Monthly Archives: December 2017
Game of Thrones: Sophie Turner Claims Season 8 Airs in 2019
Even before Game of Thrones' seventh season premiered earlier this year, there was speculation that the show's eighth and final season might not air until 2019 - and in an interview with Variety, actress Sophie Turner (who has played central character Sansa Stark since the show's inception) seems to have confirmed that this will be the case.
In a wider conversation about her upcoming schedule, Turner identifies that "Game of Thrones comes out in 2019", seemingly cementing 2018 as a Thrones-less year. She also states that filming for the eighth season began back in October and isn't likely to finish for another seven or eight months, lending weight to a 2019 release.
Shazam! Casts IT Actor as Captain Marvel Jr.
IT star Jack Dylan Grazer has joined the upcoming DC film Shazam!
According to The Hollywood Reporter Grazer, who plays Eddie Kaspbrak in IT, will portray Billy Batson's (Asher Angel) best friend Freddy Freeman. He's the only person who knows Billy can transform into the adult superhero Captain Marvel and, in the comics, eventually becomes a superhero himself, Captain Marvel Jr. However, it's not known if this'll actually happen in the film.
Jack Dylan Grazer in IT.
Real-Life PUBG Supply Crates Hit Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane This Weekend
To mark the Xbox One debut of the all-conquering PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds next week, Xbox Australia will be hiding three separate PUBG-themed supply drops down the east coast of the country (one in Sydney, one in Brisbane, and one in Melbourne). It’s happening this weekend, on Saturday, December 9.
The supply crates will hold a range of Xbox and PUBG-related prizes, including Xbox One X consoles, Elite Controllers, and Xbox Live codes, plus PUBG gear and PUBG game codes. There’ll be 25 prizes available at each location, so ensuring you’re not the 26th person to arrive is the key to scoring a freebie of some description.
Xbox Australia notes that anyone who wants to take part will need to visit the Xbox ANZ Facebook page on Saturday for the clues they’ll need to track it down, plus the password they’ll need to say to the staff watching the supply crate (in order to extract a prize from it).
Steam Is No Longer Accepting Bitcoin
Valve has confirmed that it will no longer support Bitcoin as a payment option on Steam. The decision is “due to high fees and volatility in the value of Bitcoin.”
“In the past few months we've seen an increase in the volatility in the value of Bitcoin and a significant increase in the fees to process transactions on the Bitcoin network,” the company explained in its post. “For example, transaction fees that are charged to the customer by the Bitcoin network have skyrocketed this year, topping out at close to $20 a transaction last week (compared to roughly $0.20 when we initially enabled Bitcoin).”
Detective Pikachu Has Been Cast
Ryan Reynolds has reportedly been cast in Legendary's live-action Detective Pikachu film as the titular character.
According to THR, Reynolds' role as Pikachu in the Pokemon adaptation will involve motion capture in some way. Reynolds had been one of several names reportedly being considered for the role alongside Hugh Jackman, Mark Wahlberg, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
Reynolds joins the cast which reportedly includes Big Little Lies' Kathryn Newton and The Get Down's Justice Smith in the lead live action roles.
Annihilation: Paramount, Netflix in Talks for Streaming Deal
Paramount and Netflix are reportedly in negotiations to make Annihilation available for streaming internationally shortly after its February 23 release in the United States.
According to Deadline, the deal would give Netflix the international rights to stream Ex Machina director Alex Garland's sci-fi film a mere 17 days after its debut in the US.
The film will get a traditional theatrical release in the United States, Canada, and China by Paramount.
Why Game of Thrones Actor Ended Up ‘Disheartened’
Stannis Baratheon actor Stephen Dillane did not enjoy his time on Game of Thrones.
In an interview with The Times (via io9), Dillane revealed he did not understand much of the story and said he wasn't too thrilled about his performance as Stannis. "I’ve flicked it on
to see if I could figure out what was going on, but I couldn’t," Dillane said.
The actor had to rely on his co-star Liam Cunningham, who plays Stannis' right-hand man Ser Davos Seaworth, to help him grasp Game of Thrones' complex story and provide some much-need context.
[Spoiler] Returns in Doctor Strange #382
Stephen Strange gained a surprising new ally in his fight against Loki this week.
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Doctor Strange #382!
Strange's status quo has changed considerably thanks to Marvel Legacy, with the character handing over his home, his magical artifacts and the very title of Sorcerer Supreme to Loki. However, Strange clearly doesn't trust the god of mischief, and this issue saw him work clandestinely to prevent Loki from harnessing a spell called "The Exile of Singhsoon," which would allow Loki to harness all the remaining magical energy in the universe. Here he is explaining the gravity of the situation to Bats, his new talking dog sidekick:
Why and When Hugh Jackman Turned Down James Bond
Hugh Jackman has revealed why he turned down the chance to play James Bond.
In an interview with Variety, Jackman said he had been offered the role of 007 before filming 2003's X-Men 2. However, the actor felt the franchise wasn't gritty enough at the time and decided to opt out of portraying James Bond. "I just felt at the time that the scripts had become so unbelievable and crazy, and I felt like they needed to become grittier and real," Jackman said.
Additionally, Jackman was told if he agreed to play James Bond, he would have no creative input on the franchise. "And the response was: 'Oh, you don't get a say. You just have to sign on,'" Jackman added. "I was also worried that between Bond and X-Men, I’d never have time to do different things."
The Last Jedi: Opening Scene First Impressions
Disney and Lucasfilm held a special screening in Tokyo to show members of the media the first 13 minutes of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. IGN Japan's chief editor Daniel Robson was among those who got to see the footage, and based on his impressions, it's quite intense.
"The opening scene is a real rush – the film kicks into bombastic action fast, and there is some humor in there too," Robson said on Twitter. He also had an opportunity to speak to Rian Johnson about the footage and said The Last Jedi director told him the film's opening "sets the tone for the whole movie."
Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens in theaters on December 15 and is tracking to outpace Beauty and the Beast to have the biggest debut of 2017 with a $200 million opening weekend.