Monthly Archives: August 2015
Fantastic 4 Aint’ No Thing at the Weekend Box Office
Marvel's First Family couldn't overcome blistering reviews, months of bad publicity, and its own director's troublemaking tweet as Fantastic Four opened well below expectations this weekend.
20th Century Fox's reboot had initially been projected to open in first place with anywhere from $30-$40 million, but instead settled for a second place bow with an estimated $26.2 million.
The superhero movie, which reportedly cost at least $120 million to produce plus tens of millions more to market, will surely need to prove fantastic at the international box office if it's to not prove a sizable bomb for the studio.
Game of Thrones-Loving Lawyer Demands Trial by Combat
Staten Island attorney Richard Luthmann has requested the New York State Supreme Court allow him to settle a court case in a fight to the death.
According to The Wrap, Luthmann, a self-proclaimed fan of the HBO series Game of Thrones, has been accused of aiding a client in fraud. As means to solve the dispute, he has requested to resolve the matter in a "Trial By Combat."
David Fincher Leaves HBO Series Over Budget Battles
David Fincher has parted ways with HBO on the potential new series, Utopia.
According to Deadline, Fincher and HBO couldn't come to an agreement on the budget for the show, and as such, the director has stepped aside from the remake of the British series.
Utopia's cast, which reportedly included the likes of Rooney Mara, Dallas Roberts, Jason Ritter, Colm Feore, Eric McCormack, Brandon Scott, and Agyness Deyn, had allegedly been rehearsing for nearly a month while Fincher was battling with HBO over the show's budget.
Dota 2: The International 5’s $6.6 Million Winner Crowned
Evil Geniuses has won the fifth Dota 2 International Championships. The best-of-five Grand Finals series ended 3-1, with EG taking home more than $6.6 million.
CDEC -- a dark horse that rose out of the qualifier stage -- took on the American favorite Evil Geniuses in the Grand Finals best-of-five series. CDEC won the Upper Bracket after knocking EG down to the Lower Bracket, where EG won its finals series against LGD Gaming 2-0, securing its place in the TI5 Grand Finals.
Last year's winner, Newbee, was the first team eliminated from TI5. Following the elimination of Invictus Gaming and Na'vi, it was guaranteed we'd see a new Dota 2 champ in 2015.
TCA Award Winners: Better Call Saul, Jon Hamm, More
The Television Critics Association honored the top programs and actors of the 2014-2015 television season tonight, at the 31st Annual TCA Awards presentation.
Hosted by James Corden, host of CBS' The Late Late Show, the TCA Awards ceremony was held at the Beverly Hills Hilton hotel. The results were determined from votes cast by the TCA’s membership, comprised of more than 220 professional TV critics and journalists from the United States and Canada. FOX's freshman hit Empire took home the prize for Program of the Year while AMC's Breaking Bad spinoff/prequel Better Call Saul nabbed Outstanding New Program.
Bob Odenkirk and Michael Mando in Better Call Saul.
The Strain: Is a Notable Book Character on Their Way?
Up until the Season 2 premiere of FX's The Strain, savvy viewers who had read the books were led to believe that Guillermo del Toro's Quinlan character had arrived. However, in the episode "BK, N.Y.", it was revealed that Stephen McHattie's character was in fact a Strigoi hunter named Vaun. It was such a big smokescreen that even McHattie's IMDB page lists the actor as having played both roles.
But with Vaun's well-being now up in the air following last week's attack and a clip from FX's TCA presentation on Friday showcasing a quick peek at another unidentified, sallow-faced type vampire hunter, now seems like a prime time for Quinlan to make his big appearance.
"We felt it would be a fun mislead for people who knew the books that Stephen McHattie was Quinlan when in fact he was actually Vaun," showrunner Carlton Cuse told IGN in a scrum following the TCA panel. "It also makes it feel like Quinlan would be more formidable if we introduced a guy who seems pretty bad ass and then discover that Quinlan is even more badass."
Sense8 Renewed for Season 2 by Netflix
Sense8, the Netflix original series from Andy and Lana Wachowski, is getting a second season.
The popular video-streaming service announced the news in a post on Twitter, which features a short video of the show's cast confirming its renewal.
Birthdays are just the beginning. #sense8 is reborn. https://t.co/tmMV66gKhm
— Netflix US (@netflix) August 8, 2015
Fargo EP Talks Bruce Campbell as Ronald Reagan
Fargo, one of the most critically acclaimed shows of 2014, returns for its second season on FX this October 12th.
So how does one try to top (or match) the excellence of Season 1? Which not only lovingly (and perfectly) emulated the locale, look, and tone of the superb award-winning Coen Brothers film, but also stood as a close-ended story? Well, you take things back to the 1970s and center the story around Molly Solverson's father, Lou (now played by Patrick Wilson). As well as a cast of colorful cops and crooks played by the likes of Ted Danson, Jeffrey Donovan, Bokeem Woodbine, Jean Smart, Brad Garrett, Kirsten Dunst, and Jesse Plemons.
Creator/showrunner Noah Hawley appeared with the cast during FX's presentation at the TCA Press Tour to answer questions about the upcoming second season. One of them being, would the show, if a Season 3 ever came about, always need to branch off from an existing character?
Everything You Need to Know About the Need for Speed Reboot
Even though Need for Speed has been around for over 20 years, it’s hard to really say what the series is about. Some entries differ so much it’s hard to latch onto common elements – sometimes street racing has been at the fore, other times there’s been an emphasis on storytelling, evading the cops or even catching criminals. It’s been a lot of different things, and that's the motivation behind this year's installment.
The lack of a subtitle is actually a statement: Need for Speed is a resetting of the clock, an opportunity to look at what has worked in the past and say these are the foundations going forward. So what lies at the base of the new game?
Rayman Creator Designs a Super Mario Maker Level
Michel Ancel, the designer behind Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil, has created a Mario level that could potentially be one of the 60 pre-made levels for Super Mario Maker.
Nintendo France uploaded a video on their YouTube account which shows the famed French developer go hands-on with Super Mario Maker. As such, the video is in French, but it is still fascinating to watch Ancel using his expertise to design a Mario level. He even pulled out graph paper to brainstorm various level design ideas.
According to Perfectly Nintendo's translation, the Rayman creator has played games featuring the mustachioed Italian plumber since Donkey Kong, but his first "true" Mario game was Mario Land on the Game Boy. Ancel claims that he likes Mario's simplicity and that "as a level designer, one of the most interesting for him is to find out is just how much you can do with a limited number of elements."