Two of the biggest names in horror are about to team up, but no, not Freddy and Jason. James Wan and Jason Blum are reportedly in “advanced” talks to merge their production companies Atomic Monster and Blumhouse.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming merger would see the two companies continue to operate as separate labels, with each “maintaining its own creative autonomy and brand identity”.

Between them, Wan and Blum have been responsible for some of the biggest modern horror franchises, including Saw, Paranormal Activity, The Conjuring, and Sinister.

Also following the merger, Atomic Monster would gain a first-look deal with Universal, which Blumhouse has currently. Universal recently released Halloween Ends for Blumhouse and is also distributing M3GAN, a film that Wan and Blum teamed up on about an overprotective AI doll that goes on a bloody rampage to keep its child owner safe.

It’s also reported that both labels will be looking to expand further into video games, live experiences, and even audio. Wan has already seen his movies become Halloween-themed attractions and VR experiences, while Blumhouse is a part of Meta and NBCUniversal’s collaboration to bring existing franchises into the metaverse.

The pair first teamed up for the 2007 film Insidious, which spawned several sequels and is still, somewhere, in line for a potential crossover with Sinister – mashing together two of the scariest horror films of all time (and that’s been proven by science).

Want to read more about horror? Check out our 25 best horror movies of all time as well as the newest horror movies to watch following a terrifying Halloween.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Deep Silver has once again delayed Dead Island 2 and the game will now be released on April 28 next year.

Announced on the Dead Island Twitter (below), the delay from February 3 at least only marks a 12 week delay compared to the several years it's been since Dead Island 2's initial release window of spring 2015.

No specific reason for the delay was given so it appears developer Dambuster Studios simply needed more time, though it said it understands the irony in delaying Dead Island 2 again.

The delay is just 12 short weeks and development is on the final straight now. The new release date for Dead Island 2 will be April 28th 2023.#DeadIsland #SeeYouInHELLA pic.twitter.com/Vf1NARTECo

— Dead Island (@deadislandgame) November 17, 2022

"The irony of delaying Dead Island 2 is not lost on us and we are as disappointed as you undoubtedly are," it said in a joint statement with publisher Deep Silver. "The delay is just 12 short weeks and development is on the final straight now.

"We're going to take the time we need to make sure we can launch a game we're proud to launch. For those of you who've been waiting for years, thank you for hanging in there with us."

A new trailer and gameplay video will be released on December 6 during a Dead Island 2 Showcase, which is set to be the first proper look at the game fans have had since it was re-revealed after years of troubled development in August 2022.

Dead Island 2 was revealed at E3 2014 but soon went quiet before "mutual differences" separated previous developer Yager from Deep Silver. It was then moved to Sumo Digital before being shifted again in 2019 to its (presumably) final home of Dambuster Studios.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Fede Alvarez's upcoming Alien movie may have found the next brave soul going head-to-head with a Xenomorph.

According to Deadline, Cailee Spaeny is in talks to star in the next Allien movie, following in the tradition of Sigourney Weaver, Noomi Rapace, and Katherine Waterston who have all starred in Alien movies over the years.

Spaeny is best known for her role as Erin McMenamin in HBO’s Mare of Easttown, and she will also be starring as Priscilla Presley in Sofia Coppola’s adaptation of the memoir Elvis and Me.

The new Alien movie is coming to Hulu and has apparently personally garnered the attention of Ridley Scott himself. According to Alvarez, he pitched his Alien idea to Scott, and years later, Scott called Alvarez asking if he still wanted to make it.

According to Deadline, Scott’s company Scott Free and 20th Century made Alvarez’s Alien idea a “top priority,” though details about the plot or characters haven’t been announced. Though there will presumably be a Xenomorph or two.

Alvarez is best known as the director of the Evil Dead reboot as well as the original film Don’t Breathe. He also wrote the story of the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You can read our Don’t Breathe review here which was one of the strongest original horror ideas to hit theaters in a long while.

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

Super Mario Bros. star John Leguizamo isn’t a fan of the new Super Mario casting.

During an interview with IndieWire, the former Luigi actor complained about the upcoming movie’s lack of diversity compared to the 1993 film.

“The directors Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton fought really hard for me to be the lead because I was a Latin man, and [the studio] didn’t want me to be the lead,” he said. “They fought really hard, and it was such a breakthrough. For them to go backwards and not cast another [actor of color] kind of sucks.”

The Super Mario Bros. Movie cast was unveiled back in September last year, with Chris Pratt famously taking the iconic role of Mario.

He’s joined by Charlie Day as Luigi, as well as Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. Additionally, Kevin Michael Richardson will voice Kamek, Fred Armisen will voice Cranky Kong, and Sebastian Maniscalco will voice Foreman Spike.

Leguizamo has since slammed the casting as “all white”.

“So glad #SuperMarioBros is getting a reboot!” he said (via Daily Mail). “Obviously, it's iconic [enough]. But too bad they went all white! No Latinx in the leads! Ground-breaking color-blind casting in original! Plus, I'm the only one who knows how to make this movie work script-wise!”

Whether or not you agree with Leguizamo, the new animated Mario unveiled its first official trailer recently, with some fans disappointed by Mario’s voice.

“Chris Pratt saying he worked so hard on the Mario voice only for it to sound like Chris Pratt is the funniest thing,” said one Twitter user.

Despite this, the trailer was generally well received, with plenty of interest in Mario’s latest big-screen adventure.

Back in 1993, Leguizamo starred alongside Bob Hoskins in the live-action Super Mario Bros. movie and now claims that fans of the popular video game franchise aren’t on board with the new movie.

“I’m O.G. A lot of people love the original,” he said. “I did Comic-Con in New York and in Baltimore, and everyone’s like, ‘No, no, we love the old one, the original.’ They’re not feeling the new one. I’m not bitter. It’s unfortunate.”

I’m not sure that’s quite accurate… but there’s no denying that the original Super Mario Bros. movie is… err… memorable, to say the least.

Want to read more about The Super Mario Bros. Movie? Check out more of Jack Black’s Bowser voice as well as our first glimpse of the film’s very own Princess Peach.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

After announcing Discord integration on Xbox a few months back, Microsoft officially released the Xbox November update, allowing Xbox owners to connect to a Discord voice channel using their console.

The feature is a welcome addition for Xbox owners, as users previously needed to transfer their Discord voice call from the app (desktop or mobile) onto their Xbox Series X/S or Xbox One. Thanks to the new update, this additional step is no longer required.

Noise suppression in Discord Voice has also been introduced thanks to the new update, meaning you can enable the feature to block background noises that may obstruct your Discord voice call, like a dog barking or you typing away on a keyboard. However, the feature is only available on Xbox Series X/S consoles.

In addition to making it easier to connect to a Discord voice call, Microsoft announced today that the new Xbox November update introduces a new Captures app that has improved how you playback, edit, and manage gameplay captured from your console.

The update can be downloaded free on Xbox consoles.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Streets of Rage is coming to the silver screen.

Lionsgate has acquired the motion picture rights for the Sega game, opening the door for a film adaptation of the popular franchise. Derek Kolstad, who has previously written John Wick and all of its sequels, will write and produce the adaptation.

Streets of Rage centers around a group of ex-cops who weaponize their fists in deadly fashion to take on a dangerous crime syndicate. Alongside Kolstad, Sega’s Toru Nakahara and dj2 Entertainment’s Dmitri M. Johnson, Timothy I. Stevenson and Dan Jevons will produce the film. Nakahara, who produced the first two Sonic the Hedgehog movies to massive box office success, is overseeing the project for Sega alongside Shuji Utsumi.

Streets of Rage was one of the most popular videogame franchises of the ’90s, and Sega published three games between 1991 and 1994. In 2020, the long-awaited fourth game in the series was released to greaat reviews, earning a 7/10 by IGN.

For Kolstad, working on a project such as this is a childhood dream. "When Dmitri first mentioned the idea of cracking a Streets of Rage movie, I was so immediately freaking in," he said in a statement. "And to play with Sega? The 10-year-old me is still grinning.”

Johnson echoes Kolstad's intense love for the franchise. "I’ve wanted to make a Streets of Rage film since I was 12 years old," he added. "This has shaped up to become a ‘dream project’ alongside a ‘dream team.’"

The Streets of Rage adaptation is also produced by Escape Artists’ Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Tony Shaw. Lionsgate is also helming an upcoming film adaptation of Borderlands from horror director Eli Roth.

Carson Burton is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @carsonsburton.

Sony's Santa Monica Studio may have just shipped God of War: Ragnarok but it seemingly has no plans to slow down thanks to multiple projects in the works.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Santa Monica's creative director Cory Barlog said the studio is currently "spread out on a lot of different things," presumably including the project he moved to after leaving God of War.

It's unclear exactly what these projects are, however, as Barlog refused to give anything away. Santa Monica also has an external development team that publishes third party games (like Hohokum and Twisted Metal) so these could also be included in the projects mentioned..

That being said, Santa Monica has over 200 employees, and though the majority of these were likely working on Ragnarok, the long-awaited sequel was completed around a month ahead of its launch on November 9.

Given this was only last week, Santa Monica is yet to announce what it's working on next, but it's likely to have at least one or two major game projects in the works.

One such game could be the next God of War, though Santa Monica has been very clear that the Norse saga that began in 2018's iteration has concluded with Ragnarok.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "God of War: Ragnarok is an almighty achievement and creates a new high that makes many of its peers look mortal by comparison."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Netflix has launched a new feature that will make it easier for you to kick your ex – or any other unwanted users – off your account.

The "Manage Access and Devices" feature allows members to view recent devices that have streamed from their account and remotely log out of specific devices to instantly terminate access.

An image provided by Netflix shows that the new feature lists the device that was used along with the name of the user, the location of the device, and details of the last time it accessed the account.

Netflix ascribed the rollout of the new feature to the fast-approaching festive season because more people will be "on the move" and accessing their Netflix accounts from different devices and locations.

"With the busy holiday season just around the corner, many of our members will be on the move and watching Netflix wherever they are traveling to see family and friends," reads the announcement. "Logging in to your account while at a hotel or even your friend’s house is easy and intuitive, but occasionally people forget to log out."

The new security feature has been added to the Account Settings menu on Netflix and is now available to all members around the world, whether they're accessing the streaming service on the web, iOS or Android.

This comes as Netflix attempts to clamp down on account sharing. Its ad-supported tier launched on November 3 and is testing out a profile transfer feature that allows users to transfer history, saved games, lists, and other settings to another account.

A recent earnings report suggested Netflix's "thoughtful approach" to account sharing will begin to roll out more broadly in early 2023.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

WizKids has reavealed the next collectible in its line of life-sized statues, the next entry in its "Familiars" line (following the debut Quasit demon earlier this year).

The new is a Pseudodragon. The creature is a popular choice of magical familiar for mages - afterall, who wouldn't want a dragon that's roughly the size (and in some cases, temperment) of a housecat?

According to WizKids, the Pseudodragons - curled up in a cozy ball and ready to doze on any mantle, bookshelf, or coffee table - is roughly 14 inches long and molded out of latex and soft foam. The statue is set to release in March of 2023 and is currently available for pre-order from WizKids (DnDmini.com) and on Amazon for $99.99.

If an adorable dragonkin familiar isn't for you, we've got a bunch of recommendations for the best D&D gifts this holiday season (with plenty of other great TRPGs in there, too!), or you can check out everything we know so far about next year's D&D movie, Honor Among Thieves.

JR is a Senior Producer at IGN, you can follow him on Twitter for more video games and tabletop RPG shenanigans.

Microsoft's streaming-only Xbox console, codenamed Project Keystone, was put on hold because it was too expensive to produce.

Speaking to The Verge (and spotted by VGC), Xbox boss Phil Spencer said Microsoft couldn't create a streaming-only console it could sell for a cheap enough price. Spencer hoped to sell Project Keystone for around $99 to $129, and even though Microsoft takes a hit on every console it sells, the streaming-only machine simply cost too much.

"The console we built that people have seen, Keystone, was more expensive than we wanted it to be when we actually built it out with the hardware that we had inside," Spencer said. "We decided to focus that team’s efforts on delivering the smart TV streaming app."

Especially as Xbox already offers a cheaper next generation console in the Series S, which retails for $299 compared to the Series X's $499, Spencer said Microsoft would need to sell Project Keystone for significantly cheaper to make it a viable option for customers.

"I don’t want to announce pricing specifically, but I think you’ve got to be $129, $99, somewhere in there for that to make sense in my view," he said.

Xbox has doubled down on its initiative to make gaming as available and accessible as possible, moving the option to play "on Xbox" beyond consoles by also including PC, mobile, the aforementioned smart TV app, and so on.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.