – Use a Hopper to move an item from a Chest Minecart to a Chest.
- Smelt Everything! – Connect 3 Chests to a single Furnace using 3 Hoppers.
- Taste of Your Own Medicine – Poison a witch with a splash potion.
A Redstone Specialists skin pack has also been released. While Composer and Artisan skins are free, the rest of the pack, which features mad scientists and creators, is available for $1.99. There are a total of 15 skins in it.
Microsoft acquired the Minecraft franchise and Mojang in 2014 for the price of $2.5 billion. Creator Markus “Notch” Persson, who held a reported 70 percent stake in Mojang, left the company following the acquisition. He has since purchased a $70 million Beverly Hills mansion, outbidding Jay-Z and Beyonce for the property.
Minecraft Overworld Update Introduces New Skins, Redstone Gameplay
‘The Walking Dead’ Season 6 Midseason Premiere Review: No Way Out
‘The Walking Dead’ Season 6 Midseason Premiere Review: No Way Out
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon (Credit: AMC)
There came a point during tonight’s midseason premiere of The Walking Dead when just one, singular thought ran through my brain:
Punch the damn kid.
I don’t usually think about punching children while watching TV shows, but during this moment in the episode “No Way Out” I had a very simple solution to a very big problem. The younger kid—the creepy one, Sam—starts freaking out because Carol has poisoned his flubby little mind with talk of monsters. Everyone is standing around urging him to be quiet because obviously rational, logical entreaties will totally work on a little kid who’s freaking out surrounded by a horde of zombies.
Which is why I’m thinking Punch the kid! Not because I’m mad at him or anything, but because it’s an elegant solution to a crisis. Rick could just lean over, knock him out, and carry him out of the town on his shoulder. If he’d done this, yeah the kid would have a shiner and maybe Jessie and Ron would be upset, but they’d all still be alive and Carl wouldn’t have an extra hole in his head.
The other thing I was thinking? Man this is a really weird scene. A part of me felt like it was a dream.
The whole thing was shot very bizarrely. The little flashbacks of Jessie all alive and happy as she’s being eaten. The sort-of-not-quite slow motion. The fact that nobody makes any move to do anything to help anyone until Rick lops off Jessie’s arm to free Carl. Just a very strange scene that, for me at least, really sapped the moment of its potential drama and tragedy.
It didn’t help that Sam and Ron were both entirely unlikable and we secretly wanted them both dead. It didn’t help that Rick just sort of stood there while Jessie screamed her head off instead of bopping her over the head either. He’s a seasoned survivor who has spent the entire past two seasons trying to get close to Jessie, and he doesn’t even lift a finger to help.Yes, I know, this is all comic book canon (or close enough.) But it’s executed here very poorly. Which is a bit of a shame because much of the rest of the episode is pretty exciting.
Things go boom.
Michael Cudlitz as Abraham – The Walking Dead _ Season 6, Episode 9 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
For instance, the beginning is quite exciting and well done. When Negan’s lieutenant is about to shoot Abraham and Sasha, and Daryl blows up the entire biker gang with an RPG, it’s terrific. Yay Daryl! Hooray for Abraham and Sasha not dying. I laughed out loud, to be honest. It was a hilarious bit of bloody mayhem.
Likewise, when the three of them show up at the town and save Rick and Glenn and everyone else from almost certain doom, it’s great. Abraham laughing as he sprays Walkers with automatic rifle fire? Brilliant!
Other moments worked in tonight’s episode as well. Seeing the creepy Wolf with the bad teeth have just a flicker, just the tiniest glimmer of goodness when he saves Denise, almost validates Morgan’s philosophy, and certainly calls into question Carol’s ruthlessness. The matter is hardly resolved, but I like that it sounded out here on such an ambiguous note.
Rosita was also great, talking sense right and left and being generally tough and smart. Why isn’t Rosita a bigger part of the show? She could be the female Daryl, basically. She’s always held it together, is always good in a pinch, and never gets any lines.
In fact, most of the show’s characters were at their best tonight. The cowardly Father Gabriel showed real courage, both in taking Judith with him and joining Rick in his reckless battle. Even the cowardly Eugene, and all the rest of the cowardly townsfolk joined the fight, proving to Rick (as he tearfully admits it to an unconscious Carl) that maybe he had leaped to conclusions about the Alexandrians. Imagine that.
Things go bump.
I was less pleased with Glenn, who carelessly (even more carelessly than Rick) attempts to save Maggie by backing himself into a corner. I’m sure Maggie will be so pleased with you Glenn, if you finally return from the dead just to get eaten by zombies. Surely he could have come up with a better way to distract them without tossing his life away? Thank goodness Abraham, Sasha and Daryl showed up, though how their spray of bullets only mowed down Walkers and not Glenn himself still eludes me.
But this remains small potatoes compared to how irritating the death of Jessie and her family was. That single moment, which should have been the episode’s most tragic and dramatic, fell totally flat.
All told, a strong return of The Walking Dead this evening, but certainly marred by some strange direction. I also chuckled as they hacked and burned the zombies to death. In the beginning of the season, when they first found the quarry, I suggested that perhaps a smarter plan would have been to burn the Walkers inside the quarry instead of freeing them for a zombie parade. Either that, or let them out slowly and kill them one by one. Surely either of those options would have been safer and easier than what they ended up doing—even with the truck falling out of the way and letting the zombies out sooner than planned. (Surely they could have put up some more temporary barriers, etc.)
I am curious to see what happens with Carl, and the town more broadly. I imagine that as they attempt to rebuild we’ll get our first glimpse of the infamous Negan and the rest of his wicked crew, all of which should make for an exciting back half of the season.
‘The Walking Dead’ Season 6 Midseason Premiere Review: No Way Out
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Blu-Ray Release Date
Here’s everything you need to know about the Star Wars: The Force Awakens blu-ray, including release date and deleted scene info.
During a press tour for the Bad Robot-produced 11.22.63 Hulu series, Abrams confirmed that there wouldn’t be an extended cut of the film released for home video. But he did confirm we’ll definitely be getting those deleted scenes we were hoping for. So at least we’ll get to piece these together.
Original Story 12.28.15:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is has made over a billion dollars in the box office in its first month in theaters, so it’s no secret that it’ll be a long time before it fades away from movie screens and even longer before we can own the film for our blu-ray collection. And that blu-ray is indeed a few months out still.
According to Blu-Ray.com, the Star Wars: The Force Awakens blu-ray is set to release on April 5. It will be distributed for home video by Disney, of course. The blu-ray currently has a list price of $29.99, but you can find some pre-order deals on Amazon for $19.99.
No details yet on what’s included in the package besides the actual film, but we’re betting on some good behind-the-scenes stuff as well as a deleted scene or two. Hopefully, we’ll also get a little “Making Of” documentary as with past Star Wars DVDs and blu-rays. And don’t forget the inevitable commentary from J.J. Abrams (and maybe Lawrence Kasdan and Kathleen Kennedy). It would be nice to hear the three talk about the movie scene by scene.