Monthly Archives: September 2017

Thor 3’s Taika Waititi in Talks to Direct Live-Action Akira

Thor: Ragnarok helmer Taika Waititi is reportedly in talks to direct the long-gestating, live-action remake of Akira, based on the manga and 1988 anime.

According to Deadline, Warner Bros. is negotiating with the New Zealand-born filmmaker to helm the project, which has almost come together a few times over the years. The Hughes Brothers (The Book of Eli), Ruairi Robinson (The Last Days on Mars), and Jaume Collet-Serra (Non-Stop) were among the filmmakers who previously tried to translate Akira into live-action.

Before Waititi, Get Out's Jordan Peele was the director most recently approached by Warner Bros. about taking on the project.

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Watchmen: Damon Lindelof Teases Start of Pre-Production

Writer Damon Lindelof took to Instagram to announce the HBO Watchmen adaptation has begun pre-production.

The image shows the base of a Nite Owl statue sitting on a table in what looks like a writer's room. It's not specific, and no further details are given other than the caption "Day One."

Nite Owl statue base posted to Damon Lindelof's Instagram account. Nite Owl statue base posted to Damon Lindelof's Instagram account.

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Discovery Star Says Young Spock Appearance Possible

First Officer Michael Burnham is a unique figure in the world of Star Trek for a few reasons. Not only is she the main character on CBS’ Star Trek: Discovery, but she’s also the first Trek lead to not be the commander of his or her crew. Played by The Walking Dead’s Sonequa Martin-Green, Burnham is also different in that she’s a human who was raised on Vulcan among its emotionless people. And she’s stationed on two different ships in Discovery -- the USS Discovery itself, but also the USS Shenzhou (time will tell how she transitions from one to the other).

All of which is to say, Michael Burnham is a distinctive take on the traditional Starfleet lead character. I sat down with Martin-Green recently to talk about Burnham, her past as Spock’s adopted sister, working for two very different captains, and more. The actress is fun -- she sang The Brady Bunch theme song to me at point -- and her enthusiasm for the new show is contagious. Read on for highlights from our chat below…

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Why Zack Snyder Is Not Checking in on Justice League

Director Zack Snyder recently discussed why he's keeping his distance from Justice League, saying he isn't worried about how the DC film is shaping up.

In an interview with Wired, Snyder revealed he hasn't been checking in on Justice League since parting ways with the project earlier this year following a family tragedy. The Batman v Superman director believes it'd be "unfair in a lot of ways" for him to get involved with Justice League at this point, and doesn't want to interfere with the cast and crew's work on the film.

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Valve Reveals Plan to Fight Steam Review Bombing

In an effort to combat review bombing on Steam, Valve has updated how review data of a game is shown to potential purchasers when browsing the Steam Store.

Since review bombing occurs when players post mass number of negative reviews in a short window of time, effective today, "each game page now contains a histogram of the positive to negative ratio of reviews over the entire lifetime of the game," Valve explained in a post on the official Steam Blog.

Screen Shot 2017-09-19 at 3.26.34 PM Grand Theft Auto V review graph, via Steam

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mother! Actor Responds to Movie’s ‘F’ CinemaScore

(Be advised of a very minor spoiler ahead for mother! and the length of Domhnall Gleeson's screen time in it.)

Audiences were not fans of director Darren Aronofsky's new thriller mother!, awarding the fairly well-reviewed film an "F" CinemaScore in exit polling. But mother! does have a big supporter in actor Domhnall Gleeson, who has a small role in it and championed the film during my recent phone chat with him. While he acknowledged mother! is "a very divisive film," Gleeson hailed it as "a superb piece of art" and precisely the type of film he wants to continue to appear in as an actor.

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Toys R Us Begins Bankruptcy Proceedings

Following some speculation about its financial woes, Toys R Us has officially filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The company is currently struggling with about $5 billion in debt, and hopes the bankruptcy filing can help them restructure while still keeping their stores open for the holiday season.

As a result of the bankruptcy filing Toys R Us has received over $3 billion in debtor-in-possession financing from a number of lenders. Toys R Us says this money will help them immediately improve their financial situation, and keep their stores and operations well maintained leading into the busiest season of the year.

Dave Brandon, Toys R Us Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, had this to say of the filing in a statement: "Together with our investors, our objective is to work with out debtholders and other creditors to restructure the $5 billion of long term debt on our balance sheet ... and strengthen out competitive position in an increasingly challenging and rapidly changing retail marketplace."

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Marvel Comics Reveals Phoenix Variant Covers

Marvel is celebrating adult Jean Grey's return to comics with a Phoenix variant cover program.

Variant covers from acclaimed artists such as Jen Bartel, Kris Anka, David Nakayama, RB Silva and Elizabeth Torque will be released all throughout December for new comics like Amazing Spider-Man #792 and Black Panther #168.

Check out the variant covers in the gallery below:

Here's the full list of new comics that are part of the celebration:

  • ALL NEW WOLVERINE #28 by Jen Bartel
  • AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #792 by Ryan Stegman
  • ASTONISHING X-MEN #6 by Kris Anka
  • AVENGERS 674 by Brent Shoonover
  • BLACK PANTHER #168 by Ken Lashley
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Why Handmaid’s Tale Emmy Win Is So Important

Now that the dust has settled on the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, it's time to look at what Hulu's big win for its original series The Handmaid's Tale truly means in the grand scheme of TV and streaming.

This past Sunday night, The Handmaid’s Tale won a handful of trophies -- including Outstanding Lead Actress and Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series -- but the most significant was its win for Outstanding Drama Series. This is the first time that a streaming service has taken home the top honors in a Best Series category.

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H1Z1 Dev: “There Wouldn’t Be PUBG Without H1Z1”

I recently spoke with H1Z1 developer Daybreak about the latest update to its battle royale shooter H1Z1: Kill of the Kill and the runaway success of its competitor PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

When asked how PUBG’s success has affected H1Z1’s development, Game Manager Anthony Castoro told me that “there wouldn’t be a PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds if there wasn’t an H1Z1.” He followed up by saying that “there’s room for this genre to expand,” and believes PUBG is “creating an opportunity” for H1Z1 to reach a larger audience that it otherwise wouldn’t.

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