Monthly Archives: June 2015
Sony, Paramount Join Marvel in Skipping Comic-Con
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn revealed in March that Marvel Studios was sitting out next month's San Diego Comic-Con. Now two other major Hollywood studios have also opted to skip the biggest annual geek gathering promoting comics, movies, TV, games, toys and more.
Variety reveals that both Sony Pictures Entertainment and Paramount Pictures will not be at the July convention. The Sony-Marvel absence means no new Spider-Man reboot stuff. Paramount is revving up future plans for the Transformers franchise, and has Ninja Turtles 2 now filming as well as Star Trek 3 in pre-production. Alas, none of those projects will be showcased there.
Here’s When You Get a Skell in Xenoblade Chronicles X
This week at E3, IGN sat down with the developers at Monolith Software to talk about Xenoblade Chronicles X. During the interview, we asked Senior Director and Chief Creative Officer Tetsuya Takahashi how long it will take for players to get their hands on a Skell, the transforming mech that allows them to zip from one end of Xenoblade's massive world to the other. His answer? About 30 hours.
"The reason we decided to do that was because the scale of the game changes once you get a Skell," he explained. "We wanted to make sure that the initial difficulties you might have had maneuvering across terrain or trying to figure out how to reach a certain spot would be something you had a full sense of before you got the Skell."
13 Things We Learned About The New Nier
This week at E3, game director Taro Yoko and executive producer Yosuke Saito revealed more details about the new Nier project. Though they were reluctant to go into detail about the combat system and story, they were willing to share a few other juicy tidbits about the game. Here are twelve things things we learned.
- There are three main protagonists in the game: the girl in the trailer (who is a completely new character), a young boy, and a character not yet revealed.
- The story takes place in the same world, but most locations are new. Even if areas from the original Nier appear in the game, they will be completely redesigned.
- The theme of the game is "agaku," a Japanese word that means to struggle/desperately fight your way out of a situation. (According to the translator.)
Max Director on Working with Dogs as Stars
Last week, IGN had the pleasure of speaking to filmmaker Boaz Yakin, best known for directing the popular football film Remember the Titans. His latest movie Max, about a military dog who forms an unbreakable bond with the younger brother of his fallen handler, strikes a similar emotional chord as Titans, while also delivering its own brand of wholesome adventure and fun.
During our interview, Yakin talked about the challenges (and unexpected benefits) of working with a dog as the star of his movie, post-traumatic stress disorder in military dogs, and the value of family films in the modern movie landscape...
IGN Movies: Let's dive right in and talk about Max. This is a very specific story you're telling in terms of animal movies, because it's so directly tied to military dogs. I was wondering how that idea came about?
Marvel Comics Doesn’t Need a New Iron Man
The post-Secret Wars Marvel Universe isn't being branded "All-New, All-Different Marvel" for nothing. Already we've seen new heroes take up the mantle of Captain America and Thor, and this Fall we'll also see a new Hulk and a new Wolverine. Amid all this newness and different-ness, however, one iconic Marvel hero isn't trading places or passing the torch. Tony Stark will still be Iron Man in the new Marvel Universe. And honestly, that's the best thing for the character right now. Marvel doesn't need a new Iron Man when there's so much left to accomplish with the one they have.
Clint Eastwood Casts Tom Hanks as Capt. Sully
Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood has cast Tom Hanks (Captain Philips) as the lead in his biopic about Captain Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger – the American pilot of US Airways Flight 1549, who safely emergency-landed his plane in the Hudson River after a flock of geese flew into the engine. Sullenberger's safe landing saved the lives of all 155 passengers.
According to Deadline, Eastwood’s take on Sullenberger’s story is based on a book by Sullenberger himself (with Jeffrey Zaslow), titled Highest Duty: My Search For What Really Matters. The book has been adapted for the screen by Perfect Stranger scribe Todd Komarnicki.
Rosario Dawson Talks Daredevil S2 and Punisher
Marvel's Daredevil star Rosario Dawson (Sin City) has commented on the potential of her character, Claire Temple, showing up in the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, and how The Punisher might shake-up Matt Murdock’s world in the much-awaited second season.
Speaking to MTV News, Dawson expressed her enthusiasm for joining the MCU, but couldn’t definitely say where her character's headed in the shared world. “Even just having Night Nurse and Claire Temple come together was already changing the Marvel Universe,” said Dawson. “So it just feels like, A) I finally get to join Marvel. I get to do it in a way that’s completely altering the universe, which is awesome. And then, B) I have no idea where it’s going to go, because here I was having a fling with Matt Murdock, and now Luke Cage is coming up, and Jessica Jones.”
Force Awakens Photos Reveal New Characters
UPDATE: The images have been removed at the request of the studio.
Some purportedly leaked images from Star Wars: The Force Awakens have made their way online.
Be advised that some minor SPOILERS follow because two of the images below claim to reveal more original trilogy characters are in Episode VII.
Making Star Wars strikes again, posting these two images that show Han Solo, Rey and Finn aboard the Millennium Falcon. The second image appears to show Domnhall Gleeson's bad guy character, reportedly called The General, opposite Captain Phasma.
New Fear the Walking Dead Promo
AMC have released a new promo for their upcoming Walking Dead spin-off series, Fear the Walking Dead. Check out the fresh clip, featuring Frank Dillane as one of the main characters, “Nick”, below:
Based in Los Angeles, the series stars Kim Dickens (Gone Girl, Sons of Anarchy), Cliff Curtis (Live Free or Die Hard), Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), Alycia Debnam-Carey (The 100), Elizabeth Rodriguez (Orange is the New Black) and Mercedes Mason (Quarantine 2: Terminal). Fear the Walking Dead premieres on AMC in August.
Before then, check out AMC’s panel schedule for The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead at San Diego Comic-Con.
eSports Doc Coming to Theaters
Fathom Events and By Experience have announced a two-hour live screening event for All Work All Play: The Pursuit of eSports Glory -- a documentary about the pro-gaming phenomenon from an insider and player perspective.
Screening in select theaters on July 21 (with a rebroadcast on July 30), the live presentation of All Work All Play offers viewers the chance to participate in a Q&A with eSports legends Joshua “Clutch” Gray, Kevin "RotterdaM" van der Kooi and Nathan "Nathanias" Fabrikant. Along with exclusive outtakes, and a "peak into the eSports archives," the event also promises an All-Star showdown among the pros of StarCraft II.