Monthly Archives: July 2017

Mark Ruffalo on Why Solo Hulk Film ‘Will Never Happen’

It doesn't look a solo Hulk film is coming anytime soon, and Bruce Banner actor Mark Ruffalo has come forward to explain why.

"I just want to make one thing perfectly clear," Ruffalo told Variety after a trailer screening of Marvel's The Avengers: Infinity War at D23 Expo. "A standalone Hulk movie will never happen."

Ruffalo explained that Universal still has the movie rights "and for some reason, they don't know how to play well with Marvel," adding, "they don't want to make money." Don Cheadle chimed in to joke that a solo Hulk film starring Ruffalo "would be terrible," and Ruffalo said he thinks he's "got two or three more years" before he's too old to play the character.

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Behold the Ridiculously Huge Cast of Infinity War Together

One by one, members of the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy assembled at D23 Expo 2017 on Saturday for the Marvel Studios presentation.

The sight of seeing nearly every hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- OK, the actors playing them in Marvel's The Avengers: Infinity War -- alongside actor Josh Brolin, who plays the villain Thanos, was a truly geek-out experience.

Notably absent from the lineup, however, were Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), and Zoe Saldana (Gamora). Production is still underway in Atlanta.

Feast your eyes on the cast of Marvel's The Avengers: Infinity War at D23 Expo in the slideshow below:

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KH3 Director Hints at Second Playable Character

Kingdom Hearts games have made a habit out of featuring multiple playable characters, and Kingdom Hearts 3 looks to be following in step with its predecessors, according to the game's director.

Speaking to IGN at D23 Expo, Tetsuya Nomura declined to say exactly who but did hint that Sora will not be the only playable character in Kingdom Hearts 3.

"So it would be tough to introduce many, multiple playable characters, but there is an intention of adding a playable character aside from Sora. Unfortunately we’re not able to disclose who it is yet, but there will be

," Nomura said.

Kingdom Hearts II started off by putting players into the role of Roxas, Sora's Nobody, before segueing back into making the series' protagonist playable, and Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep actually featured three Keyblade-wielding playable characters. Even going back to the Game Boy Advance entry Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, players could control Riku in a second campaign after beating Sora's adventure.

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Kingdom Hearts 3 Director Says ‘Maybe’ to Switch Version

Kingdom Hearts 3 director Tetsuya Nomura says a Nintendo Switch version of Kingdom Hearts 3 or Xbox One versions of the Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 and II.5 ReMix or Kingdom Hearts HD II.8 Final Chapter Prologue collections could be possible in the future, but only after existing versions of Kingdom Hearts 3 are complete.

Speaking to IGN at D23 Expo today, Nomura said he isn’t ruling out Kingdom Hearts 3 coming to Nintendo Switch eventually, but wants to fulfill the promise of the PS4 and Xbox One versions before the team focuses on additional platforms.

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How Blunt’s Mary Poppins Differs From the Original

Director Rob Marshall and actress Emily Blunt took the stage at D23 Expo 2017 on Saturday to present the first-ever footage from Mary Poppins Returns, a followup to Disney's 1964 classic.

The footage was a rough teaser of shots and title cards and largely dialogue-free, as the film only finished filming a few weeks ago. However, the footage was accompanied by a live orchestra performing original new music from the film conducted by its composer, Marc Shaiman.

The footage showcased the daily lives of Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) and Jane Banks (Emily Mortimer), the children in the original film who are now all grown up. The magic they had encountered in their youth has clearly left them as adults living through the Great Depression. Michael, a widower, is raising his three children (played by Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh and Joel Dawson) on his own in the family home he inherited on Cherry Tree Lane. They're teetering on a crisis thanks to the ruthless manager of Fidelity Fiduciary, William Weatherall Wilkin (Colin Firth).

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From Rise to War, Apes Producer Looks Back

Along with a handful of other nerd-minded entertainment reporters, I’ve been bugging Dylan Clark for years now. Ever since Rise of the Planet of the Apes was in production seven years ago, we’d visit the producer’s sets and get our noses in his business. Especially on that first film when the prospect of a new Apes movie seemed so dicey -- he had better not screw this one up was the attitude at the time. Of course, he most certainly did not. And now here we are, three films later, and the Apes franchise is as good and strong as it’s ever been.

I recently caught up with Clark on the eve of the release of the new film, War for the Planet of the Apes. We talked about how the series has developed since those early days of Rise, when the idea of having an ape as your main character was kind of crazy, as well as about the evolution of the series, how it could still connect to the classic Charlton Heston original, and much more. Read on for our full chat!

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A Deep Dive Into the Kingdom Hearts 3 D23 Expo Trailer

The latest Kingdom Hearts 3 D23 Expo trailer gave us a brand new world — Pixar’s finally joined the Kingdom Hearts family! — and a release year, but there are also plenty of new combat details. So as the trailer itself says, let’s dive right in.

Watch the video above to follow along with our deep dive into the newest Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer, or read on for more information on what the D23 Expo look showcased.

The trailer lends further credence to the idea that Keyblades no longer seemingly need to be won at the end of saving a world. Sora’s Keyblade instantly takes on its Toy Story form as he arrives in Andy’s room. It has an alien keychain, a Buzz Lightyear-themed hilt, and a Woody-centric blade.

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Street Fighter 5 Gets New Stages and Costumes This Month

Street Fighter V is getting a new batch of costumes and stages on July 25.

According to Capcom's recent blog post, three of the outfits and one of the two new stages are inspired by older Street Fighter titles. The stage in question is Ryu's home level Suzaku Castle, which first appeared in Street Fighter II.

The retro-style costumes for Alex and Ibuki are reminiscent of their Street Fighter III looks, while Juri's outfit comes from Street Fighter IV. Each of the costumes will cost $3.99/€3.99/£3.49. Pricing for Suzaku Caste stage hasn't been revealed yet.

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Avengers 3: Thanos’ Black Order Explained

At D23 Fan Expo, Marvel Studios revealed five statues to give us our first look at the Black Order, Thanos’ group of super-powered cronies that will debut in Avengers: Infinity War.

The alien squad will be backing up their evil master as he quests to gather the Infinity Stones, so check out our photos of the statues by clicking through the slideshow gallery below and then read on for what we know about them from the comics.

The Black Order debuted in 2013’s New Avengers #8 as part of Marvel Comics’ Infinity event storyline and were created by Jonathan Hickman, Jerome Opeña, and Jim Cheung. Infinity told the dual-storyline of the Avengers fighting off an alien armada in space and stopping Thanos from collecting the Infinity Gems (or Infinity Stones, as they’re known in the movies) on Earth. The Black Order (sometimes referred to as the Cull Obsidian) were key players in Thanos’ multi-pronged attack on Earth’s defenses.

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