Monthly Archives: January 2020

England’s Top Mental Health Nurse: Games Push Kids to Gamble

England's top mental health nurse wants game publishers to restrict microtransaction sales to children because of its possible relation to gambling. Claire Murdoch, National Health Service England's mental health director, released a report that calls for "fair and realistic spending limits" on loot boxes and for gaming publishers to give consumers a "percentage chance they have of obtaining the items they want before they purchase." The report also called for some serious reckoning on behalf of the video game industry, calling for "the gaming industry to face up to responsibilities to protect players from potential harms" and "an industry levy to support independent research on long-term effects of gaming." “Frankly no company should be setting kids up for addiction by teaching them to gamble on the content of these loot boxes," Murdoch said. "No firm should sell to children loot box games with this element of chance, so yes those sales should end." Meanwhile, a U.S. senator introduces a bill to ban microtransaction sales to children. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/05/08/us-legislation-could-limit-loot-box-sales-to-children-ign-now"] The report from Murdoch wants gaming companies to do more about restricting younger players from playing games with a rating outside of their age range. It also mentions that half of U.K. parents let their children play a game with a mature rating without having seen any of the game themselves, and that there have been cases of children purchasing microtransactions without their parents' knowledge. This comes about three months after NHS opened a clinic for gaming addiction and less than a year after the World Health Organization announced that Gaming Disorder will be classified as a disease in 2022. Up to 15 new gambling clinics will be available in England to address people aged 13-25 who are struggling with mental health addiction in topics related to social media and video games. “Young people’s health is at stake, and although the NHS is stepping up with these new, innovative services available to families through our Long Term Plan, we cannot do this alone, so other parts of society must do what they can to limit risks and safeguard children’s wellbeing," Murdoch said. WHO announced plans in 2018 to make the first update in 26 years to the compendium of diseases so they can list "gaming disorder" and "hazardous gaming."  In August 2019, it was announced that Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft will work on new policies surrounding microtransactions. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/06/18/gaming-organizations-react-to-gaming-disorder-classification"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN.

Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories Gets a Release Date on Apple

Apple TV+ has revealed the release date and first look image for its upcoming anthology series Amazing Stories, which is set to premiere on the streamer on Friday, March 6, 2020. The announcement was made at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour in Pasadena. Amazing Stories is a reimagining of the 1985 series of the same name created by Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg. The iconic filmmaker will serve as an executive producer for the Apple TV+ show alongside showrunners Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. And just like the original show, each adventure will be a standalone episode with its own unique narrative. For a look at 34 shows we can't wait to watch in early 2020, click through the gallery below: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=midseason-tv-2020-34-shows-we-cant-wait-to-watch&captions=true"] The image below is from the episode titled "The Rift," one of five Amazing Stories episodes premiering on March 6. The episode is directed by Mark Mylod and stars Kerry Lynn Bishé, Whitney Coleman, Trisha Mashburn, Austin Stowell, Edward Burns, and Juliana Canfield. [caption id="attachment_228987" align="alignnone" width="720"]Amazing_IGN Kerry Lynn Bishé and Duncan Joiner[/caption] “Amazing Stories is a beloved show that has captured our imaginations, and we couldn’t be more excited to share its next thrilling iteration with a global audience of all ages,” said Matt Cherniss, head of development for Apple TV+. Additional cast members include Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner), Victoria Pedretti (You), Josh Holloway (Lost), Sasha Alexander (Shameless,) and in his final role before passing away last October, Robert Forster. Other episodic directors for the series include Chris Long (The Americans), Michael Dinner (Unbelievable),  Susanna Fogel (Utopia) and Sylvain White (Stomp The Yard). For a special behind-the-scenes look at Disney's new theme park ride, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, watch the video below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/09/star-wars-rise-of-the-resistance-disney-world-full-ridethrough"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He's also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.

Box Office: Bad Boys Bounce Back to Life While Dolittle Disappoints

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence proved that Bad Boys are indeed for life as the long-delayed third installment of the Bad Boys franchise, directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, raked in an impressive season $68.4 million dollars for its first four days (and $59 million for Fri-Sun). That's reportedly almost double what expectations were. As Deadline notes, Bad Boys for Life now holds the second best MLK weekend opening ever, behind 2014's American Sniper. Bad Boys for Life is also "Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes, garnering mostly positive reviews from critics. Our own review even called it an outrageous sequel "you'll likely love." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/15/bad-boys-for-life-review"] Meanwhile, Universal didn't manage to crawl out of the Cats-size hole they found themselves in over the holidays as Dolittle fizzled out slightly with second place and an estimated $30.6 million for the four-day weekend. It's not a terrible debut, but it's certainly not what the studio was hoping for given the $160-$175 million budget and Robert Downey Jr. as the headliner. Industry experts think the film might do okay in the end, but will it do well enough to launch the franchise Universal was hoping for? Dolittle, unlike Bad Boys for Life, has also been panned pretty hard by critics. It received a "3" from us and was labeled a "disastrous mess." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/15/dolittle-review"]

North American Box Office Estimates

1917 continued to ride high off the spoils of great reviews and earned awards, trailing only slightly behind Dolittle. After that it was Jumanji: The Next Level and Episode IX filling out the Top 5. Just Mercy stayed strong in its second week, barely dropping by much, pulling in $6 million for sixth place. Here are the Top 10 North American box office estimates for the (3-Day) weekend (via Box Office Mojo)
  • 1. Bad Boys for Life 59,175,000
  • 2. Dolittle $22,530,000
  • 3. 1917 $22,140,000
  • 4. Jumanji: The Next Level $9,565,000
  • 5. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker $8,374,000
  • 6. Just Mercy $6,000,000
  • 7. Little Women $5,910,000
  • 8. Knives Out $4,300,000
  • 9. Like a Boss $3,840,000
  • 10. Frozen 2 $3,717,000
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/10/bad-boys-for-life-exclusive-seatbelt-clip"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

The Witcher: How Yennefer’s Season 1 Story Was Created

After The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich decided that she was going to use Dunkirk as an inspiration for telling Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri's story all at once in Season 1, blending both the Geralt short stories and the "saga" elements of Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher books, she then knew an entire backstory needed to be crafted for Anya Chalotra's Yennefer. One the most recent Netflix Behind the Scenes podcast, Hissrich explained how Yennefer's first season arc had to be meticulously pieced together in the writers' room, based on very little from the early Geralt stories. When Yennefer is introduced in Sapkowski's pages, she's already a full-formed, powerful mage. Little else is known about her past. Readers knew that Yennefer was part of the Battle of Sodden Hill, which we saw take place in the Season 1 finale, but the rest of her "past" was mostly reflected in this passage from the short story "The Last Wish." "The witcher approached, watchful and silent. He saw her left shoulder, slightly higher than her right. Her nose, slightly too long. Her lips, a touch too narrow. Her chin, receding a little too much. Her brows a little too irregular. Her eyes . . . He saw too many details. Quite unnecessarily." "The are a couple of sentences in the books," Hissrich said. "Just a couple of sentences where she is reflecting on her past. Or where Geralt is surmising things about her past." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=midseason-tv-2020-34-shows-we-cant-wait-to-watch&captions=true"] "The writers and I culled through all of those sentences, pulled them together, and then crafted a story from them." Instead of relegating Yennefer's past to flashbacks, Hissrich decided to build out her entire timeline. "To me, for fans, I think it will be fun to watch Yennefer develop and say 'Oh, I recognize what was wrong with her before her transformation.' Or 'I recognize her reference to her abusive father.' But we actually get to see her abusive father. We actually get to see her experiences in her disabled body and to me that's the added bonus of being able to do this on television." For more on The Witcher, check out how The Night King crafted Geralt's battle against the Kikimora, Hissrich talking about the buzz surrounding Mark Hamill saying (joking) he'd play Vesemir in Season 2, and our full rundown of Season 1's timeline. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/18/how-much-does-the-witcher-know-about-the-witcher"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Producers Guild Awards 2020: All the Winners

The 31st Annual Producers Guild Awards were held this weekend with its top nominees including Golden Globe winners 1917, Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, Joker, Succession, Fleabag, and Chernobyl. 1917 took home the top prize for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Picture, beating out Joker, The Irishman, Knives Out, and more while Toy Story 4 picked up the equivalent trophy in the animated category. On the TV front, the big winners were Succession, Fleabag, and Chernobyl. Below you'll find a list rundown of all the major PGA awards that were handed out, the nominees, and the winners highlighted in bold red. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=midseason-tv-2020-34-shows-we-cant-wait-to-watch&captions=true"]

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

  • 1917, Producers: Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Jayne‐Ann Tenggren, Callum McDougall (WINNER)
  • Ford v Ferrari, Producers: Peter Chernin & Jenno Topping, James Mangold
  • The Irishman, Producers: Jane Rosenthal & Robert De Niro, Emma Tillinger Koskoff & Martin Scorsese
  • Jojo Rabbit, Producers: Carthew Neal, Taika Waititi
  • Joker, Producers: Todd Phillips & Bradley Cooper, Emma Tillinger Koskoff
  • Knives Out, Producers: Rian Johnson, Ram Bergma
  • Little Women, Producer: Amy Pascal
  • Marriage Story, Producers: Noah Baumbach, David Heyman
  • Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood, Producers: David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh, Quentin Tarantino
  • Parasite, Producers: Kwak Sin Ae, Bong Joon Ho

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

  • Abominable, Producer: Suzanne Buirgy
  • Frozen II, Producer: Peter Del Vecho
  • How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Producers: Bradford Lewis, Bonnie Arnold
  • Missing Link, Producers: Arianne Sutner, Travis Knight
  • Toy Story 4, Producers: Mark Nielsen, Jonas Rivera (WINNER)
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/12/1917-exclusive-clip"]

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Drama

  • Big Little Lies (Season 2) - Producers: David E. Kelley, Jean‐Marc Vallée, Andrea Arnold, Reese Witherspoon, Bruna Papandrea, Nicole Kidman, Per Saari, Gregg Fienberg, Nathan Ross, David Auge, Lauren Neustadter, Liane Moriarty
  • The Crown (Season 3) - Producers: Peter Morgan, Suzanne Mackie, Stephen Daldry, Andy Harries, Benjamin Caron, Matthew Byam Shaw, Robert Fox, Michael Casey, Andy Stebbing, Martin Harrison, Oona O Beirn
  • Game of Thrones (Season 8) - Producers: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Bernadette Caulfield, Frank Doelger, David Nutter, Miguel Sapochnik, Bryan Cogman, Chris Newman, Greg Spence, Lisa McAtackney, Duncan Muggoch
  • Succession (Season 2) - Producers: Jesse Armstrong, Adam McKay, Frank Rich, Kevin Messick, Mark Mylod, Jane Tranter, Tony Roche, Scott Ferguson, Jon Brown, Georgia Pritchett, Will Tracy, Jonathan Glatzer, Dara Schnapper, Gabrielle Mahon (WINNER)
  • Watchmen (Season 1) - Producers: TBD

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Comedy

  • Barry (Season 2) - Producers: Alec Berg, Bill Hader, Aida Rodgers, Liz Sarnoff, Emily Heller, Julie Camino, Jason Kim
  • Fleabag (Season 2) - Producers: Phoebe Waller‐Bridge, Harry Bradbeer, Lydia Hampson, Harry Williams, Jack Williams, Joe Lewis, Sarah Hammond (WINNER)
  • The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Season 3) - Producers: Amy Sherman‐Palladino, Daniel Palladino, Dhana Gilbert, Daniel Goldfarb, Kate Fodor, Sono Patel, Matthew Shapiro
  • Schitt’s Creek (Season 5) - Producers: Eugene Levy, Daniel Levy, Andrew Barnsley, Fred Levy, David West Read, Ben Feigin, Michael Short, Rupinder Gill, Colin Brunton
  • Veep (Season 7) -Producers: David Mandel, Frank Rich, Julia Louis‐Dreyfus, Lew Morton, Morgan Sackett, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, Jennifer Crittenden, Gabrielle Allan, Billy Kimball, Rachel Axler, Ted Cohen, Ian Maxtone‐Graham, Dan O’Keefe, Steve Hely, David Hyman, Georgia Pritchett, Erik Kenward, Dan Mintz, Doug Smith

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Limited Series Television

  • Chernobyl - Producers: Craig Mazin, Carolyn Strauss, Jane Featherstone, Johan Renck, Chris Fry, Sanne Wohlenberg (WINNER)
  • Fosse/Verdon - Producers: Thomas Kail, Steven Levenson, Lin‐Manuel Miranda, Joel Fields, George Stelzner, Sam Rockwell, Michelle Williams, Tracey Scott Wilson, Charlotte Stoudt, Nicole Fosse, Erica Kay, Kate Sullivan, Brad Carpenter
  • True Detective - Producers: TBD
  • Unbelievable - Producers: TBD
  • When They See Us - Producers: Jeff Skoll, Jonathan King, Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro, Berry Welsh, Oprah Winfrey, Ava DuVernay, Amy Kaufman, Robin Swicord

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures

  • American Son - Producers: TBD
  • Apollo: Missions to the Moon - Producers Tom Jennings, David Tillman, Abe Scheuermann, Chris Morcom, Rob Kirk (WINNER)
  • Black Mirror: Striking Vipers - Producers: TBD
  • Deadwood: The Movie - Producers: David Milch, Carolyn Strauss, Gregg Fienberg, Scott Stephens, Daniel Minahan, Ian McShane, Timothy Olyphant, Regina Corrado, Nichole Beattie, Mark Tobey
  • El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie - Producers: TBD

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television

  • 30 for 30 (Season 10) - Producers: TBD
  • 60 Minutes (Season 51, Season 52) - Producers: TBD
  • Leaving Neverland - Producers: TBD (WINNER)
  • Queer Eye (Season 3, Season 4) - Producers: David Collins, Michael Williams, Rob Eric, Jennifer Lane, Jordana Hochman, Rachelle Mendez, Mark Bracero
  • Surviving R. Kelly (Season 1) - Producers: TBD

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television

  • The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Season 25) - Producers: TBD
  • Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones - Producers: TBD
  • Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Season 6) - Producers: TBD (WINNER)
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (Season 5) - Producers: TBD
  • Saturday Night Live (Season 45) - Producers: TBD

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Game & Competition Television

  • The Amazing Race (Season 31) - Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Bertram van Munster, Jonathan Littman, Elise Doganieri, Mark Vertullo, Phil Keoghan
  • The Masked Singer (Season 1) - Producers: TBD
  • RuPaul’s Drag Race (Season 11) - Producers: TBD (WINNER)
  • Top Chef (Season 16) - Producers: Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz, Doneen Arquines, Casey Kriley, Tara Siener, Justin Rae Barnes, Blake Davis, Patrick Schmedeman, Wade Sheeler, Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi, Elida Carbajal Araiza, Brian Fowler, Caitlin Rademaekers, Steve Lichtenstein, Emily Van Bergen
  • The Voice (Season 16, Season 17) - Producers: John de Mol, Mark Burnett, Audrey Morrissey, Stijn Bakkers, Amanda Zucker, Kyra Thompson, Teddy Valenti, Kyley Tucker, Carson Daly
Plus, Apollo 11 won for Outstanding Producer of a Documentary, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee won for Short-Form Program, What's My Name: Muhammad Ali won for Sports Program, Sesame Street took home the prize for Children's Program, and Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series got the OGA Innovation Award. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/18/6-games-that-should-be-netflix-shows-up-at-noon"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Wait, THIS Was Who Ed Sheeran Played in Rise of Skywalker?

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which recently crossed a billion at the global box office, featured a ton of fun cameos - from Jodie Comer as Rey’s mother to composer John Williams as Kijimi bartender Oma Tres. We also know that singer Ed Sheeran, who previously guested on Game of Thrones as a Lannister soldier and played a role on FX's The Bastard Executioner, was in the film, with most assuming he played a Stormtrooper because he was seen wearing Stormtrooper armor in a Special Look video that was released back in November before the film's release. Oh My Disney has a different scoop about Sheeran's role in Episode IX however. After listing several Skywalker cameos and Easter eggs here, they put forth that this was Sheeran... Easter-Egg-7-1200x498 Pictured above is an unnamed Resistance alien. The only accompanying write up for the Sheeran entry is "We’re in love with the shape of you, Ed Sheeran alien." So was this a goof? Probably not since the Easter egg piece was shared by the official Star Wars Twitter account. Regardless, you can't see his face, so it wouldn't make a difference if he was under a Stormtrooper helmet or hiding under alien prosthetics. We also don't know who Matt Smith played. Or if Harry Styles was also hiding in plain site inside some armor or alien get up either. Disney has carved out release dates for three new Star Wars movies after The Rise of Skywalker. The first of these was to have been the first Weiss and Benioff film, coming on December 16, 2022. The other two dates are December 20, 2024, and December 18, 2026, though it's not clear if those dates belonged to the other Beinoff and Weiss movies or Rian Johnson's films or possibly a combination of both. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/15/star-wars-colin-trevorrows-episode-9-script-allegedly-leaks-ign-now"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Actually Teased Piccadilly Circus Attack Years Prior

2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, effectively a reboot of the Modern Warfare storyline that began in 2007, features an explosive early mission set in London’s Piccadilly Circus, a major traffic and pedestrian intersection. It’s essentially 2019’s Modern Warfare’s equivalent of the No Russian mission, a particularly violent stretch in which innocent civilians are caught in a massive terrorist attack. Well, it turns out that the events of Piccadilly Circus weren’t so unexpected, as a newspaper from Modern Warfare 2 actually described the event.

As shown in a Reddit post from user “NuclearFPS,” (as reported by Eurogamer), a newspaper clipping with the headline “Makarov Vows Revenge in Taped Message” and a picture of Picadilly Circus can be seen in mission 15 of Modern Warfare 2, “Loose Ends.” In the mission, you’re launching an attack on the house of villain Vladimir Makarov on the Georgia-Russian border, finding a wealth of intel on Makarov’s activities around the globe.

cod pic

The text of the newspaper clipping directly mentions a bombing in Piccadilly Circus. The clipping also details a statement from Makarov following the bombing, claiming the attack is revenge for “eliminating [Modern Warfare 1 antagonist] Imran Zakhaev.”

Another newspaper nearby continues the description of events.

"The explosion at Piccadilly Circus was heard for miles in every direction,” the paper reads. “Ryan Lastimosa, a tourist from the US, was watching the Changing of the Guard less than a mile away at Buckingham Palace when he heard a 'loud boom'. 'The ground shook so hard that we were practically thrown to the ground.' 59 injuries from falling debris alone were reported in the vicinity of the palace. Royal Marines stationed around the area responded in conjunction with local police, but no suspects were apprehended. The death toll continues to rise, as emergency workers dig through the rubble with the current count at 407. ‘The quantity of explosives was substantial but conventional in nature,' said a spokesperson for Interpol. 'The question is one of logistics - we are working on that at the moment. The transport of such a large quantity would have been prohibitive in that area.' Some have speculated that Makarov used a modified subway car in London's Underground packed with explosives, set to detonate on arrival at the heavily trafficked station in the heart of London."
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-ign-call-of-duty-review&captions=true"] While it directly mentions the Piccadilly bombing, the newspaper clip kind of messes with the established Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) timeline, as Zakhaev is shown to be alive and well by the end of the latest game’s campaign when it’s revealed that the events are effectively a prequel. It’s easy to imagine Infinity Ward likely combed through the three previous Modern Warfare games for narrative beats to help tie 2019’s Call of Duty back to its predecessors, albeit with some significant changes. There’s also the fact that 2019 COD’s Piccadilly attack was carried out by terrorists driving vans filled with explosives, while Modern Warfare 2’s newspapers say Makarov used a train tunnel. Regardless, fans wondering whether or not Activision and Infinity Ward will folllow the exact same campaign narrative as previous Modern Warfare games or spice things up have one more thing to theorize about now. In other Call of Duty news, to the surprise of no one, the FPS franchise claimed seven out of 10 spots of the highest selling games of the decade, according to the NPD. You can also still buy Modern Warfare’s “Outback Relief” pack to help raise money for Australia wildfire relief efforts. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

Rise of Skywalker Art Book Reveals Abandoned Plotlines and Characters

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers below: It appears that images from the official Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker art book have been uploaded to Twitter, and there are some similarities to the rumored Colin Treverrow "Duel of the Fates" screenplay. As first reported by Polygon, a "Reylo" fan account, @JadoreReyBen, has uploaded various pictures to Twitter of what appears to be a non-English edition of The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, an art book that won't be released in America until March 31. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/15/star-wars-colin-trevorrows-episode-9-script-allegedly-leaks-ign-now"] Pictures include various images of "Dark Rey", including one where she is standing next to a throne that Kylo Ren is sitting on. There's also an alien with multiple arms that bears resemblance to a character described in the leaked screenplay. A Reddit post detailing the leak describes the character, named Tor Valum, as a 7,000 year old Lovecraftian, "spindly" alien. The character is supposedly the mentor to Palpatine and was going to train Kylo Ren in the film. Take a look. If you're still a tad confused by the images above, read everything we know about Colin Treverrow's alleged Star Wars Episode 9 script. The Rise of Skywalker has just passed $1 billion in ticket sales. It may be a blockbuster, but Disney's Frozen II ended up as the biggest movie of the season. The animated sequel has amassed $1.37 billion at the box office. They are just two of 46 movies that have reached the billion dollar distinction. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=all-the-major-new-aliens-in-the-modern-star-wars-movies&captions=true"] For more Star Wars news, check out Taika Waititi's response to the rumor he has been approached about making his own Star Wars movie. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Petey Oneto is a freelance writer for IGN who saw Star Wars Episode IX in 4D and has no intention of seeing another 4D movie for a very, very long time.

Your TikTok Dance Could Become an Official Fortnite Emote

Epic Games has announced a partnership with TikTok that will give players a chance to create an official Fortnite dance emote. The contest, dubbed Emote Royale, is a spin on a previous event Fortnite hosted called the Boogiedown contest where players were encouraged to record themselves dancing and post it on social media with the hashtag boogiedown. Entering into the Emote Royale competition is very similar. Players will need to post a video on TikTok using the hashtag #EmoteRoyaleContest, showcasing their original Fortnite dance. At the end of the contest, Epic will select a winner and create an in-game emote based on their submission. Further, the winning dancer will also receive 25,000 V-Bucks and a Fortnite prize pack with over $400 in Fortnite toys and swag. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-most-addictive-online-games&captions=true"] Players must be 13 years or older to enter the contest, which begins today on January 18 and will run through January 24. Players must use a pre-selected Fortnite track in their submission, which can be downloaded on the official Epic Games website. The contest rules can be found on there as well. The contest kicked off with Jordan Fisher and Pokimane posting their very own Emotes on TikTok. Both Emotes will be available in the Item Shop soon. Epic recently announced its new Icon Series, which will be kicking off by partnering with popular Fortnite streamer Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins to bring a custom Ninja skin to the Item Shop. Throughout the coming weeks and months, Epic has announced that even more creators will be featured in its Icon Series. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/24/fortnite-split-screen-trailer"] While you're waiting to see if you won the Fortnite TikTok challenge, be sure to check out our Rippley vs. Sludge and 8-Ball vs. Scratch challenge guides. Additionally, be sure to keep an eye on our official Fortnite wiki page for news about Chapter 2: Season 2, which is expected to launch sometime in February. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Andrew Smith is a freelance contributor with IGN. Follow him on Twitter @_andrewtsmith.

Is This What Colin Farrell Will Look Like as Penguin in The Batman?

Coinciding with Zoe Kravitz debuting new short "Catwoman" hair for Matt Reeves’ The Batman at the TCA Winter Press Tour (where she was promoting Hulu's High Fidelity series), Colin Farrell has also surfaced with a new look. One that possibly gives us a sneak peek at his Oswald Cobblepot from the film. The star's photo was taken while he was out and about in Los Angeles last week grabbing coffee and as you can see, from (CLICK HERE) Daily Mail Celebrity, he's now sporting a slick, silver mane. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-batman-cast-every-actor-and-character&captions=true"] It was previously reported that The Batman would start filming January 13 in London. How do you all feel about this Cobblepot-ian look? Is this version of Penguin meant to have platinum hair, grey hair, or is Farrell prepping to dye it some other bolder color? Meanwhile, Kravitz, at the TCA Tour, said that she was really excited to dive into the "really strong femininity" of Selina Kyle. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/19/ranking-the-batman-movie-villains"] Kravitz and Farrell are part of an elite acting cast that includes Robert Pattinson as Batman, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon, and Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.