Monthly Archives: March 2016

Nintendo Attractions Coming to Universal Studios in 2020

Last year, Nintendo announced a partnership with Universal Parks and Resorts to bring Nintendo-themed attractions to Universal Studios, and now the first official details on their collaboration have been revealed.

According to Sankei News (via Kotaku), Nintendo and Universal are investing over $350 million in the project, which will be about the same size as Universal's area for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

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Assassin’s Creed Movie Sequel Reportedly in the Works

New Regency's upcoming film adaptation of Assassin's Creed is reportedly getting a sequel, with leading man Michael Fassbender set to return.

According to The Tracking Board, the studio is "officially underway with plans" for a followup movie, which will once again be produced by Fassbender and Conor McCaughan through DMC Films. Jean-Julien Baronnet from Ubisoft Motion Pictures and Frank Marshall from Kennedy-Marshall Company will also produce.

Assassin's Creed stars Fassbender as Callum Lynch, a descendent of a long line of secret assassins, who inhabits the memories of his ancestor Aguilar and travels to 15th century Spain. While the film isn't directly based on any pre-existing story, it does share the same universe as the Assassin's Creed games.

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Mark Hamill: Luke’s Sexuality Open to Interpretation

On the heels of Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams declaring that future Star Wars adventures will include gay characters, Luke Skywalker himself, actor Mark Hamill, said that his Jedi hero's sexuality is open to interpretation.

In a chat with The Sun, Hamill said, “I just read online that JJ is very much open to that. In the old days you would get fan mail. ... But now fans are writing and ask all these questions, ‘I’m bullied in school... I’m afraid to come out’."

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Nightmare on Elm Street Reboot Writer to Script Sandman

New Line's upcoming film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman has found its scriptwriter in Eric Heisserer.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Heisserer—who penned the prequel to The Thing and the remake of Nightmare on Elm Street—is officially on board to handle the translation of David Goyer's treatment.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt will both direct and star in the film, which New Line hopes will serve as the start of a trilogy.

For those unfamiliar with Gaiman's beloved graphic novel series, The Sandman centers around the Lord of Dreams—aka Morpheus—who is one of the seven Endless.

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Tomb Raider Director on Making a Norwegian Disaster Film

This week, I got a chance to speak to Norwegian filmmaker Roar Uthaug (who will soon be directing the Tomb Raider movie reboot for Warner Bros. and MGM) about his new disaster film The Wave, in theaters and on demand March 4.

Based on a real-life Norwegian village nestled under the Åkerneset mountain -- which is constantly on the verge of collapse -- the film follows a family of four as they try to survive a tsunami before it consumes their entire town.

During our interview, Uthaug explained how he went about shooting on location in Geiranger while also training his actors to hold their breath underwater for minutes at a time.

IGN Movies: Let's dive into The Wave. One thing that sets this film apart from other disaster movies is that this is dealing with something that will happen, and has happened already to some extent. Was that one of the reasons you were interested in doing this project?

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Darren Aronofsky’s Batman Would’ve Been a Torturer

Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky and Frank Miller worked on a Batman film project that never left the cutting room floor, and the Dark Knight comics writer has now shed light on why.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Miller said Aronofsky's "vision of Batman was darker than" his own, and ultimately not kid friendly enough for Warner Bros. to greenlight. In fact, the director planned to have the iconic DC superhero torture his foes.

"My Batman was too nice for him," Miller explained. "We would argue about it, and I'd say, 'Batman wouldn't do that, he wouldn't torture anybody,' and so on," he added, noting that while they "hashed out a screenplay" and were handsomely paid for their work, the studio wasn't on board with Aronofsky's vision. "The executive wanted to do a Batman he could take his kids to. And this wasn't that."

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Whedon and Cassaday Reunite for Captain America’s 75th Anniversary

The creative team behind Marvel Comics' Astonishing X-Men is coming back together to celebrate 75 years of Captain America.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Avengers movie director Joss Whedon and artist John Cassaday are working on an all-new story in the upcoming Captain America: Sam Wilson comic. The two previously worked together on Astonishing X-Men, which debuted in 2004. Cassaday also drew a limited Captain America series, featuring Steve Rogers, after 9/11.

In addition to the Whedon/Cassaday story, creative teams Nick Spencer and Daniel Acuna and Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins will contribute the main story and a side story, respectively.

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Thief Video Game Movie Adaptation in the Works

Straight Up Films has acquired the rights to adapt Square Enix’s Thief video game into a movie.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Thief’s screenplay will be written by Adam Mason and Simon Boyes (Misconduct, Not Safe for Work) and will be set in a “dark fantasy world where a master thief tries to restore freedom denied by a magic-wielding tyrant,” which is similar to the plot in Square Enix’s 2014 reboot of Thief.

The Los Angeles-based Straight Up Films will co-produce Thief alongside Square Enix and Source Rock’s Khalid Jones. No director or actors have been revealed for the film at this time.

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