In what I can only describe as "playing with fire," the 94th Academy Awards is letting Twitter users vote for their favorite movie of 2021, THR reports.

Interestingly, the movie doesn't have to be any of the films already nominated for an Academy Award, but the winning film will be recognized in some capacity at the awards ceremony. It's unclear if this will mean a small mention between award segments or something more notable.

Starting Monday, fans can vote for their favorite 2021 film using the hashtag #OscarsFanFavorite. The film that receives the most support by March 3 will be recognized during the March 27 broadcast.

Three Twitter users who use the hashtag will also be given an all-expenses-paid trip to next year's Academy Awards to present an Oscar. Each user's guests will also be included.

It's worth noting that a "fan-favorite" film isn't recognized as a formal Oscar award, so don't expect to see the words "Oscar-Winning Spider-Man: No Way Home" in the future. That said, it will give fans a chance to weigh in on films that they feel were snubbed of an Oscar nod, like Denis Villenueve's Dune: Part One.

Fans will also be able to vote for their favorite scene from a 2021 film using #OscarsCheerMoment. The winning clip will be shown at the Academy Awards alongside fan tweets, while five Twitter users will be awarded prize packages including a year of free movie tickets to a theater of their choice, free membership to movie subscription services, and Academy Awards memorabilia.

If you were worried that Twitter might get a little spammy during the next week, you're right on the money. The Academy Awards says users are allowed to tweet their favorite movie up to 20 times per day. In case you were wondering, that's 360 tweets per user between now and the end of the event.

You can follow IGN's coverage of the Oscars here, or read all the Oscar 2021 nominations here.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/fan-favorite for IGN.

While Bat-fans know that Robert Pattinson's incarnation of the caped crusader is facing off against Riddler and Penguin in his next adventure, Pattinson has some hopes for who he faces off in a potential sequel: The Court of Owls.

“I’d love to do something like Court of Owls,” the actor told Den of Geek in a recent interview, referencing the cult-like shadow organization that's been pulling most of the strings behind Gotham since the 1600s.

The Court of Owls was introduced in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's New 52 Batman comic line in 2011, in effect challenging the notion that the Wayne family built Gotham.

The Court of Owls also utilizes assassins known as Talons, first introduced in Batman #2 (2011). In the initial Court of Owls arc, Batman is nearly defeated and brutalized within an inch of his life before managing to escape, sparking off a larger conflict.

Pattinson told Den of Geek that he thinks Matt Reeves' The Batman's gothic style would fit well with the sinister tone of Court of Owls.

“There are elements of The Batman which are kind of horror and I think it really feels quite new for Batman," Pattinson said.

Pattinson also revealed that he'd like for his version of Batman to fight off Calendar Man, the date-obsessed villain who assists Batman in capturing a serial killer in The Long Halloween.

In some ways, Paul Dano's Riddler will occupy a similar threat as the Court of Owls, making Bruce Wayne question just how well he knows his city.

“[Bruce] thinks it’s his city in a weird sort of way. He thinks he’s kind of built it,” Pattinson says. "[He has] the money and the castle,” he’ll learn the hard way that he has “absolutely no control or power over anything in the city.”

The Batman is out in theaters on March 4, and in the meantime, you can read about how Robert Pattinson made electronic dance music while wearing his bat suit, or how Colin Farrell's Penguin was inspired by a Godfather character.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/elite assassin for IGN.

While Bat-fans know that Robert Pattinson's incarnation of the caped crusader is facing off against Riddler and Penguin in his next adventure, Pattinson has some hopes for who he faces off in a potential sequel: The Court of Owls.

“I’d love to do something like Court of Owls,” the actor told Den of Geek in a recent interview, referencing the cult-like shadow organization that's been pulling most of the strings behind Gotham since the 1600s.

The Court of Owls was introduced in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's New 52 Batman comic line in 2011, in effect challenging the notion that the Wayne family built Gotham.

The Court of Owls also utilizes assassins known as Talons, first introduced in Batman #2 (2011). In the initial Court of Owls arc, Batman is nearly defeated and brutalized within an inch of his life before managing to escape, sparking off a larger conflict.

Pattinson told Den of Geek that he thinks Matt Reeves' The Batman's gothic style would fit well with the sinister tone of Court of Owls.

“There are elements of The Batman which are kind of horror and I think it really feels quite new for Batman," Pattinson said.

Pattinson also revealed that he'd like for his version of Batman to fight off Calendar Man, the date-obsessed villain who assists Batman in capturing a serial killer in The Long Halloween.

In some ways, Paul Dano's Riddler will occupy a similar threat as the Court of Owls, making Bruce Wayne question just how well he knows his city.

“[Bruce] thinks it’s his city in a weird sort of way. He thinks he’s kind of built it,” Pattinson says. "[He has] the money and the castle,” he’ll learn the hard way that he has “absolutely no control or power over anything in the city.”

The Batman is out in theaters on March 4, and in the meantime, you can read about how Robert Pattinson made electronic dance music while wearing his bat suit, or how Colin Farrell's Penguin was inspired by a Godfather character.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/elite assassin for IGN.

The Lord of the Rings anime film finally has a release date for theaters. To celebrate, Warner Bros. also released a new bit of concept art to dig into.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be released in theaters on April 12, 2024. Anime director Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) will direct the film with Academy Award winner Philippa Boyens — who wrote the screenplays for the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy — serving as executive producer.

War of the Rohirrim will take place two centuries before the events of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and will follow King of Rohan Helm Hammerhand and the creation of Helm’s Deep. The fortress was seen in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers as a bastion against Sauron’s forces.

You can check out the first concept art for the animated film below.

The anime film was announced in 2021 and will serve as a companion piece to Peter Jackson’s trilogy. The art style seen above is reminiscent of the visual tone set by the movies and the involvement of Jackson’s colleagues is another connective thread.

“The ‘Lord of the Rings’ films took Tolkein’s masterwork to new cinematic heights and inspired a generation,” says Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich. “It’s a gift to be able to revisit Middle-earth with many of the same creative visionaries and the talented Kenji Kamiyama at the helm.”

War of the Rohirrim isn’t the only Lord of the Rings project in the works. Amazon is readying their live-action series Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, having recently premiered the first teaser trailer.

The future of Middle-earth is also possibly set to be busier than ever as the movie and game rights for Tolkein’s fantasy world are expected to go up for sale, with a projected price tag of $2 billion. Whoever claims this one [copyright] could control the fate of Middle-earth [in media].

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

The Lord of the Rings anime film finally has a release date for theaters. To celebrate, Warner Bros. also released a new bit of concept art to dig into.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be released in theaters on April 12, 2024. Anime director Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) will direct the film with Academy Award winner Philippa Boyens — who wrote the screenplays for the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy — serving as executive producer.

War of the Rohirrim will take place two centuries before the events of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and will follow King of Rohan Helm Hammerhand and the creation of Helm’s Deep. The fortress was seen in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers as a bastion against Sauron’s forces.

You can check out the first concept art for the animated film below.

The anime film was announced in 2021 and will serve as a companion piece to Peter Jackson’s trilogy. The art style seen above is reminiscent of the visual tone set by the movies and the involvement of Jackson’s colleagues is another connective thread.

“The ‘Lord of the Rings’ films took Tolkein’s masterwork to new cinematic heights and inspired a generation,” says Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich. “It’s a gift to be able to revisit Middle-earth with many of the same creative visionaries and the talented Kenji Kamiyama at the helm.”

War of the Rohirrim isn’t the only Lord of the Rings project in the works. Amazon is readying their live-action series Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, having recently premiered the first teaser trailer.

The future of Middle-earth is also possibly set to be busier than ever as the movie and game rights for Tolkein’s fantasy world are expected to go up for sale, with a projected price tag of $2 billion. Whoever claims this one [copyright] could control the fate of Middle-earth [in media].

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

When Earthbound popped up during last week's Nintendo Direct, fans briefly hoped that Mother 3 might finally get its much-requested English release. Those hopes were ultimately dashed, but this gorgeous new trailer is a small consolation prize for fans desperate to play Shigesato Itoi's classic RPG.

Developed by Curiomatic, the Youtube channel behind the popular Smashified series of videos, it offers an arresting glimpse of how a full-blown remake might look, from the battle system to a cameo by the Mecha-Drago. Similar to 2019's remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, it meticulously recreates familiar scenes from Mother 3 using clay figures — a nod to the advertising of the first two games.

Speaking via DM, illustrator Omni Jacala tells IGN that the project took a team of 22 creators more than two years to produce. It included more than 90 characters, "hundreds of props," and more than 30 environments — all for a trailer that lasts just over three minutes.

Originally conceived back in 2015, work began on the project at the end of 2019. The team hoped to release the trailer in time for the 15th anniversary of the original game, but it wound up taking another year to "fully realize our vision," Jacala says.

Jacala says the team was inspired by Itoi's ability to "craft beautiful stories within the constraints of the limited hardware at his disposal." Like its predecessors, Mother 3 was a 16-bit RPG with colorful but otherwise relatively simple visuals. It gained fame in North America thanks to the way that it married mature themes with comic visuals, which in turn inspired a number of independent RPGs, mostly notably Undertale.

"The stories definitely speak to themes of family, friendship, coming of age—things that often have a profound impact on those who play it. The many let's players who have played the game can certainly speak to that," Jacala says. "On top of that, I think that the original games being in that sort of top-down, classic RPG style makes it necessary for players to use their imaginations to fill in the gaps. And that’s not to discount Itoi's writing at all, but something about primitive graphics leaves room for the imagination to elevate the experience above what we see on the surface."

The team decided to use clay figures to "fill the gap" with the first two games. "The Mother/Earthbound series is well known for the clay figures that were produced to promote the first two games. However, the creators of the game never made clay models for the third game, so we felt there was a need to sort of fill a gap, so to speak. We felt that going for a stop-motion aesthetic akin to the likes of Studio Laika or Aardman Animations would be appropriate to carry on the tradition of the figurines," Jacala explains.

If you've never played Mother 3, you needn't worry too much about spoilers. In choosing the scenes to depict from the game, Jacala says that the team went with moments that don't have as much significance without context. The result is a trailer that gives viewers a feel for Mother 3 without ruining its biggest surprises.

Curiomatic's trailer is part of an going wave of appreciation for the Earthbound series that recently included the release of Earthbound and Earthbound Beginnings for Nintendo Switch. As the only game in the series to not get a North American release, Mother 3 has been hotly-requested by fans over the years, to the point that former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé joked about the constant requests for a translation. Even Terry Crews has asked for it.

In the wake of last week's Nintendo Direct, we're no closer to an official release for Mother 3, but Curiomatic's imagined remake can let us dream.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

When Earthbound popped up during last week's Nintendo Direct, fans briefly hoped that Mother 3 might finally get its much-requested English release. Those hopes were ultimately dashed, but this gorgeous new trailer is a small consolation prize for fans desperate to play Shigesato Itoi's classic RPG.

Developed by Curiomatic, the Youtube channel behind the popular Smashified series of videos, it offers an arresting glimpse of how a full-blown remake might look, from the battle system to a cameo by the Mecha-Drago. Similar to 2019's remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, it meticulously recreates familiar scenes from Mother 3 using clay figures — a nod to the advertising of the first two games.

Speaking via DM, illustrator Omni Jacala tells IGN that the project took a team of 22 creators more than two years to produce. It included more than 90 characters, "hundreds of props," and more than 30 environments — all for a trailer that lasts just over three minutes.

Originally conceived back in 2015, work began on the project at the end of 2019. The team hoped to release the trailer in time for the 15th anniversary of the original game, but it wound up taking another year to "fully realize our vision," Jacala says.

Jacala says the team was inspired by Itoi's ability to "craft beautiful stories within the constraints of the limited hardware at his disposal." Like its predecessors, Mother 3 was a 16-bit RPG with colorful but otherwise relatively simple visuals. It gained fame in North America thanks to the way that it married mature themes with comic visuals, which in turn inspired a number of independent RPGs, mostly notably Undertale.

"The stories definitely speak to themes of family, friendship, coming of age—things that often have a profound impact on those who play it. The many let's players who have played the game can certainly speak to that," Jacala says. "On top of that, I think that the original games being in that sort of top-down, classic RPG style makes it necessary for players to use their imaginations to fill in the gaps. And that’s not to discount Itoi's writing at all, but something about primitive graphics leaves room for the imagination to elevate the experience above what we see on the surface."

The team decided to use clay figures to "fill the gap" with the first two games. "The Mother/Earthbound series is well known for the clay figures that were produced to promote the first two games. However, the creators of the game never made clay models for the third game, so we felt there was a need to sort of fill a gap, so to speak. We felt that going for a stop-motion aesthetic akin to the likes of Studio Laika or Aardman Animations would be appropriate to carry on the tradition of the figurines," Jacala explains.

If you've never played Mother 3, you needn't worry too much about spoilers. In choosing the scenes to depict from the game, Jacala says that the team went with moments that don't have as much significance without context. The result is a trailer that gives viewers a feel for Mother 3 without ruining its biggest surprises.

Curiomatic's trailer is part of an going wave of appreciation for the Earthbound series that recently included the release of Earthbound and Earthbound Beginnings for Nintendo Switch. As the only game in the series to not get a North American release, Mother 3 has been hotly-requested by fans over the years, to the point that former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé joked about the constant requests for a translation. Even Terry Crews has asked for it.

In the wake of last week's Nintendo Direct, we're no closer to an official release for Mother 3, but Curiomatic's imagined remake can let us dream.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

CrossfireX's executive producer has apologized for the game's launch state that included several issues including poor connection to matches and controller sensitivity fluctuation.

In a developer update, CrossfireX executive producer Sooro Boo acknowledged the studio had disappointed many of its fans by releasing the game with these issues saying, "It’s clear that we have inadvertently disappointed many of our players and fans that have stuck with us for a long time.

Attention, Mercenaries,

We are aware of the issue that some Game Pass members are unable to access Operation Catalyst.

We are currently working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

We apologize for the inconvenience and we thank you for your patience and the feedback. pic.twitter.com/IeRj86Cq18

— CrossfireX (@PlayCrossfireX) February 10, 2022

Mr. Boo's developer update offered a more in-depth look at some of the issues currently afflicting players including how players were experiencing a random fluctuation of dead zones, input delay, acceleration instability, and aim dropping in their controllers; balance issues for the Boogieman kill streak; and issues where the CAR-4 ADS gun stopped the player aiming down sights while firing.

At launch CrossfireX's official Twitter page also spent time to address other issues players were encountering including long queue times, campaign availability on Xbox Game Pass, and more.

All of these will be addressed in patches coming soon according to Boo, but there's no word on when the other problems may be fixed.

CrossfireX was released on February 10 and headlined the games coming to Xbox Game Pass this month. You'll have to wait a bit longer for our official review, but in IGN's preview of the game's campaign we mentioned "CrossfireX doesn’t really seem to be bringing much to the table."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

CrossfireX's executive producer has apologized for the game's launch state that included several issues including poor connection to matches and controller sensitivity fluctuation.

In a developer update, CrossfireX executive producer Sooro Boo acknowledged the studio had disappointed many of its fans by releasing the game with these issues saying, "It’s clear that we have inadvertently disappointed many of our players and fans that have stuck with us for a long time.

Attention, Mercenaries,

We are aware of the issue that some Game Pass members are unable to access Operation Catalyst.

We are currently working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

We apologize for the inconvenience and we thank you for your patience and the feedback. pic.twitter.com/IeRj86Cq18

— CrossfireX (@PlayCrossfireX) February 10, 2022

Mr. Boo's developer update offered a more in-depth look at some of the issues currently afflicting players including how players were experiencing a random fluctuation of dead zones, input delay, acceleration instability, and aim dropping in their controllers; balance issues for the Boogieman kill streak; and issues where the CAR-4 ADS gun stopped the player aiming down sights while firing.

At launch CrossfireX's official Twitter page also spent time to address other issues players were encountering including long queue times, campaign availability on Xbox Game Pass, and more.

All of these will be addressed in patches coming soon according to Boo, but there's no word on when the other problems may be fixed.

CrossfireX was released on February 10 and headlined the games coming to Xbox Game Pass this month. You'll have to wait a bit longer for our official review, but in IGN's preview of the game's campaign we mentioned "CrossfireX doesn’t really seem to be bringing much to the table."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale.

It's been nearly 40 years since the release of Back to the Future, but the DeLorean remains cool as ever thanks to its beautiful industrial design and gull-wing doors. Now it's officially coming back, and it's going electric.

In a teaser revealed shortly before the Super Bowl, the DeLorean Motor Company teased the return of the iconic car. "The Future was never promised," the tweet reads. "Reimagine today."

The Future was never promised. Reimagine today.
Sign up for the premiere of the DeLorean in 2022.
https://t.co/K9n8D1s5uK#DeloreanEVolved#Delorean#Auto#ElectricVehicle#Luxury#BigGame pic.twitter.com/99HsGLCswb

— DeLorean Motor Company (@deloreanmotorco) February 13, 2022

It's accompanied by a 15 second video featuring the silhouette of the familiar gull-wing doors. The accompanying hashtags reveal that it will be an electric vehicle while suggesting that it will have a focus on luxury.

The announcement marks the return of the famous but short-lived car, which only lasted between 1981 and 1982. Cool as it looked with its stainless steel body, the DeLorean was infamous for being underpowered. The original DeLorean Motor Company went bust in 1982.

The DeLorean was already out of production by the time it made its debut in 1985's Back to the Future, but Robert Zemeckis' sci-fi hit made it instantly iconic among movie fans.

"The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?" Doc Brown famously asked Marty McFly before taking it for a test drive in the parking lot of the Twin Pines Mall (later the Lone Pine Mall).

It's unclear how faithful the new DeLorean will be to the original, though one assumes that it won't deviate too far from its classic design. It's set to debut sometime in 2022. With paradox-free time travel potentially being proven possible, maybe we can finally make Doc Brown's dream a reality.

While you wait, check out the Back to the Future screenwriter's answer to one of the film's most infamous plot holes, as well as our list of 20 actors who were replaced during their movie's production.