Monthly Archives: August 2019
Birds of Prey Hires John Wick Director to Punch Up Action Scenes
Expect Warner Bros.'s upcoming Birds of Prey movie to have some top-notch fight sequences.
John Wick director Chad Stahelski is coming on board in an uncredited role to oversee the second unit photography for Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) for additional shoots, designing new action sequences for the movie, The Hollywood Reporter reports. Here's everything you need to know about the new Birds of Prey movie.
Infinity Festival Lineup Announced, Including Lion King’s VFX Supervisor
The second annual Infinity Festival kicks off this November in Los Angeles, focusing its programming on "Story Advanced by Technology" by spotlighting everything from artificial intelligence and 5G to a keynote from The Lion King VFX supervisor Rob Legato.
Described as "Hollywood meets Silicon Valley," Infinity Festival stands at the intersection of tech and visual storytelling, focusing its programming around emerging tech with high-profile film screenings, tech exhibitions, industry-leading speakers, panel discussions and more. In 2019, the specific new technologies and trends spotlighted will include 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Vehicles, Blockchain, Cloud, Immersive, AR, VR, XR, Theatrical, TV, OTT, Gaming and Esports.
World of Warcraft Classic Already Has a Server Overpopulation Problem
World of Warcraft Classic may already be suffering from server overpopulation. At least according to Blizzard who analyzed the number of name reservations for Classic servers.
In a new blog post, World of Warcraft community manager Randy Jordan said that based on name reservations, which Blizzard opened up for World of Warcraft Classic earlier this month, “Herod realm is looking to be massively overpopulated.” World of Warcraft Classic isn’t even scheduled to launch until the end of the month.
Apex Legends Changes How to Earn Iron Crown Skins After Player Backlash
Respawn Entertainment is changing how legendary skins for the Apex Legends Iron Crown limited time event can be earned, after a massive outcry from players who say the current system is too punishing.
Apex Legends began its latest limited-time event, the Iron Crown, earlier this week. Along with the highly anticipated Solo mode, Iron Crown added a bunch of new legendary skins for each of its heroes. Unfortunately, the only way players can earn these skins are from loot boxes players had to purchase for 700 Apex Coins, or about $7 USD.
Pokemon Producer Junichi Masuda Competes With Psyduck at the World Championships
Long-time Pokemon producer and designer Junichi Masuda competed in the Pokemon Go Invitational, the very first official Pokemon Go tournament ever, at the Pokemon World Championships. Rather than outfit his team with the most powerful, commonly-seen competitive Pokemon, he brought his well-known favorite: Psyduck.
In his first battle against Poké AK, Masuda humorously (and un-strategically) seemed to save all three shields to keep his Psyduck alive as long as possible. Later in the best three out of five match-up, Masuda replaced Psyduck with another odd duck: Ludicolo. Poké AK took the match 3-0, and went on to finish the tournament at second place.
More popular Pokemon at the Pokemon Go Invitational included, for example, Skarmory, Altaria, Defense Deoxys, and Umbreon. Masuda did have an Umbreon, but the casters pointed out that, unfortunately, it lacked the Community Day exclusive move Last Resort, which may have made a difference in its performance.
Halo Infinite Creative Director Leaves 343 Industries
Halo Infinite’s creative director, Tim Longo, has left 343 Industries, Microsoft confirmed. Executive Producer Mary Olson will now lead the Campaign team for Halo Infinite, and 343 studio head Chris Lee remains overall the lead on the game’s overall vision.
Kotaku reported that Longo, who served as creative director on Halo 5, moved to a different role within 343 Industries last week, but left the company completely this week. Microsoft did not provide a reason for Longo’s departure, but wished him well in a statement provided to IGN.
IGN & Cyberpunk 2077 Cosplay Party at Pax West
IGN is proud to partner with CD Projekt Red to host a Cyberpunk 2077 Cosplay party at PAX West on Friday, August 30 at 8:00pm PST.
The party is 21+ and a PAX West badge is not required to attend. Each person can register for themselves at the Eventbrite page for tickets, but additional guests are not allowed without their own RSVP. Registration can be found here and attendees do not need to be cosplay contestants.
Find out all the details for the Cyberpunk Cosplay Contest, which numerous IGN talent will be judging, and have a shot at the $40,000 prize pool. A guide to Cyberpunk 2077 character outfits can be found among the details at the Cyberpunk website.
Mortal Kombat Movie Reboot Casts Its Liu Kang, Raiden, Jax & Mileena
A number of the bestselling video game franchise's classic characters have been cast in New Line Cinema's feature film reboot of Mortal Kombat.
Variety reports that Power Rangers and Black Mirror actor Ludi Lin has been cast as Liu Kang. Lin had recently been up for the role of Marvel's Shang-Chi, but lost out to Simu Liu.
And according to The Hollywood Reporter, MCU veteran Tadanobu Asano -- who played Hogun in the Thor movies -- is in negotiations to play Raiden. the god of thunder and the protector of Earthrealm.
Krypton Cancelled After Season 2, Lobo Spinoff Also Dead
Bad news for fans of the Superman prequel series Krypton. SyFy has canceled the series, along with the planned Lobo spinoff.
Both The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline are reporting the cancellation, which comes just two days after Krypton's Season 2 finale aired. Low ratings appear to be the culprit. As THR notes, average ratings for Season 2 clocked in at a mere 408,000 viewers, a significant drop from Season 1's 1.8 million average.
That's a disappointing turn of events for a series that was initially a strong performer for SyFy. The network announced the Season 2 renewal last May, calling Krypton: Season 1 the most-watched season for any scripted series on Syfy since 2015's Defiance. Unfortunately, that momentum doesn't seem to have carried over to Season 2.
Mindhunter’s Charles Manson Actor Also Played Him in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
The newly released Mindhunter: Season 2 has an unexpected connection to the recent Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Both projects feature actor Damon Herriman playing the role of infamous cult leader Charles Manson.
Herriman spoke about the odd coincidence on an episode of the podcast Back to One (via IndieWire). He said that he filmed his role in Mindhunter before appearing in Tarantino's project. And because the two projects take place several decades apart (Mindhunter in the 1980's and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 1969), Herriman said the experience was essentially like playing two different characters.