‘Once Upon a Time’ season 5: Greek mythology’s Hercules, Megara to visit Storybrooke
After dealing with the classic British folklore in the first half of “Once Upon a Time” season 5, the residents of Storybrooke will be crossing paths with several characters from the Greek mythology in the second part of the season.
TVLine learned from an ABC spokesperson that Hercules and Meg will drop by Storybrooke in the 13th episode of “Once Upon a Time” season 5 titled “Labor of Love.”
The source revealed that new actor Jonathan Whitesell was tapped to play the role of Hercules for the series. Meanwhile, Meg (short for Megara) will be portrayed by “Hannibal” alum Kacey Rohl. Both actors are set to appear in one episode this season.
Hercules is known in Greek mythology as the son of the god Zeus and the mortal Alcmene, which makes him a demigod. Meg, on the other hand, is known to be a pawn of Hercules’ uncle Hades.
Last month, a spoiler from TVLine revealed that the series was on the lookout for two new characters. One is a “dashing, strapping young man who is a single-minded in his pursuit of his destiny: to be the greatest hero who ever lived,” while the other is a “plucky, 18-year-old female adventurer with a sly sense of humor and a tough, no-nonsense spirit.” These characters could fit the description of Hercules and Meg.
A separate report from TVLine also revealed that “Ally McBeal” star Greg Germann will return to the series after the winter hiatus as “The Distinguished Gentleman,” who could possibly be Hades himself.
Aside from the Greek mythology characters, “The Good Wife” actress Bailee Madison will reprise her role as the young Snow White in the hit fairy tale series in the same episode that is set to air when “Once Upon a Time” season 5B returns sometime in 2016.
‘Once Upon a Time’ season 5: Greek mythology’s Hercules, Megara to visit Storybrooke
‘Minecraft’ updates: ‘Pocket Edition’ receives an important Redstone boost
“Minecraft” has received a lot of updates since October came, but it proves to be “Minecraft: Pocket Edition’s” turn finally.
In this Neuro Gadget report, “Minecraft: Pocket Edition” 0.13.0 BETA finally arrives. What this means—for the uninformed—is that the pocket edition of Minecraft will have new features to look out for, this one in the guise of the Redstone Circuits. People playing Minecraft on PCs will be familiar with the many uses and benefits of having Redstone circuits.
For those who have yet to explore their advantages, Redstone circuits can power entire relays of systems. The 0.13.0 BETA will bring Redstone wires, buttons, levers, lamps, pressure plates, torches, tripwires, trapped chests, detector rails, as well as Redstone itself into the “Minecraft” world.
Other patches which the update brings into the Pocket Edition will be a new wooded door, according to the article, as well as some tweaks and new commands that players will be able to use. Enemies are brought along as well, meaning Ghasts and Slimes will trouble players starting from the latest update.
Here are further information about what people can do with the latest update on the Pocket Edition, according to this video.
Through this Touch Arcade report, two videos arrive—one of which shows a couple of Mojang developers show the power of a Redstone-powered mansion. The mansion has a lot of powered blocks, as well as doors. The complication of making Redstone circuits also arrives in the mobile version.
The importance of Redstone isn’t only because of the game. There are a lot of purposes that can be thought of for Redstone circuits in the game. There have been instances where appliances created for the game—some of which are computers—were powered by Redstone. This video shows an instance where musical instruments can also gain an added benefit from these Redstone blocks.
What was once only doable on the PC can also be doable in smartphones yet again.
‘Minecraft’ updates: ‘Pocket Edition’ receives an important Redstone boost
World of Warcraft: Legion will ‘feel like you’re in a piece of art’
World of Warcraft has been arguably the most popular MMORPG in the world since its launch in 2004. With its sixth expansion pack, Legion, set for release next spring, the world of Azeroth faces another invasion by the demonic Burning Legion, but sees a new class of heroes dubbed Demon Hunters arise to combat them.
With dark fel magic running rampant, though, the colourful world takes on a sickly hue. Bad news for the Horde and Alliance, forced into an uneasy partnership against a common foe, but an excellent opportunity for players to explore a setting that looks wildly different to anything WoW has offered before.
At this year’s Blizzcon, WIRED spoke with senior art director Chris Robinson on designing a poisoned environment, the impact of the Warcraft movie on the game’s visuals, and how traditional artistry remains a key skill in creating digital worlds.
WIRED: The Legion expansion has been the one most overlapping with the development of the movie. Has the film affected the way you’ve done things visually, since you’ll be launching at around the same time?
Chris Robinson: We actually thought a lot of about keeping the game distinct, to where we saw the vision going. When we started the movie process, we talked about where we thought the overlap was going to happen. The people working on the movie were taking it in the direction of telling a story in the world with some characters that overlap. With us, we didn’t really want to get to that point where we were relying on someone else to make our decisions, or to group-think. It’s always been about protecting the vision in the team, and our writers, artists and designers are so passionate about what we think of as “the game” that the idea of it being influenced by an outside factor doesn’t make us excited. Certainly, we’ve been watching what they were doing and we love it. It looks great and I think there’s probably a little overlap in terms of the visuals, skin textures and what orcs look like, that kind of thing. But in terms of the game world, very little.
When you’re creating art and designs for an ongoing gaming world like Warcraft, what’s the development process? Do you focus on each expansion at a time, or are you constantly rolling out new material?
It’s a train, it’s a constant. We’re staggered in a way, so not everyone’s focused on one expansion or one innovation. Some of it’s stuff that might come out two or three years down the road; some that will come out in the next patch. It’s a little more reactive for the most part. We might put something out, see how players respond and then react to it and change our judgement and alter the process along the way, to make sure it’s stuff that’s relevant and resonates. Then there’s key elements that we feel we really want to do because we’re passionate about it and that’s always rolling. It’s about maintaining what people find to be the important parts of the game that resonate and identify with, and use that as a base to introduce new mechanics that might reference that or build on the core themes that make Warcraft what it is.
Legion is delving into darker territory, with the demonic Burning Legion returning. What goes into making the world aesthetically pleasing to players, when everything is death and destruction?
It’s a contrast, you know? We want those moments where you’re experiencing bleak horror and the colour palette is something you’ve never seen before. And then we want to pull you right back out of that to something that feels more light-hearted so you breathe again. It’s all about that balance — you don’t have it be epic all the time. Not everything has to be Burning Legion in your face at all times.
To me, Warcraft has always been about whimsy alongside the more serious storytelling, like a fairy forest. The theme is certainly very heavy but as you roll through the environment and you progress, we definitely wanted those moments of an arc — like in a story or a good movie — where there’s a build-up and the heat of it but then you need a rest period before you build up again. To me it’s about that contrast, about visually pulling people in and out so they’re not just getting the same thing over and over again.
World of Warcraft is over a decade old now. Where’s the line between maintaining the early, almost cartoonish aesthetic versus pushing out more technically detailed designs that both Blizzard’s engines and player’s machines are capable of now?
The art that we create is not the most definitive or realistic — to me it’s more like a painting where you leave areas for the imagination to fill in. This is what the style is, this is what we’re trying to convey to the player, but they also fill in the blanks with their own brain. Everyone who plays the same game doesn’t get the same experience. It reflects how we see the world and it maintains the connectivity for them, because a lot of that [immersion] is stories that they’ve told themselves between the gaps that we left for them.
Almost a form of interactive impressionism?
That’s a great way to put it. The hard part has been that when new creators come in, we don’t have like a 500 page book that we give them and say “read this book to learn how to make WoW” art. We sit with that person and work on the things that you get to work on; they’ll paint with you, do paint-overs, talk about art. It’s a big group that’s always driving the new people to understand the style.
Presumably some of that influx of new talent grew up on the game, too?
We have a lot of people who still work on the game were there at the beginning or close to the beginning. But we also have people we hired recently, who’ve just come out of school and they say that Warcraft was the beginning for them, it was their game. It’s a crazy thing for us, having people coming in and saying “I remember when…”, you know? Like, how dare people be younger than us?! But it really brings an interesting dynamic to the team because they have things that mean a lot to them, that mean something completely different to the people who created it.
How much of the art generated for Warcraft now is produced on traditional media compared to digitally?
A lot of it, actually. We do a lot of concept work in traditional forms. We do a certain amount of textures where you start traditional, scan and then sketch over or paint over that. I think that as an artist, you’re never going to excel at digital art if you don’t understand that kind of thing. You’re not going to be able to push your digital art as far as you can. When we’re not in active game development, we have classes where you actually sit down and sculpt or use oil painting, so that you understand the medium. When you later sit down to paint a texture or model something, you’ll pull in that knowledge from the traditional medium. We want you to feel that you’re in a piece of art, like at any moment you could take a screencap and it would look like a painting.
World of Warcraft: Legion will ‘feel like you’re in a piece of art’
Why StarCraft II’s final chapter is the perfect place to start
StarCraft II draws to a close this week, with the release of Legacy of the Void. Focused on the advanced Protoss civilisation, it caps the sci-fi RTS trilogy which begun back in 2010.
WIRED speaks with StarCraft II lead designer Jason Huck on the creation of the game, pleasing Blizzard’s vocal international fanbase, and how it feels to be concluding a story a half-decade in the telling.
WIRED: When Starcraft II was originally announced as being split into three separate games, that was seen as controversial. Do you still feel that was the right decision?
Jason Huck: Totally. And I feel a lot of the community agrees with that. We don’t hear the negativity anymore but we hear a lot of “I’m really looking forward to Legacy of the Void”.
One of the big announcements from this year’s BlizzCon has been the new Covert Ops missions focusing on Nova coming to the game. With the core StarCraft II trilogy now done, what do these add?
We wanted to tell more stories and we had all these cool characters that we haven’t really been able to feature as much. There are a lot of players who just play the campaigns and that’s it, and our goal is give them more of the story-driven strategy game element.
[Nova] is a total of nine missions. The story arc is nine. The first pack comes out next year and that’s three missions and the next pack has three and the last pack has the final three. We’re pretty set on that format. If we wanted to, we could do more, maybe change it to a different format. We’re open to experiment with different ways to do this.
As far as anyone knows, there’s no core StarCraft game after Legacy of the Void. Where next for the series?
This is a transition point for us. There’s still so much that we want to do with StarCraft and we feel like we would be neglecting it if we went to do something else. Expanding on it in these other ways — voice packs, skin packs — is something that many players want and when we told them we were going to do it they were very excited. The players want us to support the game and we’ve heard that clearly. They don’t want us to abandon the game.
How do you go about ending a story like this, that’s been spread over a half-decade with legions of fans waiting?
That was a significant challenge. The aim was to give a satisfying ending — there are no cliffhangers. This is the true ending. There’s no multiple endings. That was always the goal. We want players to feel satisfied that they stuck with the story and played the game, but that it’s also really fun to get there. I’m confident about it. We’re giving [players] an ending that we really enjoyed and again internal feedback was really good for that. In the end it’s all objective.
Have there been changes along the way? Did you always have this end point in mind?
The skeleton was always there. There were definitely changes as we worked and iterated. Plenty of internal playtesting gave us feedback on gameplay and story and we changed according to that.
StarCraft as a whole is 17 years old, steeped in lore, and with a dedicated player base — how do you achieve balance between making new instalments accessible for new players and enjoyable for veterans?
A lot of iteration on our part. We do a lot of internal “new user tests”, where we bring in brand-new players who have never picked up StarCraft. We watch them play and there are many cycles of bringing people in, watching them play and then responding to their feedback. On the other end, the challenge and the players who are really skilled — that’s actually a little easier for us because we have a lot of really skilled players in the office so we can just turn around and say “come play this, how does it feel?” That’s still a ton of iteration; maybe it feels too easy and we need to make it hard. That’s just a ton of playtesting.
Even with gameplay tweaks, can players reasonably get invested, with Legacy of the Void being the last of three chapters?
Everything’s a stand-alone. We’ve re-done the tutorial and we dig the training mission. If you’re interested in multiplayer we have that for you but the tutorials are still a good way to learn the three races. We’ve changed them so it’s a more story-driven experience. It sets you up so that you understand how the three races play and you can do the [three StarCraft II] campaigns in any order — though obviously we would encourage you to play Terran first [2010’s Wings of Liberty]. If you’re interested in the story it would make more sense to do it in that order but if you really like the Protoss you can start with Legacy of the Void. There’s a lot of story so far and there are movies to help you catch up but the story is a little dense. Still, it’s a great time to get into the game.
We’ve already seen StarCraft characters popping up in Heroes of the Storm. Are you involved in how they get presented?
Yeah, a little bit. We’re fortunate in that the Heroes team and the StarCraft team are basically the same team. They’re like upstairs from us. With the case of Artanis, we were able to provide feedback on the development but they had the final decision on what was best for them. It’s been really fun as a developer to play their game and give feedback.
It’s more of an inspirational thing. We’ll see what they’re doing, their battlegrounds and they’ll see our missions. And because we’re using the same editor it’s easy to see something in their game and put it in our game. We’re constantly bouncing ideas off each other.
Blizzard is an American company, but arguably StarCraft’s biggest audience is in South Korea. How do you keep that community engaged?
We’ve had community summits there where we’ve flown in the pros. We had one before Blizzcon and one six months ago. We have people in Korea, a Blizzard office there. [International feedback] is treated equally. It’s really important to us to get that global, balanced viewpoint, to put that together and make the decision that’s best for everyone. The challenge is of course to encapsulate all that feedback into one good decision!
With Legacy of the Void out the door, how does it feel to see StarCraft II coming to an end?
That’s a really good question — you never think you’ll get there. It’s really exciting but it’s a also bittersweet in a way. But you’re excited for the next thing. The team is really excited to see what we can do next. And we’re really excited about Nova because she’s a character we have the freedom to develop.
Why StarCraft II’s final chapter is the perfect place to start
Star Fox Zero North American Release Date Revealed
A rating for Minecraft Wii U has appeared on the Pan European Game Information page.
They see me ridin’, they hatin’.
“The listing, which was spotted by NeoGAF user HypnoDarkrai, states Minecraft Wii U Edition will be released this year”. But the three games that were shown off are a few of Nintendo’s heavier hitters. Joining it on store shelves next year will be The Legend of Zelda for Wii U.
The tweet, however, was said to be “a general proclamation” of possible “Pokemon” related games and did not in any way confirm that an official release date for “Pokemon Z” would finally be revealed.
And so Hyrule Warriors, the collaboration between Nintendo and Dynasty Warriors developers Omega Force, is gaining a new hero: Linkle. Best part is that the clothing update as well as the Resort stage will be live as of 5 PM Pacific. More updates are promised “until January at least”.
Super Mario Maker is acknowleding that its search filters are imperfect, which is where a new web portal should come in handy. For example, “Stretchmo” charges players for additional levels. There isn’t much you can do with the Nintendo Badge Arcade if you aren’t paying real bucks to get plays so basically, it’s not as free-to-play as it sounds.
Let us know if you, like many others believed that Minecraft would be announced at the Direct event hours ago. Both games are monster battle RPGs with tons of charm and an anime to hook kids even when they’re away from the game. Seriously, check out the trailer and look at how furry Peppy looks. 20 November – busy day for releases Yes, you read that right – next week is the day many people’s purses/wallets will end. Upcoming games include Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash and Xenoblade Chronicles X on the Wii U, and Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon for the Nintendo 3DS. However, it seems that Nintendo NX is the only one in the making so far, leading sites like Crossmap to believe that AMD is actually referring to the NX.
In October, Nintendo also announced its first mobile app-slash-game, Miitomo, available on all Apple and Android devices. Star Fox Zero comes exclusively to the Wii U on april 22, 2016. The deliberately cheesy airborne shooter brings together series protagonist (and furry) Fox McCloud and crew once more, fighting to save the galaxy all over again.
Star Fox Zero will hit Wii U on April 22nd, 2016.
The game should have been available by yesterday as assumed earlier when Nintendo held its Nintendo Direct broadcast on the same date as the tentative release date, but CinemaBlend noted that the game has not been released yet.
Walmart exclusive: Super Mario Bros. Which probably means he’ll be getting an amiibo too.
The Hot Seat: Once Upon a Time bosses answer your burning questions
As the Dark Swan continues to wreak havoc in Storybrooke, EW has decided it’s time to put Once Upon a Time executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis in The Hot Seat, where they have the option of answering your questions from Twitter with “Yes,” “No” or “Can’t say.” Get the scoop below:
Did Emma (Jennifer Morrison) cast the curse herself?
EDWARD KITSIS AND ADAM HOROWITZ: Can’t say.
Is there any meaning behind Emma’s house number 710?
KITSIS: Yes. By the way, the meaning behind it is it’s the Grateful Dead House on Haight Ashbury, which is really for me and Josh Dallas. The rest of our fans don’t care about the Grateful Dead. Every once in a while, we’ll stick in an Easter egg just for us, so I don’t want our fans to start combing through what 710 means. If they’re interested, I would say start with “American Beauty” and then get some bootlegs.
Does Emma have a heart in her body at the moment?
HOROWITZ: Yes.
Will we see who put the sword back in the stone?
HOROWITZ: Yes.
Is there a chance Guinevere (Joana Metrass) is pulling Arthur’s (Liam Garrigan) strings and orchestrating all of this?
KITSIS: Can’t say.
Will Arthur show any remorse for his actions?
HOROWITZ: Yes.
Did Cora (Barbara Hershey) lie about killing Lancelot (Sinqua Walls)?
KITSIS: Yes.
Does Lancelot’s return cause a divide between Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Charming (Josh Dallas)?
KITSIS: Abso-f—ing-lutely.
Will baby Neal ever exhibit magic?
KITSIS: Only if we get to season 10. I don’t even think he’s crawling yet.
So far, Dark Swan has talked to Henry (Jared Gilmore), Regina (Lana Parrilla), Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) and the dwarves. Will she talk to Snow/Charming soon?
HOROWITZ: Yes.
Snow and Charming are standing up for their daughter now, but is there a line she could cross that would change that?
KITSIS: Sure.
Will Hook being able to take a heart be revisited this season?
HOROWITZ: Yes.
Is Hook’s father (Adam Croasdell) alive in present day?
HOROWITZ: Can’t say.
Are the symbols on Hook’s ring a clue to his past?
KITSIS: Yes.
Will we get to see Hook’s brother Liam again?
KITSIS: Yes.
Will Regina and Henry do a mother-son operational team up in their efforts to bring Emma back to herself?
KITSIS: I think so. I think they’re already in on it.
HOROWITZ: There is certainly mother-son action to come between Regina and Henry.
KITSIS: The question I would’ve asked is: Is there any Emma-Henry team-up, but no one asked that, so I won’t answer.
Will Emma also use love as a weapon on Henry?
KITSIS: Absolutely.
Will we see Henry use his Author abilities before the season finale?
HOROWITZ: Can’t say.
Will Dark Swan have something to say about Henry and Violet (Olivia Steele-Falconer)?
HOROWITZ: Yes.
Will Regina’s belief in Emma play a big part later?
KITSIS: Yes.
HOROWITZ: Absolutely.
Will we ever see Robin Hood’s (Sean Maguire) backstory and the dark side that we’ve heard so much about?
KITSIS: Second half of the season, absolutely.
Will Zelena’s (Rebecca Mader) baby be born in another realm?
HOROWITZ: Can’t say.
Will we see Belle (Emilie de Ravin) confront Regina over taking her heart?
KITSIS: She is unaware that it happened.
HOROWITZ: In the immediate future, no, but never say never.
KITSIS: Someday, yeah.
HOROWITZ: She certainly wouldn’t be happy about it.
Will we see Belle’s mother (Frances O’Connor) again?
HOROWITZ: Not immediately, but hopefully at some point.
Now that Gold (Robert Carlyle) has a white heart, any chance of having Henry and Rumple’s relationship develop?
KITSIS: There’s always a chance.
HOROWITZ: He’s quite the grandpa.
Could Gold be the new savior?
KITSIS: Can’t say.
Will Rumple have any kind of magic?
HOROWITZ: No.
Any chance to actually see Rumple’s mother?
KITSIS: There is a chance.
Are you going to incorporate a Rumple Bumple?
KITSIS: To be determined.
Has the Blue Fairy (Keegan Connor-Tracy) met Merlin (Elliot Knight) in the past?
KITSIS: She said last year no one has heard from him.
HOROWITZ: She has heard of him.
KITSIS: She referred to him as the Sorcerer last year, not as Merlin.
HOROWITZ: In an upcoming episode, it should be quite clear why no one has heard from him and why she hasn’t met him.
Are Aurora (Sarah Bolger) and Phillip (Julian Morris) also returning?
KITSIS: Hopefully.
HOROWITZ: We love Aurora and Philip.
While Emma is evil, will we see her interact with Lily (Agnes Bruckner) at all?
KITSIS: No.
HOROWITZ: Not in the first half of the season.
Is August (Eion Bailey) aware that Emma is the Dark One?
HOROWITZ: He is aware, but he’s right now busy writing on his typewriter in Geppetto’s garage. We love Eion, we love August. He’s not quite part of the first half of the season adventure, but we want to have him back when the story is appropriate. We can just assume that, right now, he’s a very interested party on the sidelines.
You defined the second half of the season as hell at NYCC. Does this mean you’re introducing the underworld mythology?
HOROWITZ: Can’t say.
Since David Anders is returning, can we hope to see Rose McIver back as Tink someday?
KITSIS: You know what, we absolutely can hope. We just saw her in Vancouver. We’re trying to figure it out. We want her back, she wants to come back. She has a hectic schedule, but we’re going to do our best.
HOROWITZ: We’re going to try to make it happen.
KITSIS: It’ll be the second half of the season, but we’re absolutely trying.
HOROWITZ: Hopefully the stars will align and she can return, because we all want it to happen.
Will there be a wedding this season?
KITSIS: Can’t say.
HOROWITZ: I mean, we’d love to say, but we can’t.
Any chance we’ll see Barbara Hershey or Rose McGowan as Cora again this season?
HOROWITZ: Again, we’d love to say, but we can’t.
Will there be more death this season?
KITSIS: Absolutely. People die.
Have questions for the Once bosses? Hit the comments below or send them to @NatalieAbrams with the hashtag #EWHotSeat.
Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
The Hot Seat: Once Upon a Time bosses answer your burning questions
Once Upon a Time: Victoria Smurfit set to return as Cruella
Victoria Smurfit is set to reprise her role as Cruella de Vil on Once Upon a Time, EW has learned.
Unlike the numerous other familiar faces making their way back to the ABC fairy-tale drama, Smurfit will not appear in the landmark 100th outing, but will pop up in multiple episodes during the second half of the season.
Smurfit made her debut as the infamous 101 Dalmatians villain during season 4 as part of the Queens of Darkness, who were attempting to get the Author to write them happy endings. Able to control animals using magic, Cruella was ultimately killed by Emma (Jennifer Morrison).
Smurfit joins previously announced returning alums, including Barbara Hershey, reprising her role as Cora, Robbie Kay, back as Peter Pan, and Giancarlo Esposito as Sidney Glass, a.k.a. the Magic Mirror.
Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ International Trailer Breaks With New Footage
For those who just can’t wait for the Force to awaken officially December 18, the good folks at Disney have released a new international trailer with more footage. Getting more screen time this round is protocol droid C-3PO (voiced again by Anthony Daniels), along with footage of BB-8, Chewbacca (also Peter Mayhew returning) as well as a meeting between Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega). The dreaded Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) also acts nefariously while we are offered tantalizing visuals of TIE fighters against some stunning desert backdrops.
Still no sign of Luke, though, aka Mark Hamill. Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens worldwide in a cinema most likely close, close to where you live, work and pray December 18. The cast includes Ridley, Boyega, Driver, Harrison Ford, Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson and Max von Sydow.
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ International Trailer Breaks With New Footage
Why Andy Griffiths and Jeff Kinney are the rock stars of children’s literature
The 65-Storey Treehouse fastest selling book in a decade
They are the rock stars of children’s literature, selling millions of books and attracting thousands of adoring readers large and small at events held around the world.
But Andy Griffiths and Jeff Kinney say groupies are not a part of their touring schedule.
Andy Griffiths (left) and Jeff Kinney, of <i>Treehouse</i> and <i>Wimpy Kid</i> fame respectively.
Andy Griffiths (left) and Jeff Kinney, of Treehouse and Wimpy Kid fame respectively. Photo: James Alcock
“If only,” jokes Griffiths, whose latest book in his Treehouse series was proclaimed the fastest selling Australian work of fiction in a decade earlier this year.
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“Not in the sense that a rock star would have them,” he adds. “You get a lot of grateful parents with tears in their eyes.”
Griffiths and Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, will share a stage on Sunday at the City Recital Hall in Angel Place as part of the 2015 Children’s Festival of Moving Stories.
Griffiths says he has compiled some of his favourite Wimpy Kid moments and plans to interrogate Kinney about his creative process.
Kinney, meanwhile, says he may have to go back to the drawing board with his speech: “I’ve heard Andy is a rock star on stage and if he’s funny and I’m not, you know, then I’m in trouble here.”
The audience will also have the opportunity to question both authors during the event, which is organised by the Sydney Writers’ Festival.
Kinney says children are often eager to find out about new characters and plots, although in China he was asked about the symbolic importance of the number of hairs he drew on a character’s head.
“I like it when a kid asks a question that’s a little audacious,” he says. “Every so often a kid will ask ‘Are you rich? Do you live in a mansion?’ And you’ll see a parent bat their hand down.”
Both authors agree children share similar reading interests regardless of where they are from.
“You enjoy topsy-turvy humour,” Griffiths says. “You’re in a world where the adults are ruling things and you love jokes and books that undercut that. What happens if you don’t do what the adult says?”
Kinney is travelling the world to promote Old School, his 10th Wimpy Kid book, which he says is a change of pace from his usual touring schedule.
“Usually what I do is tour the United States on a bus and we do seven events a day and then at night we do karaoke on the bus to blow off steam,” he says.
His favourite karaoke selections are tracks by Muse, Bon Jovi and Lyle Lovett.
Griffiths says he has developed a “stand-up comedy schtick” during two decades of touring schools as a visiting author.
“I’ve always loved winding children up, telling them something silly and seeing how long you can do it before they say ‘That’s not true’,” he says.
Kinney says many children’s authors like Griffiths or David Walliams are “born performers”. “And I definitely am not. My style is probably overly earnest.”
Asked by Griffiths if he enjoys live shows, Kinney says: “I don’t mind getting up on stage. If you’re on a stage, it means you’re doing okay in life and that’s pretty cool. But I don’t have the knack for it that I think a lot of my contemporaries have.”
Griffiths continues work on The 78-Storey Treehouse, which he will hand over to collaborator Terry Denton to illustrate in the new year.
Kinney says he will probably add to the Wimpy Kid series, and come up with more adventures for his protagonist Greg Heffley.
“I’m not trying to compare my self to [Peanuts creator Charles M] Schulz but if he tried to spread his wings I’m sure he would have been batted back down and told to go back to Peanuts,” he says. “I have a feeling that’s where I am. I have a feeling the world wouldn’t like me to … they want me to keep doing Wimpy Kid books.”
Why Andy Griffiths and Jeff Kinney are the rock stars of children’s literature
Bond Puts His Gun Down: ‘Spectre’ Opening Eases To $71M-$73M; ‘Peanuts’ Rakes In $45M – Sunday Final Update
6TH UPDATE, Sunday 8AM: When it comes to Spectre‘s ticket sales, it’s as though Mr. Bond was stuck in quicksand all weekend long. After the industry raised opening weekend expectations for Bond 24 to a fever pitch of $80M by mid-day Friday, projections fell, and continued to fall to the point where Spectre looks like it’s going to make $71M-73M this weekend, which is toward the lower end of what we predicted pre-opening. Sony is reporting $73M this morning, but some rival studio analysts think Spectre could go a bit 
lower. You would think that with an A- CinemaScore on a tentpole like this, word of mouth would be working to Spectre‘s advantage. And it could be, it’s just that we might not realize the full benefit for a while. Since this is an adult-fan franchise — Spectre alone drew a heavy 78% over 25 — that means the audience might not rush to see the film. They’ll wait for Thanksgiving, even Christmas. Working to Spectre‘s advantage is the fact that there’s not a big tentpole in the market until Nov. 20 when The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 opens. Last time in November 2012, the final Twilight movie stepped on Skyfall‘s toes in its second weekend, yielding a 53% decline
Overseas, Spectre is faring much better with a worldwide cume at $300M in less than two weeks. When Skyfall opened, it had a three weekend foreign lead on domestic, so by the time domestic opened on Nov. 9-11, 2012, global stood at $598.4M. I’m told that on 
comparative territory by territory basis that Spectre is besting Skyfall‘s opening weekend in Mexico, Southeast Asia and last weekend in the U.K. But the big question as MGM/Eon deliberate which studio they’ll take the 007 franchise to next, is whether Spectre will turn a profit with its less-than-Skyfall grosses off a $375M cost that includes production and P&A. Per Sony insiders and even non-rival film financial analysts, there’s no question Spectre will be in the black. Stateside should bring in at least $250M with foreign making up at least 70% of Spectre‘s total cume with a final global between $900M-$1B. Forty-percent of international has yet to open with China and South Korea going next weekend.
Sony head of worldwide marketing and distribution Josh Greenstein said, “We’re happy with the domestic opening, but we’re really thrilled by the foreign box office. Bond is such a global franchise and Spectre is truly an international and global film. You can see the writing on the wall.” MGM/Eon should take note that ever since Sony took a hold of 007, the last four Craig titles have repped 41% of the franchise’s $6.3B total worldwide gross.
What’s happening stateside is that audiences are obviously conversing that Spectre isn’t as good as Skyfall. Some gripe that Spectre has all the action tropes of its last three movies, while others think the Bond character origin reveals in this film are just too good to be true. Is the franchise damaged? No, but it’s gonna take another dose of Viagra to exceed fans’ expectations as they’re still entranced by Skyfall. Also, something to consider with Spectre: It’s the longest-running title time-wise in the Craig canon at 148 minutes.
Let’s just hope that Spectre, currently the 2nd best domestic debut for Bond behind Skyfall‘s $88.4M, doesn’t sink any further today toward Quantum of Solace ($67.5M) territory which is the least favorite of the Craig 007 titles (with a B- CinemaScore). Sunday NFL games won’t help, as they pry a bulk of guys away. Spectre dipped an estimated 4% from its $28M Friday (second best behind Skyfall‘s $30.5M) to $26.4M; the last time that happened among the Craig titles was with…Quantum. Skyfall, due to its huzzah, spiked 11%, while Casino Royale saw a 5% uptick between Friday and Saturday.
Imax hubs generated $9.1M for Spectre at 374 screens, a $24K+ per screen average. Nine of Spectre‘s top 10 playdates are Imax locations. 429 PLF theaters made $8M repping 11% of Spectre‘s opening. Cinemark XD leads US exhibitors with an estimated gross of $1.85 million in 112 XD locations.
Over on the Fox lot, they’re doing the Snoopy dance, not just because The Peanuts Movie beat its $40M estimate with a $45M opening, but also because The Martian wasn’t wounded much by Bond, dipping 21% in its 6th frame, just $3M shy of the double century mark at the box office. 27% of Peanuts cash came from 3D. Matinees pushed Charlie Brown to a 62% hike on Saturday with $19.6M to Friday’s $12.1M. Some Sony insiders believe that the Peanuts ganged up on Bond, and stole some of the spy’s lunch money. I really don’t think Peanuts was a threat in any way. It brought in a significantly younger demo (46% under 25), and more mom crowd (55% ladies) — and they’re not the primary demo for Bond. Yes, Skyfall didn’t have any competition when it opened, but Spectre would probably be seeing the same B.O. trajectory sans Peanuts in the market, simply because it’s coming up short in its wonder next to Skyfall.
70% of the Peanuts audience was family and the non-family segment was split evenly between teens and non-parent adults. Peanuts fared best east of the Rockies with the top theaters coming from a melange of states such as NJ, CA, TX, VA, NY, and FL. Overperforming cities included NYC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit and Charlotte. Much like Spectre turned itself into an event film with its number of promotional partners and tie-ins, Fox also began the drum roll for the reboot of this family film on the big screen, arguably the first time a Peanuts film hit the theaters since 1980’s Bon Voyage Charlie Brown.
Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson gave props to his fellow studio marketing chief this morning, saying “Marc Weinstock and his team managed to hit the nostalgic audience, but also made the Peanuts property relevant for a new generation, which is a very difficult thing to do in today’s fragmented world.” It was an easy feat from the onset to pull in the adults, but it was the teen turnout that surprised Fox executives the most.
Digital, which included several elements, was key in hooking the young set. Fox took advantage of tubthumping the film during key cultural events stateside (read: MLB Opening Day “Catch” activation, during which 25,000+ fans joined in one of the largest games of digital catch). There was a Mother’s Day 
celebration video which clocked 823K+ views. A Happy New Year’s creative had an organic reach of 20M+. Peanuts Movie Twitter campaign used a number of event-ized hashtags and partners to create full day activations. In sum, the entire Twitter campaign generated a total of 5.8M Tweets, with a reach of 425.7M and exposure of 2B+. On Snapchat, Peanuts created the first-ever sponsored Snapchat Lens on Halloween (one of the largest photo-sharing days of the year). There was even a Wah-Wah Machine, which engaged fans by turning their text messages into customized WAH-WAH’s they could share on their personal social platforms. But one social Peanuts piece of marketing that many had a ton of fun with across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram was the The PeanutizeMe Character Creator which hosted 14MM+ sessions with 6MM+ characters created. PeanutizeMe even got a special call-out by Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. Like Universal with its Minions mobile game and Furious 7 social groundswell, Fox is just as sharp when it comes to digital promotions. That Rio Angry Birds game, which also played into opening that movie, is still unforgettable. “There’s a positive message about Peanuts that is resonating with moviegoers of all ages. That’s what sets it apart.” added Aronson.
The weekend’s top 10 for Nov. 6-8 as compiled by Deadline’s Amanda N’Duka:
1). Spectre (SONY), 3,929 theaters / $28M Fri. */ $26.75M Sat. (-4%) / $18.25M Sun. (-32%) / 3-day cume: $73M /Wk 1
*includes $5.25M of Thursday previews. Industry calculation: $71.6M.
2). The Peanuts Movie (FOX), 3,897 theaters / $12.1M Fri. /$19.6M Sat. (+62%) / $13.3M Sun. (-32%) /3-day cume: $45M /Wk 1
3). The Martian (FOX), 2,855 theaters (-363) / $2.6M Fri. /$4.3M Sat. (+66%) / $2.4M Sun. (-44%) /3-day cume:$9.3M (-21%)/ Total cume: $197.1M / Wk 6
4). Goosebumps (SONY), 3,051 theaters (-567) / $1.7M Fri. /$3.3M Sat. (+95%) / $2.1M Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $7M (-29%)/Total cume: $66.5M /Wk 4
5). Bridge Of Spies (DIS), 2,767 theaters (-106) / $1.8M Fri. /$2.7M Sat. (+54%) / $1.6M Sun. (-41%) /3-day cume: $6.1M (-26%)/Total cume: $55M /Wk 4
Industry calcuation: $6M
6). Hotel Transylvania 2 (SONY), 2,274 theaters (-688) / $793K Fri. /$1.7M Sat. (+119%) / $1.1M Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $3.6M (-39%) / Total cume: $161.3M /Wk 7
7). Burnt (TWC), 3,003 theaters (0) / $897K Fri. /$1.3M Sat. (+42%) / $833K Sun. (-35%) /3-day cume: $3M (-40%)/ Total cume: $10.2M /Wk 2
Industry calculation: $2.9M
8). The Last Witch Hunter (LGF), 2,286 theaters (-796) / $702K Fri. / $1.2M Sat. (+72%) / $738K Sun. (-39%) /3-day cume: $2.65M (-49%) /Total cume: $23.6M /Wk 3
9). The Intern (WB), 1,071 theaters (-450) / $540K Fri. /$820 Sat. (+52%) / $450K Sun. (-45%) /3-day cume: $1.8M (-25%)/Total cume: $71.4M/ Wk 7
10). Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (PAR), 1,087 theaters (-443) / $510K Fri. /$760K Sat. (+49%) / $380K Sun. (-50%) /3-day cume: $1.65M (-52%)/ Total cume: $16.3M / Wk 3
Notables:
Our Brand Is Crisis (WB), 2,202 theaters (0)/ $450K Fri. /$635K Sat. (+41%) / $415K Sun. (-35%) /3-day cume: $1.5M (-54%)/Total cume: $6M /Wk 2
Suffragette (FSL), 222 theaters (+199)/ $221K Fri. //$338K Sat. (+53%) / $220 Sun. (-35%) /3-day cume: $779K (+354%)/ Total cume: $1.1M /Wk 3
Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse (PAR), 1,151 theaters (-358)/ $188K Fri. /$282K Sat. (+50%) / $160K Sun. (-43%) / 3-day cume: $630K (-66%) / Total cume: $3.15M /Wk 2
Miss You Already (RSA), 384 theaters / $173K Fri. /$233K Sat. (+35%) / $151K Sun. (-35%) /3-day cume: $557K /Wk 1
Spotlight (OPRD), 5 theaters / $89K Fri. /$118K Sat. (+32%) / $95K Sun. (-20%) /3-day cume: $302K / Per screen: $60K /Wk 1
Everyday I Love You (ABS), 80 theaters / $75K Fri. /$104K Sat. (+39%) / $68K Sun. (-35%) /3-day cume: $246K /Wk 1
Brooklyn (FSL), 5 theaters / $52K Fri. /$75K Sat. (+45%) / $55K Sun. (-27%) /3-day cume: $181K / Per screen: $36K /Total cume: $237K /Wk 1
The Man In 3B (FREE), 50 theaters / $34K Fri. /$47K Sat. (+35%) / $30K Sun. (-35%) /3-day cume: $111K /Wk 1
Ex-Files 2: The Backup (ASIA), 18 theaters / $30K Fri. /$45K Sat. (+47%) / $31K Sun. (-30%) /3-day cume: $107K /Wk 1
Trumbo (BST), 5 theaters / $22K Fri. /$32K Sat. (+42%) / $23K Sun. (-25%) /3-day cume: $77K /Per screen: $15K / Wk 1
In Jackson Heights (ZIPP), 1 theaters / $3K Fri. /$6K Sat. (+103%) / $4K Sun. (-40%) /3-day cume: $13K / Wk 1
Peggy Guggenheim: Art A (SUBD), 1 theaters / $4K Fri. /$4K Sat. (+15%) / $3K Sun. (-35%) /3-day cume: $11K / Wk 1
5th UPDATE, 11:48PM: Spectre, the latest in the James Bond franchise, and the family friendly animated film The Peanuts Movie both held onto their audiences Saturday so they are right in line with this morning’s estimated grosses — Spectre is landing around $73M and Peanuts is doing the Snoopy dance to the tune of $44M to $45M. 
Spectre received an A- CinemaScore, which translates to an average 3.5 multiple; while we have to see what its second weekend percentage drop might be, it should have a decent ride next weekend, too, as there is nothing on the release schedule to challenge it. Same with Peanuts as Good Dinosaur doesn’t arrive until Thanksgiving. So the release dates for both Spectre (Sony) and Peanuts (Fox) were well chosen by their distribution teams.
If there was any surprise at all today (Saturday), it was that the two other films that appeal to younger audiences — Goosebumps and Hotel Transylvania 2 — both over performed on Saturday giving them a higher than anticipated weekend gross. Here’s how the Top Five look tonight:
1). Spectre (SONY), 3,929 theaters / $27.5M Fri. (includes $5.25M previews) / $26.6M to $27M Sat. (-3%) / 3-day cume: $72.9M to $74M+ /Wk 1
2). The Peanuts Movie (FOX), 3,897 theaters / $12M+ Fri. / $19.5M Sat. (+61%) / 3-day cume: $44.9M / Wk 1
3). The Martian (FOX), 2,855 theaters (-363) / $2.5M Fri. (-26%) / $4.3M to $4.6M (+66%) / 3-day cume: $9.47M to $9.75M / Total cume: $197.2M / Wk 6
4). Goosebumps (SONY), 3,051 theaters (-567) / $1.68M Fri. (-44%) / $3.2M Sat. (+92%) / 3-day cume: $7M / Total cume: $66.5M / Wk 4
5). Bridge Of Spies (DIS), 2,767 theaters (-106) / $1.75M Fri. (-28%) / $2.76M Sat. (+58%) / 3-day cume: $6M / Total cume: $54.7M / Wk 3
Anita Busch reported the Saturday night box office report.
4th UPDATE: 7:59 AM: There’s a lot of analysis below, so I’m cutting right to the chase: Spectre should end the three-day around $73M to $74M and change, very close to estimates we had early in the week. That will make this film the second best opening of all time for a Bond film, behind only Skyfall which cumed $88.4M and ended up making a total domestic gross of $304.4M. Sony did a good job opening this film, given that Skyfall had the added bonus of a major push during the Olympics last time around. Internationally, Spectre is taking off in 66 more markets this weekend (including Europe and Latin America), after a stellar performance in the U.K. It doesn’t release in China until next Friday. Those grosses will roll in tomorrow morning.
In the meantime, this weekend may set a record in total box office gross for all films in the first weekend of November, depending on how these new pictures play out today.
When Skyfall opened in 2012, it bowed in a weekend clear of any other big titles — all it had up against it was the second of Wreck-it Ralph. This time around domestically, Spectre has one other film in the market and it’s another animated play.
The other new opener, Fox’s animated Peanuts movie, initially has performed better than estimated and will come in around anywhere between $40M to $45M (we figured $40M in estimates during the week). Peanuts is playing more like holiday fare — with a lot of kids in big cities off from school Friday, it may have been a bit front-loaded. Given today’s matinee numbers, the Saturday decline is looking more significant. This picture is appealing to little girls (and you know how they fueled Frozen), but in order to maintain, it’s gotta have a wider demo appeal. We’ll see tonight.
In a crowded market for indie fare, Oscar hopeful Spotlight, in its first weekend out, may get just around $60K per screen on its five screens for Open Road Films, and that includes its play in Boston where the film is set. Exit polls are extraordinary, 89% saying they would definitely recommend the film, and 83% calling it excellent. Bleecker Street’s Trumbo, also in five screens has only $14,600 per screen. Both are considered possible Best Picture contenders.
Meanwhile, must note that Spectre took business away from The Martian and Disney’s Bridge of Spies this weekend as it grabbed a similar demo. Spectre also has 373 Imax screens and 400-plus PLF screens in its pocket. Still, The Martian is edging ever closer to the $200M mark for Fox.
In its second weekend, we saw a decent hold for TWC’s Burnt (-38%), but it’s cume is only $10.3M after its second round in the kitchen. Warner Bros.’ Our Brand is Crisis dropped 53% and after two frustrating weekends is barely going to crack the $6M mark. Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is … where is it? Oh, it slid to N0. 18 for a crash and burn drop of 69% in week two. Here’s how it looks this morning:
1). Spectre (SONY), 3,929 theaters / $27.5M Fri. (includes $5.25M previews) / 3-day cume: $73M to $74.3M /Wk 1
2). The Peanuts Movie (FOX), 3,897 theaters / $12M+ Fri. / 3-day cume: $40M to $45M / Wk 1
3). The Martian (FOX), 2,855 theaters (-363) / $2.5M Fri. (-26%) / 3-day cume: $9M to $9.5M (-22%)/ Total cume: $196.6M to $197.2M / Wk 6
4). Goosebumps (SONY), 3,051 theaters (-567) / $1.68M Fri. (-44%) / 3-day cume: $6.6M (-32%)/ Total cume: $66M / Wk 4
5). Bridge Of Spies (DIS), 2,767 theaters (-106) / $1.75M Fri. (-28%) / 3-day cume: $6.1M to $6.5M (-28%) / Total cume: $54.8M to $55M / Wk 3
6). Hotel Transylvania 2 (SONY), 2,274 theaters (-688) / $794K Fri. (-55%) / 3-day cume: $3M+ to $3.4M (-45%) / Total cume: $160.5M to $161M /Wk 7
7). Burnt (TWC), 3,003 theaters (0) / $895K Fri. (-50%) /3-day cume: $2.9M to $3.1M (-38%) / Total cume: $10M+ / Wk 2
8). The Last Witch Hunter (LGF), 2,286 theaters (-796) / $693K Fri. (-55%) / 3-day cume: $2.2M (-57%) / Total cume: $23.15M /Wk 3
9). The Intern (WB), 1,071 theaters (-450) / $540K Fri. (-26%) / 3-day cume: $1.78M (-27%) / Total cume: $71.35M / Wk 7
10). Our Brand Is Crisis (WB), 2,202 theaters (0) / $441K Fri. (-60%) / 3-day cume: $1.55M (-53%) / Total cume: $5.8M to $6M / Wk 2
Notables:
18). Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse (UNI), 1,151 theaters (-358) / $188K Fri. (-73%) / 3-day cume: $568K (-69%) / Total cume: $3.1M / Wk 2
Miss You Already (RSA), 384 theaters / $173K Fri. / 3-day cume: $459K / Per screen average: $1,380 / Wk 1
Spotlight (OPRD), 5 theaters / $90K Fri. / 3-day cume: $300K / Per screen: $58K to $60K / Wk 1
Everyday I Love You (ABS), 80 theaters / $75K Fri. / 3-day cume: $234K / Per screen: $3,218 / Wk 1
Brooklyn (FSL), 5 theaters / $52K Fri. / 3-day cume: $52K / Per screen: $35,500 / Total cume: $176K /Wk 1
The Man In 3B (FREE), 50 theaters / $34K Fri. / 3-day cume: $102K / Per screen: $2,848 / Wk 1
Trumbo (BST), 5 theaters / $22K Fri. / 3-day cume: $74K / Per screen: $14,600 / Wk 1
Anita Busch handled the Saturday morning box office report.
3RD UPDATE, 9PM: As the old, crusty guy in the cabin tells 007 in Spectre: “Mr. Bond, you’re like a kite, dancing around in a hurricane.” You could say the same thing about Spectre‘s opening weekend grosses. Matinee projections pointed toward an $80M weekend opening and by midnight Friday, Spectre‘s opening is closer to the estimates that were first projected earlier in the week: $75M.
Spectre‘s Friday is currently looking like $28.1M for the Sony/MGM/Eon co-production, still second among the opening days of the last four Daniel Craig Bond films behind Skyfall‘s $30.5M and ahead of Quantum of Solace‘s $27M. Total estimated production cost on Spectre is at $250M with U.S. TV ad spend at $21.5M per iSpotTV. Already, overseas is well north of $80.4M. Factor in at least an estimated $100M P&A spend, and Spectre has a way to go before it breaks even.
Spectre received an A- CinemaScore, which is the same grade as Casino Royale, a tad lower than Skyfall‘s A, and thankfully higher than the B- that Quantum of Solace earned. One of the more interesting takeaways in regards to the difference between Spectre and Skyfall is that Daniel Craig’s popularity increased between the two films: 46% of the crowd came out for him this time vs. the 38% during Skyfall. The latest string of Craig 007 films have typically skewed toward older males, and that same demo was predominant tonight with 54% guys, 78% over 25. There was a tad more women this time around at Spectre with 46% to Skyfall‘s 40%. Both males and females gave the film an A-, but pulling down its score was the older 007 fans: The blue hairs, who repped 35% of the 50+ demo, gave Spectre a B+.
Even before the film opened, both Sony and other rival distribution executives predicted Spectre‘s slight downfall from Skyfall. It’s just tough to top that film. It set a new dramatic standard for the franchise from a character origins standpoint; the title alone referred to Bond’s childhood home estate. You can’t blame the marketing for Spectre. Tracking 
increased over the last two weeks, which indicates marketing worked: Total awareness moved from 65% to 75%, while unaided awareness surged from 9% to 23%. Furthermore, Sony aligned itself with a slew of guy brands from Gillette razors to Jaguar Land Rovers.
From the March teaser trailer, Sony aptly promised that Spectre would continue the character story line it laid out with the previous Craig films, promptly picking up where Skyfall left off: MI6 HQ is now in ruins. Moneypenny gives Bond a box of Skyfall memorabilia, notably a childhood photo indicating he might have a long-lost relative in Spectre. Also, it introduced Christoph Waltz’s villain and the Spectre committee, a criminal org that first appeared in Dr. No. However, rival distribution chiefs cited that the less-than-Skyfall reivews (Spectre has 62% to Skyfall‘s 93%) would certainly impact business. Bond skews heavily toward older males, and given how adults are swayed by critics, that’s why there’s a slowdown from Skyfall to Spectre.
When it comes to the further dramatization of Bond’s roots in Spectre, some critics feel that the movie is just grasping at straws in regards to its big reveals. I mean, it’s not like the snow bunny that Bond bed in For Your Eyes Only, Bibi Dahl, arrives and announces “James, it’s been 34 years. I’d like to finally introduce you to your kids.” That would have been more of a logical, riveting payoff for Bond fans. (duly note that Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have been part of the 007 scribe team going back to 1999’s The World Is Not Enough). Rex Reed of The New York Observer whined about Spectre: “The trouble is, we’ve seen it all before. Despite a plot trajectory that changes so often they seem to be making it up as they go along, everyone on and off the screen seems to be doing it by the numbers”. Wall Street Journal‘s Joe Morgenstern huffed, “Debilitating fatigue has set in…clumsy acts of cannibalization in a new movie that recycles old concerns about secret service operatives like Bond becoming obsolete in a high-tech world.”
Coming on strong and chasing Bond down: 20th Century Fox’s The Peanuts Movie which is reaping an A CinemaScore. Talk about overperformance. Friday is between $12M-$13M currently for the CGI version of the classic Charles Schultz cartoon, with an industry projected opening of $47M-$48M. The initial assessment for this animated feature was that the older parents were going to drag their kids to this movie, versus the other way around (which is the way it usually goes down). 38% of those taking in Snoopy and Charlie Brown were under 18 and they gave it an A+. The 25 under/over set was split 50/50, with slightly more females than men. Peanuts cost an estimated $100M with the cost of TV ads at $15.5M per iSpotTV.
Among adult titles, Fox’s The Martian and Disney/DreamWorks’ Bridge of Spies continue to write their meal tickets throughout the fall. Martian is currently estimated to dip only 19% in its sixth frame with an estimated $9.5M FSS and a cume by Sunday of $197.3M. The Steven Spielberg-Tom Hanks combo is expected to post a soft decline of 26% in weekend four with $6.1M and a running total cume by the end of the weekend of $55M. Steve Jobs looks like it was infected with malware, but alas that’s not the case: The film lost 2,072 theaters, free falling 74% in its fifth weekend with $698K and a total cume of $16.6M.
Among the new arthouse entries, Open Road’s Spotlight looks to make that $50K per theater mark from five runs in Boston, New York and Los Angeles with an estimated FSS of $262K. Fox Searchlight’s Brooklyn looks to make $232K by Sunday after opening Wednesday with a per theater of $46K (over 5-days) from five runs in New York and Los Angeles. Bleecker Street’s Trumbo has less money in its pockets with a projected $14K per theater or $70K from five NY and LA runs.
The top 10 films for the weekend of Nov. 6-8 per industry estimates as compiled by Deadline’s Amanda N’Duka:
1). Spectre (SONY), 3,929 theaters / $28.1M Fri.*/3-day cume: $75M /Wk 1
*includes $5.25M Thursday night previews
2). The Peanuts Movie (FOX), 3,897 theaters / $12-$13M Fri. /3-day cume: $47-$48M /Wk 1
3). The Martian (FOX), 2,855 theaters (-363) / $2.7M Fri. (-23%)/3-day cume: $9.5M (-19%)/ Total cume: $197.3M / Wk 6
4). Goosebumps (SONY), 3,051 theaters (-567) / $1.7M Fri. (-44%)/ 3-day cume: $6.7M (-32%)/Total cume: $66M /Wk 4
5). Bridge Of Spies (DIS), 2,767 theaters (-106) / $1.8M Fri. (-28%)/3-day cume: $6.1M (-26%)/Total cume: $55M /Wk 3
6). Hotel Transylvania 2 (SONY), 2,274 theaters (-688) / $866K Fri. (-53%)/ 3-day cume: $3.6M (-39%) / Total cume: $161.6M /Wk 7
7). Burnt (TWC), 3,003 theaters (0) / $918K Fri. (-50%)/3-day cume: $3.1M (-38%)/ Total cume: $10.3M /Wk 2
8). The Last Witch Hunter (LGF), 2,286 theaters (-796) / $671K Fri. (-55%)/ 3-day cume: $2.2M (-57%) /Total cume: $23.15M /Wk 3
9). The Intern (WB), 1,071 theaters (-450) / $547K Fri. (-26%)/3-day cume: $1.9M (-23%)/Total cume: $71.5M/ Wk 7
10). Our Brand Is Crisis (WB), 2,202 theaters (0)/ $460K Fri. (-59%)/3-day cume: $1.6M (-51%)/Total cume: $6.1M /Wk 2
Notables:
Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse (UNI), 1,151 theaters (-358)/ $186K Fri. (-73%)/ 3-day cume:$568K (-69%) / Total cume: $3.1M /Wk 2
Miss You Already (RSA), 384 theaters / $150K Fri. /3-day cume: $459K /Wk 1
Spotlight (OPRD), 5 theaters / $80K Fri. /3-day cume: $262K / Per screen: $52K /Wk 1
Everyday I Love You (ABS), 80 theaters / $64K Fri. /3-day cume: $201K /Wk 1
Brooklyn (FSL), 5 theaters / $55K Fri. /3-day cume: $175K / Per screen: $35K /Total cume: $232K /Wk 1
The Man In 3B (FREE), 50 theaters / $40K Fri. /3-day cume: $119K /Wk 1
Trumbo (BST), 5 theaters / $22K Fri. /3-day cume: $70K /Per screen: $14K / Wk 1
2ND UPDATE, 12:15 PM: For 007, the box office, not diamonds, is forever. Industry projections have the opening weekend for Spectre at $80M — still the second-best James Bond opening behind 2012’s Skyfall– with an eye on a $30M Friday. By the way, Skyfall made $30.5M on its opening day. Rentak’s PostTrak currently reports a heavily older-male audience for Spectre at 65% to ladies at 35%. Over 25 is 74%. Of those moviegoers polled, a leading 34% came out because it’s a franchise they like.
Again, the bigger the box office for Spectre in the long run, the more leverage that Bond rights holders –MGM chief Gary Barber and Danjaq producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli — will have in their negotiations as other studios vie for the franchise rights. Again, that discussion will happen after all the global receipts and ancillaries are counted on Spectre. CinemaScore, which will come in tonight, definitely will have an impact on the leg-out factor for Spectre. Of the past three Daniel Craig films, 2008’s Quantum Of Solace earned the lowest grade at B- and finaled at $168.4M, 2.5x its $67.5M debut. Skyfall had the best grade with an A and a domestic B.O. of $304.36M, which was 3.4x its $88.36M FSS opening. Casino Royale cashed in $167.4M off an A- CinemaScore, which repped a 4x leg-out from its $40.8M opening in 2006.
20th Century Fox’s The Peanuts Movie also is doing well, with a $14M Friday and a weekend that is at least in the mid-$40M range. Rival distribs think it could get to $50M. Some schools are off today due to parent-teacher conferences in the state of New Jersey and such cities as Los Angeles, Chicago and Denver, and no doubt this is contributing to business. Holding up well in third is Fox’s The Martian, which looks to be down 35% in its sixth frame at the No. 3 spot with $7.6M over the three-day and a cume by Sunday of $195.4M.
In regards to the handful of prestige specialty films, their foot traffic always is spurred by excellent reviews. I’m told with Open Road’s Spotlight, that if the film does less than $50K per theater, that would be unfortunate for a title that carries a glowing 96% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score. The Tom McCarthy-directed title about the Boston Globe’s investigation into the covered-up molestations by the city’s Catholic Archdiocese actually could hit that number. If Fox Searchlight’s Brooklyn gets $50K per theater, off its 99% fresh Rotten Tomato reviews, that would be a boon for them. Bleecker Street’s Trumbo, which only carries a 66% fresh score, likely will be around $25K per theater for the weekend. Adults come at night, so these art house B.O. figures could change drastically.
1ST UPDATE, 7:26AM: Last night, Mr. Bond started knocking over the casino at the North American box office, making a royal $5.25 million at 3,221 theaters from previews that started at 7 PM. Industry projections for Spectre‘s opening have risen slightly since earlier in the week, with a FSS of $75M-$80M at 3,929 theaters — the widest release ever for a Bond film. That would make the 24th 007 title the second-highest opener stateside in the franchise behind 2012’s Skyfall ($88.4M).
Sony has the film’s opening at a much lower level — in the $60M-$65M range — but many believe Spectre will be higher than that. Bond is also getting some Viagra from Imax and PLF bookings.
Spectre is a co-production between Sony, MGM and Eon, and it marks Sam Mendes’ second time in the director’s chair after Skyfall. To date, the 007 franchise through 24 titles has made in excess of $6.1B worldwide (that’s not counting Never Say Never Again). Sony’s three Daniel Craig Bond titles — Casino Royale, Quantum Of Solace and Skyfall — rep close to 40% of that franchise cume.
Spectre‘s anticipated less-than-Skyfall opening doesn’t mean that the Bond franchise is bound to have a heart attack. Many factors were working in Skyfall‘s favor when it opened in 2012: There wasn’t any competition at the box office, it was the 50th anniversary of 007, and the film, armed with a 93% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score, truly titillated fans. Skyfall took Bond’s origin story to a deeper level that had never been portrayed before on the big screen.
There has been some concern that older nostalgic adults will skip Spectre this weekend in favor of taking the kids to see 20th Century Fox’s The Peanuts Movie. In addition, Spectre is showing a soft spot with younger women under 25, with unaided awareness at 16%, whereas other demos are in the 20%-30% range. (Unaided is that portion of audience polling where a person names a movie title without any leading or prompting from a pollster).
Peanuts Movie didn’t hold previews last night. It is expected to make $40M-$45M at 3,897 venues. The film is tracking strongly among females of all ages, with men not too far behind. While animated fare typically debuts during the first weekend of November, Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles still holds the best opening for the genre during this period at $70.5M.
On Wednesday, Fandango showed Spectre beating Skyfall at the same point in its advance ticket cycle, while The Peanuts Movie was besting the pre-sales of early autumn hits Hotel Transylvania 2 and Goosebumps.
Meanwhile, pre-industry estimates this morning (not reported by 20th Century Fox) show that Ridley Scott’s The Martian has clicked past 2000’s Gladiator ($187.7M) to become the director’s highest-grossing film at the domestic B.O. with a current running cume of $187.76M. Last night, the film was the No. 1 title outside of Spectre previews, making $950K. The film is expected to fall a bit this weekend no thanks to 007, with an estimated sixth frame of $6.5M. On a worldwide basis, The Martian at $435.6M has yet to topple Gladiator‘s global score of $457.6M.
And if you think the adult specialty marketplace is crowded already, look out for Bleecker Street’s Trumbo, Fox Searchlight’s Brooklyn and Open Road’s Spotlight as they jump into the fray today, largely playing in New York and Los Angeles.
Watch: Action Movie FX: Star Wars Trailer
Check out a new trailer for the Action Movie FX App featuring Star Wars. The App lets you add Hollywood FX to iPhone and iPad movies that YOU shoot! And now you can use Apple Watch with Action Movie FX to direct and STAR in your own films!
This fall, experience Star Wars like never before with Action Movie FX. Add Hollywood FX to iPhone and iPad movies featuring 7 exclusive FX created by the same artists that made the feature films.
Available through the App store.
Info:
STAR WARS UPDATE includes 7 exclusive FX created by the same artists that made the feature films: Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound!
– 3 FX from the original trilogy: Vader’s Revenge, Lightsaber Fight and AT-AT Smash
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– FREE FX: BB-8 Spark
– Bad Robot will donate 100% of the sales price of the Star Wars FX packs to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to support UNICEF Kid Power (from Nov. 5, 2015 to May 5, 2016)
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Eddie Redmayne stars in first images for Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts
The first official photos from the long-awaited Harry Potter spin-off have arrived online. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them recently began shooting ahead of its theatrical release next year, with long-term Potter director David Yates once again at the helm of another magical jaunt.
Avid Potter fans will recognize the title, which features in the earlier books and movies as a Hogwarts textbook, yet Fantastic Beasts is an entirely new creation. J.K. Rowling is penning the script that’s set to revolve around Newt Scamander, the author of the textbook who lives in ’20s New York and works for MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), the US equivalent of the Ministry of Magic.
Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne is tackling the lead role in classic style, as evidenced in this first batch of images from EW that showcase the period flair of the movie’s setting along with glimpses of the supporting cast. It boasts a ton of starry names including Katherine Waterston, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Gemma Chan, Ron Perlman and Ezra Miller. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is scheduled to arrive on November 18, 2016.
Eddie Redmayne stars in first images for Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts
Flynn’s Log 5 news
Starting an email with “Dear Reader” feels lame. I’d rather say, Hello Andrew and Rachel and Ryan and Ava and, well, I think I’m making the point to myself. With each new book, I can’t exactly write an email to every one on the team, but I can reply to each email I receive. I don’t always reply and I’m sorry for that. But I’ll keep trying!
So, as I write this email, I’ll write to my son, Nabru Marshall.
Hi son,
Nice job at the Pokémon tournament on Saturday! No, I can’t play Pokémon now. Why? Because I’m writing you a letter. Let’s play tonight, 8pm, but you’ve got to give me a couple of Megas or else I have no chance. Ok, sure, we’ll build on our Studio Minecraft server for a bit and then play Pokémon.
Should we open the Stone Marshall Studio MC server to our readers? I think it makes sense to do that. They’ll get it. We’ve built the Legends & Heroes world they know from the books. Right, Jesse built most of it, but you’ve got your secret area that only you and your buddies know how to get to. Doh, it’s not a secret area now that I told everybody, but the entrance is still a secret.
How should we open it? We’ve got to keep the world intact. We can’t have Greifers destroying the Kingdom or parts of the Beyond. We can change the game mode to protect it. I think it would be cool to have a certain time each week where we login and create groups (Heroes vs. Legends) and have battles. I’m not sure how to set that up. I wonder if one of our readers knows how to admin an MC server?
You know what else I’d love? To have a reader-created world that we can write stories about. Make it part of our Legends & Heroes series.
Your buddies want me to finish Flynn’s Log 5. Yea, I know. I get email every day from readers, our friends, who want the same thing. I’m working on it. I distracted myself early in the year. We started the Stone Marshall Studio and the Legends & Heroes series to give me more time to write Flynn’s Log and keep up with our friends’ demands for more books, but it backfired. We spent tons of time working out the Legends & Heroes story arc and creating characters and illustrations and the world. And the whole time we left Flynn in limbo.
I need to tell you about Flynn.
What’s taking so long? Yikes, that’s a tough question. I love Flynn, but his mind is a bit mixed up right now. He doesn’t realize what’s really happening. So I’m trying to help him, but he’s not listening to me. He’s only listening to Zana.
Why don’t I tell Zana what to do, you ask? Right, have you tried talking to Zana? She’s way too logical. I can’t get anything past her. I try to explain “life” to her and she destroys my logic. I use the definition of life and she tells me how her version of life is more accurate. I can’t convince Zana to tell Flynn anything that I want him to hear.
Whose cap did Elle grab in Flynn’s Log 4? Wait just a minute, I’m not giving spoilers here, but I think you know what happened, if you look deep within.
When will the next book be out? If Flynn and Zana cooperate, then we’ll have a Christmas release. Elle is being helpful, but right now I need to listen in on Flynn’s mind. I also need to intercept Zana’s transmissions (her encryption is becoming more difficult to break).
I’ve not yet told you anything about Flynn. That’s because you keep asking questions. Flynn is, well, he’s where we left him. What’s he been doing? We’ll find out soon enough. But, I need to warn you. His emotional state might be unstable. He’s facing some questions that we all face, questions about his very existence and what it all means.
Does he find the answers? No more questions!
Until then, our friends can read the latest Legends & Heroes issue. Yes, our friends can get free codes for iBooks. I can’t get codes for the other ebook stores, it’s like Apple “gets it” with codes and the others don’t. But I can still get the issue to our friends who read on Kindle, Android, etc., if they know how to load an ebook onto their device.
So, if your friends want the latest issue for free, ask them to email me. If they read iBooks (Apple devices), I’ll send a promo code. If they use another device, I’ll send a link to the file for side loading.
But I need the right information, so be sure they send this to me:
Subject Line of Email: Legends & Heroes Issue 8
Type of eReader: iBooks, Kindle, Google Play, NOOK, Kobo, online, other
Or, if they don’t want the hassle of side loading and don’t mind paying a buck, they can get it here: https://www.stonemarshall.com/l&h0008. Be sure they ask their parents if it’s OK to buy the book and download the file!
With Love,
Dad (Stone Marshall)
Tenth book of ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ series out
American author-illustrator Jeff Kinney has come out with the tenth book of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series in which main character Greg Heffley starts a new school year and faces a challenge he never could’ve imagined.
In “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School”, Kinney brings the series back to its roots.
Life was better in the old days. Or was it? That’s the question middle-school weakling Heffley is asking, as his town voluntarily unplugs and goes electronics-free. But modern life has its conveniences, and Greg isn’t cut out for an old-fashioned world.
It follows Heffley as he goes on a weeklong field trip to a farm and deals with a generation gap between the kids and their chaperones. With tension building inside and outside the Heffley home, Greg looks for a way to survive.
According to Kinney, the most surprising thing about “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” has been how children of different cultures around the world have embraced Greg Heffley.
“For the tenth book, I wanted to bring things back to basics,” said Kinney on the dramatic choice of black for the book cover.
“And nothing says ‘Old School’ for a cartoonist more than black, the colour of ink,” he adds.
Published by Puffin Books, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School” hit the bookstores in more than 90 countries today, including in India.
Kinney didn’t grow up wanting to be a children’s author. His dream was to become a newspaper cartoonist, but he wasn’t able to get his comic strips syndicated. In 1998, Kinney came up with the idea for “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. He worked on his book for almost eight years before showing it to a publisher in New York.
While attending the University of Maryland in the early 1990s, he ran a comic strip called “Igdoof” in the campus newspaper, and he knew he wanted to be a cartoonist. However, Kinney was not successful in getting his comic strip syndicated after college, and in 1998 he started writing down ideas for “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, which he hoped to turn into a book.
Kinney worked on the book for six years before publishing it online on Funbrain.com in daily installments. To date, the online version of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” has more than 80 million visits, and is typically read by more than 70,000 kids a day.
In 2006, Kinney signed a multi-book deal with publisher Harry N Abrams, Inc. to turn “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” into a print series.
The first book was published in 2007 and became an instant bestseller. Besides the 10 books in the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, there are two additional books: “The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book” and “The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary.”
The “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series has sold 164 million copies in print worldwide and has been translated to 48 languages. It is regarded among the few series that have surpassed the 150 million mark, including the Harry Potter series.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid goes ‘Old School’ with its latest addition
For all you Diary of A Wimpy Kid fanatics, this piece of information will make your day.
American author-illustrator Jeff Kinney has launched the tenth book of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.Titled, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School, the book is yet another personal journal of Greg Heffley, the main protagonist of the series.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series traces the life and struggles of Greg, a young boy who inadvertently lands into trouble all the time.The latest addition to the series, will be about how Greg, a middle-school weakling goes “old school” as his entire town goes electronics-free.
How the boy recovers from the massive challenge of living a life sans electronics and ultimately goes back to his roots lies at the crux of the book.
Through his latest book Kinney has tried to raise the much-debated question of whether life was better in the old days or is far better now?
As reported by PTI, the book ” follows Heffley as he goes on a weeklong field trip to a farm and deals with a generation gap between the kids and their chaperones. With tension building inside and outside the Heffley home, Greg looks for a way to survive. ”
Published by Puffin Books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School has a dramatic and basic black cover the reason for which, according to Kinney is that he, ” wanted to bring things back to basics. And nothing says ‘Old School’ for a cartoonist more than black, the colour of ink ”
The book will hit the bookstores in more than 90 countries, including India on November 3.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid goes ‘Old School’ with its latest addition
‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ goes from cartoonist to author
Writer Jeff Kinney has sold more than 150 million copies of his book series, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” Creating one of the most lucrative franchises in the traditional publishing industry is just one of several unlikely pages in the book of Kinney’s career.
“I really wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist,” Kinney said in an interview with On the Money. “I didn’t have the chops to make it.”
Kinney studied computer science in college and worked at Funbrain as a designer of educational games. The semi-autobiographical and nostalgic cartoons were originally posted on Funbrain’s company website in 2006.
He spent 8 years developing the first-person, illustrated diary of middle schooler Greg Heffley before he brought it to an editor.
“I wrote ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ as a nostalgia piece, looking back like ‘The Wonder Years,'” said Kinney, referring to the 1980s TV series set in the 1960s. “But I found out that I was a kids’ author.”
Kinney’s first book was published in 2007, at an initial run of just 15,000 copies. Since then, “Wimpy Kid” has become a brand valued at nearly half a billion dollars – thanks to the books, licensed products and three feature films that have earned $225 million at the box office.
Last year, the Amulet children’s book imprint of publisher Abrams printed 5.5 million copies of the series’ 9th book.
The “Wimpy Kid” books are sold in 90 countries globally and have been translated into 45 different languages. Even The Vatican got in on the hype, releasing a Latin version of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” earlier this year. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School,” the series’ tenth book, will be available November 3rd, with Kinney embarking on a global book tour for promotion.
“Sometimes I sit across from a kid in Madrid, Spain or in Brazil and we don’t share a language or a culture, but we share these stories,” he said. “I think it’s that we have childhood in common, it’s a universal language.”
An ‘Unlikely’ book store owner
The author’s newest chapter is as owner-operator of an independent brick and mortar bookstore in his town of Plainville, Massachusetts. Dubbed An Unlikely Story, the three-story building opened this spring, after a labor of love and a multi-million dollar investment from Kinney.
The store will now join the 2,000-plus independent bookstores currently operating in the U.S., according to the American Booksellers Association.
“Bookstores usually tend to run at 2 to 5 percent margin, so you’re not going to get rich off it,” said Kinney. “People are coming from miles around, even from overseas, to visit this store.”
Kinney’s huge global readership may have helped turn An Unlikely Story into a destination, but the store has thousands of books available beyond the Wimpy Kid brand.
“This small town is choked with traffic and we have police details, it makes me feel that there is a need for this,” he told CNBC. “They’re not there for my books, they’re there because of books.”
Bollywood’s Prince to conquer the Iron Throne
Neil Nitin Mukesh, who stars in Sooraj Barjatya’s next, claims that he has been offered a role in American TV series ‘Game of Thrones’.
Neil Nitin Mukesh is already reaping the benefits of working in the Salman Khan starrer Diwali release Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.
Mirror has learnt that the film’s action director Greg Powell, who’s worked on high profile Hollywood projects like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Fast and Furious 6 and the Harry Potter series, and is currently the stunt director of Game of Thrones, has offered Neil a role in the hit show.
“Greg has directed two sword-fighting sequences in PRDP for which I had to train for over a month in order to get the stance and wrist movements right. He seemed pretty impressed with all the hard work I put in and made the offer when we were shooting for the climax scene a few months ago,” Neil, who is a huge GoT fan, says excitedly, adding that someone from the show’s production team is expected to come down by the month-end for further discussions.
According to Neil, his role in the show will be quite similar to the one in PRDP. “I play a royal in both and also feature in combat scenes,” he says. The actor is also all praise for Greg, “He is extremely humble and professional. I feel honoured that I got to work with him,” he says, adding that the Khaleesi, Jon Snow and the Imp are his favourite characters from the show.
Apart from its graphic violence, GoT is known for its nudity and sex. Is Neil comfortable with it? “I have gone nude for Jail, so why not for this? I am okay with it if it’s required for my character. I am not intimidated by it as an actor,” he concludes.
Harry Potter Play ‘The Cursed Child’ Updates: Official Synopsis, Show Dates, and Ticket Prices
“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling has finally revealed exciting details on “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” the much-awaited play based on the series of novels.
Last Friday, the author shared on Pottermore that the play is actually a sequel–the eighth story in the “Harry Potter” series, taking place 19 years after the story ended.
The official synopsis reads:
“It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.
“While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.”
In the epilogue of the series’ last book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” readers were introduced to Albus Severus, Harry Potter’s middle child, who he named after two Hogwarts headmasters, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. Both Dumbledore and Snape were important characters in the series, and it is interesting to note that Harry witnessed the death of the two.
Coinciding with the release of its official synopsis, Pottermore also revealed its official poster through Twitter. The poster shows the “cursed child” sitting on a nest, which takes the shape of a golden snitch. “The Eighth Story. 19 Years After,” the tagline reads.
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is written by Jack Thorne, in collaboration with Rowling. Olivier and Tony award-winning John Tiffany will direct the play.
After the books and the movies wrapped up in 2007 and 2011 respectively, “Harry Potter” fans are wondering why Rowling took another direction with its much-awaited sequel.
“I’m confident that when audiences see ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ they will understand why we chose to tell this story in this way,” the best-selling author wrote on her website.
Talking to the Daily Mail UK, the play’s producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender added that they intend to go back to “basic story-telling,” but will also incorporate magic and fantasy, which the series is widely known for.
“Because it’s a play, it’s worth stressing that at this stage of the process it’s not our intention to have a high-tech show. We very much hope to deliver magic – but in our unique way,” Friedman and Callender shared.
In addition, Rowling revealed that due to the “epic nature of the story,” the play will be divided into two parts. Viewers can choose to watch both on the same day (matinee and gala) or over two consecutive days.
Avid Potter fans can catch “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” once it opens at the Palace Theater in London on July 30, 2016 with preview performances starting on June 7, 2016.
Tickets go on sale online on Wednesday, Oct. 28 on a first come first served basis. For the preview performances, tickets are priced at £20, £50, £80 or £100 (for both Part 1 and 2). Regular shows are priced at £30, £70, £100 or £130.
Harry Potter Play ‘The Cursed Child’ Updates: Official Synopsis, Show Dates, and Ticket Prices
Microsoft Monday: Windows 10 Upgrade Now Automatic, Xbox One Backward Compatibility And Halo 6 Rumor
“Microsoft Monday” takes a look back at the past week of news related to Microsoft. This week, “Microsoft Monday” includes details about the Windows 10 upgrade becoming automatic, the Windows 10 Preview Build 106576, Xbox One backwards compatibility, ‘Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 2 – Assembly Required,’ the benefit of the Halo 5 “T” Rating, a Halo 6 rumor, the Xbox One Kinect Bundle price drop, an issue with the Surface Book flickering, the Skype iOS app update, the integration of the Sunrise app into Outlook and more.
Windows 10 Upgrades Are Now Automatic For Windows 7 And Windows 8
Did you know that Microsoft MSFT +1.89% automatically downloads Windows 10 on every Windows 7 and Windows 8 PC? And earlier this month, an “accident” caused Windows 10 to install without user authorization. But now it appears that Microsoft will be pushing for mass Windows 10 upgrades on the older versions of Windows.
Windows and Devices Group executive vice president Terry Myerson wrote a blog post saying Windows 10 installations will now be a two step process. Windows 10 has been reclassified as an “Optional Update,” meaning users that have Windows set up to accept all updates will notice that the new operating system installs automatically. To cancel the upgrade, users will have to make sure to cancel it manually. “In an effort to streamline the process, we will automatically kick off the upgrade process once you have made a reservation. Before the upgrade changes the OS of your device, you will be clearly prompted to choose whether or not to continue. And of course, if you choose to upgrade, then you will have 31 days to roll back to your previous Windows version if you don’t love it,” wrote Myerson.
Here is what the upgrade screen looks like:
In the next few months, Microsoft will make Windows 10 a “Recommended update.” This means that the upgrade process will automatically initiate on your device depending on your Windows Update settings. You will be prompted to choose whether or not to continue and you will have 31 days to roll back to the previous Windows version also.
Even pirated copies of Windows 7 and Windows 8 can be upgraded to Windows 10. And Microsoft will offer a “one-click opportunity to get Genuine via the Windows Store or by entering an activation code purchased elsewhere.” Depending on how well this experiment goes, Microsoft will expand upon it.
Microsoft Acknowledges Windows 10 “Spying” Is Not Stoppable
In an interview with PCWorld, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of the Operating Systems Group Joe Belfiore acknowledged that Windows 10 tracks how it operates and what the user is doing. Details are also sent back to Microsoft by default. And the core data collection cannot be stopped even if you switch off some of the tracking elements, according to Forbes contributor Gordon Kelly.
Why does Windows 10 collect data? If serious problems arise in the system, the data collection makes it easier to pinpoint where the issue is occurring and how to fix it. I believe it is admirable that Belfiore acknowledged the data collection aspect of Windows 10. There are many other companies that are not as transparent and forthcoming about the data it collects.
“In the cases where we’ve not provided options, we feel that those things have to do with the health of the system,” said Belfiore in the interview. “In the case of knowing that our system that we’ve created is crashing, or is having serious performance problems, we view that as so helpful to the ecosystem and so not an issue of personal privacy, that today we collect that data so that we make that experience better for everyone.”
If you are interested in tweaking your privacy settings on Windows 10, you can go to Start Menu > Settings > Privacy.
Microsoft Windows 10 Preview Build 106576 Released With Edge Improvements
Last week, Microsoft released two Windows 10 preview builds for Windows Insiders — one for desktops and one for mobile devices. Windows 10 Preview Build 106576 has several new features, bug fixes and minor improvements.
One of the most notable changes is a Media Casting feature in the Microsoft Edge web browser. Windows Insiders will be able to cast video, photo and audio content to Miracast and DLNA compatible devices that are connected to their home networks. However, content from Hulu and Netflix is not yet supported in the Media Casting feature.
The new preview build also includes a Cortana feature that was not available before. Now when you highlight text in a PDF within Microsoft Edge, you will be able to right click and select “Ask Cortana” to find more information about that content.
And there is a new voiceover recording feature that has been added to the Xbox beta application for Windows 10 — which can be found in the Game DVR. An issue that caused the Xbox app for Windows 10 to consume several gigabytes of memory on a PC when a game is being played has been fixed. Windows Insiders will be able to download the preview build from the Fast ring.
Microsoft Xbox One Backwards Compatibility
During the Halo 5: Guardians streaming event last week, the Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb confirmed that the Xbox One console will start supporting backwards compatibility starting November 12th. The update is known as the “New Xbox One Experience.” Essentially, the console will be updated to Windows 10 on that date.
Backwards compatibility will be supported on over 100 Xbox 360 titles this fall and hundreds more will be followed in the months to come. Most of the games that will be supported initially are published by Microsoft, but the Redmond giant said that games made by third party companies will follow shortly after.
When the Xbox One is updated to Windows 10, Cortana will be added to the console as well. You will be able to speak commands to Cortana such as Internet search queries and find out whether a friend is online. However, Cortana will rely on the Kinect to work.
By offering backwards compatibility, Microsoft is expecting tens of millions of people to buy an Xbox One. Those potential customers are most likely existing Xbox 360 owners that held off because they still want to play games on the older console.
‘Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 2 – Assembly Required’ Released
Telltale Games released ‘Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 2 – Assembly Required’ on Tuesday for all platforms. ‘Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 2 – Assembly Required’ follows up ‘Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 1 – The Order of the Stone.’ You can buy ‘Minecraft: Story Mode’ — which will have five episodes — on the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PC, Android and iOS. Below is the trailer for ‘Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 2 – Assembly Required’:
Halo 5 “T” Rating Could Help Sales, Says Aaron Greenberg
Aaron Greenberg, a senior director of the Xbox marketing team, was recently interviewed by GameSpot where he said that Halo 5 having a “teen” rating could help improve sales. “Being able to have a T-rated game will sort of put this game on the ‘approved’ list for a broader audience,” said Greenberg in the interview.
Halo 5 received the T-for-Teen rating from the ESRB instead of M-for-Mature. Greenberg said that he was surprised about previous Halo games receiving an M rating, but he is happy with the T rating because a broader and younger audience will be able to access it.
Halo 5 officially launched on October 27th and it has received solid reviews across the board. It received 9/10 from Forbes contributor Erik Kain, 8/10 from GameSpot, 4.5/5 from Metacritic and 4/5 on GamesRadar.
Aaron Greenberg Is Confident That Rise of the Tomb Raider And Fallout 4 Will Both Do Well
Aside from Halo 5: Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider is also exclusive to the Microsoft Xbox One. Both Rise of the Tomb Raider and Fallout 4 will be launching on November 10th. But Greenberg believes that both of those games will be successful on that date.
In an interview with Kinda Funny Games (video below), Greenberg said that the challenge is that you have “to look at the production schedule.” If Rise of the Tomb Raider was released two weeks earlier, then it would be at the same time as Halo 5: Guardians. And one week earlier would be against Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. One week later than the release date would put it against Star Wars: Battlefront.
“We felt like the Fallout audience and game, while both fantastic games, they’re not direct competitors per se,” said Greenberg during the interview via TechTimes.
Microsoft Monday: Windows 10 Upgrade Now Automatic, Xbox One Backward Compatibility And Halo 6 Rumor
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