Monthly Archives: October 2015
Disney Planning Movie Based on Tower of Terror Ride
Tower of Terror, the iconic Disney theme park ride, will be getting a film adaptation.
According to Deadline, Big Fish writer John August is set to produce the film with Jim Whitaker, after the pair developed a concept Disney took a liking to. The studio is currently search of a suitable writer to pen the script.
The movie's plot will center around five people who disappear in a fancy hotel elevator after the building is struck by lighting. For those unfamiliar, the actual theme park ride is themed after Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone and set within the confines of a hotel elevator that drops rapidly. The film won't contain the Twilight Zone tie-in.
The Shining Hotel Planning to Open Horror Museum
The Stanley Hotel, which inspired the iconic Overlook Hotel featured in Stephen King's classic 1977 literary work The Shining, has plans to construct a horror museum.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Colorado hotel is looking to build a facility called the Stanley Film Center, which houses not only the aforementioned horror-themed museum, but also a film archive and production studio.
The hotel wants this new facility to serve as "year-round horror destination" that features an auditorium and film exhibits, as well as a sound stage and space for editing and post-production. Additionally, there are plans to partner with the Colorado Film School for educational endeavors.
343 Clarifies Comments Regarding Halo 5 on PC
After causing quite a stir by suggesting Halo 5 could come to PC, 343 Industries franchise director Frank O'Connor has taken to social media to reiterate that there are currently no plans to release the game for Windows 10.
In a post on Twitter, O'Connor explained that he's been giving the same "noncommittal" response for years when asked if the franchise might come to PC, and this time it's no different.
@FHal0_ I didn't "mention" it, I was asked a question and gave the same noncommittal answer I've been giving to that question for ten years.
Batman: Arkham Knight PC Re-Release Date Announced
Batman: Arkham Knight returns to Steam on October 28, Warner Bros. Games has announced.
In a post on Steam, the publisher confirmed the game will be re-released for PC this coming Wednesday at 10am PT. A patch featuring all of the latest content, aside from console exclusives, will launch at that time as well.
"We want to give particular thanks to the members of the PC community who took the time to give us clear, detailed feedback and bug reporting," Warner Bros. said.
Batman: Arkham Knight faced a troubled PC launch earlier this year, forcing Warner Bros. to pull the game from sale. It's taken several months, but it looks like Warner Bros. has finally remedied the game's performance problems in time for its return to sale next week.
Ukranians Turn Statue of Lenin Into Darth Vader
With the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens fast approaching, the people of Odessa, Ukraine have transformed its statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin into Darth Vader.
According to ABC News, the Sith Lord is a popular character among the Ukrainian people as the nation seeks to erase its Soviet-dominated past. When a law passed in April ordered all symbols and insignia of communist party rule in the country be removed, modeling the statue after Anakin Skywalker instead proved to be a no-brainer.
"After the de-communisation law was adopted earlier this year, we had to decide what to do with the monument
The Raid Remake Loses Director, Studio and Taylor Kitsch
The remake of The Raid just had two big losses: director Patrick Hughes is no longer involved in the project, and neither is leading man Taylor Kitsch.
According to Tracking Board, The Expendables 3 director is no longer helming the film. On top of that, Screen Gems is reportedly out as well, leaving XYZ Films to serve as the sole production company attached to the project.
The upcoming remake will be based on the 2011 original, which tells the story of an elite SWAT team tasked with raiding the safe house of an infamous drug lord. While this new take on The Raid will follow the original's plot, reports claim it will be set in a near-future Malaysia.
Depp May Star in Edgar Wright’s Neil Gaiman Movie
Johnny Depp and director Edgar Wright are reportedly pairing up to bring Neil Gaiman's Fortunately, the Milk to the big screen.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox is currently in early negotiations to acquire the rights to adapt Gaiman's 2014 children's book, with Wright set to direct and Depp to star and produce with Animal Logic Entertainment.
J.R.R. Tolkien-Annotated Map of Middle-earth Found
A map of Middle-earth with annotations by J.R.R. Tolkien has been discovered in a copy of The Lord of the Rings.
According to The Guardian, the map was discovered in a copy of the book owned by illustrator Pauline Baynes. Baynes was referencing in her own work on the map for a 1970 edition of the book, and Tolkien corrected place names and provided Baynes with suggestions about plants and animals on the map. He also made sure to note Hobbiton "is assumed to be approx at latitude of Oxford" in England, where Tolkien was a professor.
Mark Millar Returns to Marvel With New Book “Empress”
Mark Millar is returning to Marvel. The Kick-Ass creator is teaming with artist Stuart Immonen to bring out Empress under Marvel's Icon imprint.
Millar will own the series, which he describes as a "big, fun, bombastic space opera." It's planned for a start in April, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and will have three arcs of six issues.
Empress will focus on the wife of a galactic dictator who flees her husband and travels with her three children back to her homeworld. Her homeworld is Earth, but Earth 65 million years ago.
Under his Millarworld banner, Millar will team up again with Sean Gordon Murphy for Chrononauts 2: Futureshock, scheduled for July 2016, and also is working on two other creator-owned projects, according to Newsarama. One project will be with Jae Lee, and the other will Greg Capullo.
We Paid a Guy to Play a Bunch of N-Gage Games
Nokia's ill-fated N-Gage was, and still is, a weird little gadget to behold. An awkward halfway house between mobile phone and handheld gaming system, the taco-shaped handset was undeniably a mobile gaming trailblazer – albeit one with horrible controls and bewildering design choices. Nokia’s early emphasis on mobile gaming was spot-on, but virtually every other decision the Finnish company made regarding the device was a comedy of errors.
I was a proud N-Gage owner back in the day, and I decided to dig it out to see how it stands up in 2015 – 10 years on from its official discontinuation. I managed to track down and playtest 28 of the N-Gage’s 58 released games, all for your entertainment. Pray for me.