Monthly Archives: October 2019
Netflix Reveals Its Most Popular Shows and Movies of the Year
Netflix has released a list of its most-watched TV shows and movies during a Q3 investor earnings report (via Engadget) for 2019. For reference, the streaming giant's Q3 begins on the first day of July and ends on the last day of September.
Netflix rarely reveals its viewing data, unless a show or movie is a big success, like last year's Bird Box, which accumulated over 80 million views worldwide. On the movie front, Bird Box is still king, but the rest of the list contains a few films you've (probably) never heard of.
Kurt Sutter Says He’s Fired from FX for Being an ‘Abrasive Dick’
FX has reportedly fired Mayans M.C. showrunner Kurt Sutter. According to Sutter himself, the firing is a result of him being "an abrasive dick."
The news comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which notes Sutter was fired by FX CEO John Landgraf and Disney TV Studios and ABC Entertainment chairman Dana Walden following "'multiple complaints' over his behavior." According to THR, the decision was made on Wednesday and Sutter responded by sending a memo to the cast and crew today, at which point he seemed to accept responsibility and referred to himself as "an abrasive dick."
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Will Have a Battle Pass Instead of Loot Boxes
Activision and Infinity Ward are doubling down on their commitment to not have loot boxes in the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with the announcement that it will instead feature a battle pass. The new system is almost identical to other battle pass systems found in games like Fortnite.
In a newly published blog post, Activision announced that is “introducing a new Battle Pass system, not a loot box system,” to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The news comes after Infinity Ward announced the studio is not developing a loot box system for Modern Warfare despite rumors and leaks suggesting otherwise.
Melissa McCarthy’s New Movie No Longer Getting Theatrical Release
Melissa McCarthy's new movie Superintelligence will no longer be getting a December theatrical release date, as it moves to stream exclusively on HBO Max next year.
HBO made the announcement on Thursday in a press release about two months before the film's planned theatrical release. It will now debut with the launch of HBO Max in spring 2020.
The movie features McCarthy as an average person who has a "superintelligence" take over her life through her electronic devices with greater plans to take over the world. Bobby Cannavale, Brian Tyree Henry, Jean Smart and James Corden also star in the film.
“We used the A.I. from Superintelligence to look at every single platform in the world, and then used its super knowledge and big artificial brain-like thing to determine that HBO Max was the right home for our film,” said McCarthy and the film's director and producer Ben Falcone in a press release.
Here’s When You Can Read Our The Outer Worlds Review
Curious about whether The Outer Worlds will live up to the high expectations we all have from the developers of all-time RPG classics like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and Fallout: New Vegas (among others)? Good news: we're currently playing through, and our review will go up on the site at 6:00am on Tuesday, October 22 – three days before The Outer Worlds' release date of Friday, October 25.
That's all we can say for right now, but fortunately we've already said a whole bunch about The Outer Worlds (not to be confused with Outer Wilds) that you can brush up on while you wait for the review to finish cooking.
GTA Online: Weeny Dynasty Sports Classic, Double King of the Hill Rewards This Week
Fortnite is Back…But It Never Really Went Anywhere
Fortnite is back for another round with Chapter 2, which launched (again) worldwide yesterday. After a massive world-ending black hole event — dubbed “The End” — consumed everything (which included the previous island, lobby, and game itself), Fortnite has finally returned after being offline for almost 40 hours. The internet went into a frenzy this past Sunday, with players and parents panicking after not knowing what happened to it. Many were worried about the cosmetic items they had purchased, as well as the status of their in-game currency known as V-Bucks.
The Batman Casts The Riddler
Warner Bros. has officially announced the addition of another villain to Matt Reeves’ The Batman movie: Paul Dano is playing Edward Nashton aka The Riddler.
Dano is best known for his roles in There Will Be Blood, 12 Years a Slave, and the Showtime series Escape at Dannemora for which he earned an Emmy nomination.
Paul Dano in There Will Be Blood.
In Batman lore, the Riddler’s civilian alias is Edward Nashton before he changes it to Edward Nygma.
Stephen King’s Maine Home to Become a Writer’s Retreat and Museum
Stephen King has inspired countless authors, and now some of those writers may get the chance to go on a writer's retreat at the legendary author's home in Maine.
According to Rolling Stone, the city of Bangor, Maine, has approved King's request to turn his house into a nonprofit that will serve as both an archive of his work and a retreat for up to five writers at a time.
Fans of King's work will be able to visit the archive by appointment.
King has become one of Maine's most celebrated figures, with one city councillor telling Rolling Stone that King and his family have donated millions of dollars to a variety of causes in the community.
32 Films Submitted for Best Animated Feature Oscar Race
A record number of films have been submitted for consideration in the Best Animated Feature category for the 92nd Academy Awards.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 32 films would be competing for five spots in the coveted Best Animated Feature category at the 2020 Oscars, though several of the entries have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying run in order to advance.
The list reveals that Disney has entered Frozen II and Toy Story 4 into the Oscar race, along with Spies in Disguise (which now falls under the Disney corporate umbrella). However, the studio has opted out of submitting their photorealistic remake of The Lion King.