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Monthly Archives: May 2020

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‘Make Solo 2 Happen’ Fan Campaign Demands Star Wars Sequel

It’s apparently a banner month for fan campaigns making their movie dreams come true. While DC fans are (eventually) getting the Snyder Cut and (hoping for) an Ayers cut of Suicide Squad, fans of Solo: A Star Wars Story are clamoring to “#MakeSolo2Happen,” and they’re picking up some steam.

Fans took to Twitter this Memorial Day weekend to share their hopes for a sequel to the Han Solo origin story, pining for the return of cast members like Emilia Clarke’s Qi’ra, Darth Maul, and Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian.

Here's artist Matt Ferguson, who created a couple of official posters for Solo, chiming in with his support. One fan even went so far as to dress up his family in shirts reading "Make Solo 2 Happen" in classic Star Wars font. The "Make Solo 2 Happen" campaign, including the T-shirts appearing in multiple tweets, appears to have started with The Resistance Broadcast, a podcast from the Star Wars News Net fan site. They also happen to be selling sweatshirts and mugs with the same fan campaign logo. Solo fans may have their work cut out for them, considering Solo only made a total of $392 million worldwide at the box office. With a budget of $275,000,000, it fell short of expectations on its opening weekend, grossing a domestic box office of $83 million at the time. Still big numbers, but remarkably unimpressive compared to The Last Jedi's $1.3 billion worldwide gross, The Rise of Skywalker's $1 billion worldwide gross. Even Rogue One, the first of the offshoot Star Wars movies, grossed a little over $1 billion worldwide. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/05/23/solo-cast-takes-the-ultimate-han-solo-star-wars-quiz"] As of April 2020, Solo screenwriter Jon Kasdan says he doesn't expect Disney to pursue a sequel to Solo, calling it a "tough sell." Disney CEO Bob Iger decided to slow the pace of production on Star Wars films following Solo's lackluster performance.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/nerf herder for IGN.

Posted in Uncategorized

‘Make Solo 2 Happen’ Fan Campaign Demands Star Wars Sequel

It’s apparently a banner month for fan campaigns making their movie dreams come true. While DC fans are (eventually) getting the Snyder Cut and (hoping for) an Ayers cut of Suicide Squad, fans of Solo: A Star Wars Story are clamoring to “#MakeSolo2Happen,” and they’re picking up some steam.

Fans took to Twitter this Memorial Day weekend to share their hopes for a sequel to the Han Solo origin story, pining for the return of cast members like Emilia Clarke’s Qi’ra, Darth Maul, and Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian.

Here's artist Matt Ferguson, who created a couple of official posters for Solo, chiming in with his support. One fan even went so far as to dress up his family in shirts reading "Make Solo 2 Happen" in classic Star Wars font. The "Make Solo 2 Happen" campaign, including the T-shirts appearing in multiple tweets, appears to have started with The Resistance Broadcast, a podcast from the Star Wars News Net fan site. They also happen to be selling sweatshirts and mugs with the same fan campaign logo. Solo fans may have their work cut out for them, considering Solo only made a total of $392 million worldwide at the box office. With a budget of $275,000,000, it fell short of expectations on its opening weekend, grossing a domestic box office of $83 million at the time. Still big numbers, but remarkably unimpressive compared to The Last Jedi's $1.3 billion worldwide gross, The Rise of Skywalker's $1 billion worldwide gross. Even Rogue One, the first of the offshoot Star Wars movies, grossed a little over $1 billion worldwide. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/05/23/solo-cast-takes-the-ultimate-han-solo-star-wars-quiz"] As of April 2020, Solo screenwriter Jon Kasdan says he doesn't expect Disney to pursue a sequel to Solo, calling it a "tough sell." Disney CEO Bob Iger decided to slow the pace of production on Star Wars films following Solo's lackluster performance.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/nerf herder for IGN.

Posted in Uncategorized

Suicide Squad Director’s Cut Would Be ‘Easy to Complete,’ Says David Ayer

Suicide Squad director David Ayer says that a director’s cut of his DC universe movie would be “easy to complete.” The comment stands in contrast to the news of the infamous “Snyder Cut” of Justice League releasing in 2021 and costing $20 - $30 million.

Ayer made the comments in a tweet Monday, responding to a Collider editor asking why DC didn’t release his cut of Suicide Squad on a service like HBO Max.

“This is a good question,” Ayer responded. “My cut would be easy to complete. It would be incredibly cathartic for me. It’s exhausting getting your ass kicked for a film that got the Edward Scissorhands treatment. The film I made has never been seen.”

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-dceu-movie-review-score&captions=true"]

Ayer made similar comments about other footage cut from or left in Suicide Squad. When asked about a scene from a trailer featuring Katana’s eyes being suddenly filled with a murky black liquid, Ayer said he’d filmed a scene where Enchantress uses a tendril to take over Katana and attack her allies.

Ayer also seemingly criticized the cuts that were made to Suicide Squad for ignoring some of the fundamentals of good storytelling and editing.

 “Good screenwriting means complete arcs culminating with some kind of closure for each main character,” Ayer said. “It’s not rocket science. When you cut the joists the building sags.”

Ayer says that the “only battle I won” was keeping in a bit where the character Diablo references that he’s killed women and children.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-actor-and-character-confirmed-for-dcs-the-suicide-squad&captions=true"]

“It was the only battle I won,” Ayer said. “Decision makers were allergic to Diablo killing his family. Look at my films - death, guilt, redemption and emancipation from toxic relationships are themes I explore as a filmmaker. The human soul is beautiful and complex.”

Ayer added that an impressive shot of Enchantress’ hand gripping June Moon and transforming her was his idea, and that he had more footage fleshing out their relationship.

 

With the news of Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League being revived, some DC fans have taken to calling for a similar director’s cut of Suicide Squad, which was originally supposed to end with a different villain and a much bigger Justice League connection. Ayer appears to still hold some complicated feelings on the matter, given how open he’s been to commenting on the difficult process of getting Suicide Squad to theaters.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/06/david-ayer-says-much-of-jared-letos-joker-remains-unseen"]

Ayer responded to fan questions about cut footage of Jared Leto’s Joker, saying that his “heart breaks” for the actor that much of his work never made it into the theatrical release. Leto himself also said in 2016 that a large amount of Joker footage never made it into the film.

Some fans have sinced started the hashtag “#ReleaseTheAyerCut,” a direct parallel to the “#ReleaseTheSnyderCut” that eventually got its way. It’s possible that a similar fan movement may get its way as well. Meanwhile, we're still getting James Gunn's reboot of the Suicide Squad, and last we heard, Gunn said there's no reason for his film to be delayed due to COVID-19, since it wrapped filming earlier this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.
Posted in Uncategorized

Suicide Squad Director’s Cut Would Be ‘Easy to Complete,’ Says David Ayer

Suicide Squad director David Ayer says that a director’s cut of his DC universe movie would be “easy to complete.” The comment stands in contrast to the news of the infamous “Snyder Cut” of Justice League releasing in 2021 and costing $20 - $30 million.

Ayer made the comments in a tweet Monday, responding to a Collider editor asking why DC didn’t release his cut of Suicide Squad on a service like HBO Max.

“This is a good question,” Ayer responded. “My cut would be easy to complete. It would be incredibly cathartic for me. It’s exhausting getting your ass kicked for a film that got the Edward Scissorhands treatment. The film I made has never been seen.”

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-dceu-movie-review-score&captions=true"]

Ayer made similar comments about other footage cut from or left in Suicide Squad. When asked about a scene from a trailer featuring Katana’s eyes being suddenly filled with a murky black liquid, Ayer said he’d filmed a scene where Enchantress uses a tendril to take over Katana and attack her allies.

Ayer also seemingly criticized the cuts that were made to Suicide Squad for ignoring some of the fundamentals of good storytelling and editing.

 “Good screenwriting means complete arcs culminating with some kind of closure for each main character,” Ayer said. “It’s not rocket science. When you cut the joists the building sags.”

Ayer says that the “only battle I won” was keeping in a bit where the character Diablo references that he’s killed women and children.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-actor-and-character-confirmed-for-dcs-the-suicide-squad&captions=true"]

“It was the only battle I won,” Ayer said. “Decision makers were allergic to Diablo killing his family. Look at my films - death, guilt, redemption and emancipation from toxic relationships are themes I explore as a filmmaker. The human soul is beautiful and complex.”

Ayer added that an impressive shot of Enchantress’ hand gripping June Moon and transforming her was his idea, and that he had more footage fleshing out their relationship.

 

With the news of Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League being revived, some DC fans have taken to calling for a similar director’s cut of Suicide Squad, which was originally supposed to end with a different villain and a much bigger Justice League connection. Ayer appears to still hold some complicated feelings on the matter, given how open he’s been to commenting on the difficult process of getting Suicide Squad to theaters.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/06/david-ayer-says-much-of-jared-letos-joker-remains-unseen"]

Ayer responded to fan questions about cut footage of Jared Leto’s Joker, saying that his “heart breaks” for the actor that much of his work never made it into the theatrical release. Leto himself also said in 2016 that a large amount of Joker footage never made it into the film.

Some fans have sinced started the hashtag “#ReleaseTheAyerCut,” a direct parallel to the “#ReleaseTheSnyderCut” that eventually got its way. It’s possible that a similar fan movement may get its way as well. Meanwhile, we're still getting James Gunn's reboot of the Suicide Squad, and last we heard, Gunn said there's no reason for his film to be delayed due to COVID-19, since it wrapped filming earlier this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.
Posted in Uncategorized

Watch X-Men: Days of Future Past With Writer-Producer Simon Kinberg

Here at IGN, we're always looking for new ways to bring our community together to embrace what we're most passionate about. That's why we launched Watch From Home Theater, a weekly live show where we unite some of your favorite IGN personalities and special celebrity guests to have a digital movie night together with you watching some of our favorite films of all time. This Tuesday, May 26th at 5 p.m. PT, we're watching X-Men: Days of Future Past with screenwriter-producer Simon Kinberg! Adapted from the classic Marvel Comics storyline, Days of Future Past sees the big screen’s original X-Men and the prequel series' teammates living in a dystopian future where the massive mutant-hunting Sentinels have practically exterminated mutants, incarcerating the surviving ones in concentration camps with the humans who helped them. The only way for the X-Men to survive is to send one of their own back in time telepathically in order to stop the assassination that paved the way for the mutant holocaust. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2014/05/13/x-men-days-of-future-past-video-review"] In our 2014 review of the film, we said "X-Men: Days of Future Past is the most ambitious entry in the franchise and also the most rewarding, allowing fans to see the casts of both the original trilogy and First Class join forces in one action-packed, high-stakes, and surprisingly witty adventure film." Simon Kinberg has been involved in the X-Men movie franchise since 2006 as both a screenwriter and a producer, and he also produced both Deadpool sequels as well as Logan. As a screenwriter, Kinberg's breakthrough film was 2005's Mr. and Mrs. Smith and he also penned Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. As a producer, Kinberg's films include Elysium, Murder on the Orient Express, Cinderella, and The Martian, which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. We're thrilled to have him on the show! IGN won't be able to show the full movie in the live stream watch-along so if you want the full WFH Theater experience, sync up the movie on your devices and watch with us when we press "play" together! If you don't already own a copy of Days of Future Past then you can rent or buy it on Amazon Prime, GooglePlay, YouTube, Vudu, Hulu, and iTunes. (If you aren't already a Hulu subscriber, the service is currently offering a 14-day free trial for new users.) Watch From Home Theater isn’t just a show or an opportunity to watch a movie; it’s a hangout with passionate people who share one thing in common -- their love of film. Each week, we'll invite our viewers to join in the conversation using our WFH Theater Discord channel to chat with our host as well as our celebrity guests. With running commentaries that range from insightful to silly, each viewing will take on a life of its own based on each film. Check out highlights from our recent episodes of WFH Theater below!

WFH Theater - Empire Strikes Back with Sam Witwer & Rahul Kohli

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/21/the-empire-strikes-back-watch-party-w-sam-witwer-rahul-kohli"]

WFH Theater - Revenge of the Sith with Ashley Eckstein & Cameron Monaghan

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/19/revenge-of-the-sith-watch-party-w-ashley-eckstein-cameron-monaghan-wfh-theater"]

WFH Theater - Netflix's Extraction with Chris Hemsworth, Joe Russo and director Sam Hargrave

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/extraction-full-one-shot-scene-breakdown-wchris-hemsworth-joe-russo-and-director"] [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=best-superhero-directors-cuts-you-can-stream-now&captions=true"] Jim Vejvoda is IGN's Executive Editor of Movies. Follow him at @JimVejvoda.
Posted in Uncategorized

Watch X-Men: Days of Future Past With Writer-Producer Simon Kinberg

Here at IGN, we're always looking for new ways to bring our community together to embrace what we're most passionate about. That's why we launched Watch From Home Theater, a weekly live show where we unite some of your favorite IGN personalities and special celebrity guests to have a digital movie night together with you watching some of our favorite films of all time. This Tuesday, May 26th at 5 p.m. PT, we're watching X-Men: Days of Future Past with screenwriter-producer Simon Kinberg! Adapted from the classic Marvel Comics storyline, Days of Future Past sees the big screen’s original X-Men and the prequel series' teammates living in a dystopian future where the massive mutant-hunting Sentinels have practically exterminated mutants, incarcerating the surviving ones in concentration camps with the humans who helped them. The only way for the X-Men to survive is to send one of their own back in time telepathically in order to stop the assassination that paved the way for the mutant holocaust. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2014/05/13/x-men-days-of-future-past-video-review"] In our 2014 review of the film, we said "X-Men: Days of Future Past is the most ambitious entry in the franchise and also the most rewarding, allowing fans to see the casts of both the original trilogy and First Class join forces in one action-packed, high-stakes, and surprisingly witty adventure film." Simon Kinberg has been involved in the X-Men movie franchise since 2006 as both a screenwriter and a producer, and he also produced both Deadpool sequels as well as Logan. As a screenwriter, Kinberg's breakthrough film was 2005's Mr. and Mrs. Smith and he also penned Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. As a producer, Kinberg's films include Elysium, Murder on the Orient Express, Cinderella, and The Martian, which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. We're thrilled to have him on the show! IGN won't be able to show the full movie in the live stream watch-along so if you want the full WFH Theater experience, sync up the movie on your devices and watch with us when we press "play" together! If you don't already own a copy of Days of Future Past then you can rent or buy it on Amazon Prime, GooglePlay, YouTube, Vudu, Hulu, and iTunes. (If you aren't already a Hulu subscriber, the service is currently offering a 14-day free trial for new users.) Watch From Home Theater isn’t just a show or an opportunity to watch a movie; it’s a hangout with passionate people who share one thing in common -- their love of film. Each week, we'll invite our viewers to join in the conversation using our WFH Theater Discord channel to chat with our host as well as our celebrity guests. With running commentaries that range from insightful to silly, each viewing will take on a life of its own based on each film. Check out highlights from our recent episodes of WFH Theater below!

WFH Theater - Empire Strikes Back with Sam Witwer & Rahul Kohli

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/21/the-empire-strikes-back-watch-party-w-sam-witwer-rahul-kohli"]

WFH Theater - Revenge of the Sith with Ashley Eckstein & Cameron Monaghan

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/19/revenge-of-the-sith-watch-party-w-ashley-eckstein-cameron-monaghan-wfh-theater"]

WFH Theater - Netflix's Extraction with Chris Hemsworth, Joe Russo and director Sam Hargrave

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/extraction-full-one-shot-scene-breakdown-wchris-hemsworth-joe-russo-and-director"] [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=best-superhero-directors-cuts-you-can-stream-now&captions=true"] Jim Vejvoda is IGN's Executive Editor of Movies. Follow him at @JimVejvoda.
Posted in Uncategorized

Pixar Debuts First Gay Main Character in New Short Film

Pixar’s first openly gay main character has debuted in a new short film titled “Out.”

The nine-minute short film, which released on Disney Plus on Friday, tells the story of a man named Greg, who struggles with coming out as gay to his parents, frustrating his partner Manuel. Through some magical mishaps, Greg accidentally switches bodies with his excitable dog Jim and attempts to hide a picture of him and Manuel from his mom and dad, who surprise him with a sudden visit. Check out the trailer in this tweet:  

Out debuted as part of Pixar’s SparkShorts series, which lets independent creators showcase animation projects.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=disney-plus-spotlight-may-2020&captions=true"]

Technically, this isn’t the first gay character in a Pixar film, although it is certainly the first gay main character. When Pixar’s Onward released last March, actress Lena Waithe voiced a gay cyclops who worked as a police officer. That cyclops ultimately only served as a side character, and evidence of her sexual orientation was relegated to a throwaway line referencing her girlfriend.

In older films, like Toy Story 4 and Finding Dory, Pixar has added very minor evidence of gay characters, including a brief shot of two women who fans suspected were a lesbian couple. Oddly enough, in an ET Canada interview, Finding Dory star Ellen Degeneres (herself one of the first openly gay actors in contemporary Hollywood) said that there was no lesbian couple in the film simply because one had short hair.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=disney-plus-spotlight-june-2020&captions=true"]

Disney has been somewhat slow to include greater LGBT representation in some of its biggest properties. Avengers: Endgame featured co-director Joe Russo making a cameo as a gay man in Captain America’s therapy group who briefly mentions he is going on a date with another man. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker briefly showed two women kissing, and while fans criticized Disney for making the moment so missable, IGN editor Joshua Yehl had much more positive thoughts overall.

As for future properties, Marvel’s The Eternals is set to feature an openly gay superhero.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

Posted in Uncategorized

Pixar Debuts First Gay Main Character in New Short Film

Pixar’s first openly gay main character has debuted in a new short film titled “Out.”

The nine-minute short film, which released on Disney Plus on Friday, tells the story of a man named Greg, who struggles with coming out as gay to his parents, frustrating his partner Manuel. Through some magical mishaps, Greg accidentally switches bodies with his excitable dog Jim and attempts to hide a picture of him and Manuel from his mom and dad, who surprise him with a sudden visit. Check out the trailer in this tweet:  

Out debuted as part of Pixar’s SparkShorts series, which lets independent creators showcase animation projects.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=disney-plus-spotlight-may-2020&captions=true"]

Technically, this isn’t the first gay character in a Pixar film, although it is certainly the first gay main character. When Pixar’s Onward released last March, actress Lena Waithe voiced a gay cyclops who worked as a police officer. That cyclops ultimately only served as a side character, and evidence of her sexual orientation was relegated to a throwaway line referencing her girlfriend.

In older films, like Toy Story 4 and Finding Dory, Pixar has added very minor evidence of gay characters, including a brief shot of two women who fans suspected were a lesbian couple. Oddly enough, in an ET Canada interview, Finding Dory star Ellen Degeneres (herself one of the first openly gay actors in contemporary Hollywood) said that there was no lesbian couple in the film simply because one had short hair.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=disney-plus-spotlight-june-2020&captions=true"]

Disney has been somewhat slow to include greater LGBT representation in some of its biggest properties. Avengers: Endgame featured co-director Joe Russo making a cameo as a gay man in Captain America’s therapy group who briefly mentions he is going on a date with another man. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker briefly showed two women kissing, and while fans criticized Disney for making the moment so missable, IGN editor Joshua Yehl had much more positive thoughts overall.

As for future properties, Marvel’s The Eternals is set to feature an openly gay superhero.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.

Posted in Uncategorized

The Last of Us Part 2 State of Play Announced for This Week

PlayStation has announced that a State of Play focused solely on The Last of Us Part 2 will take place on Wednesday, May 27 at 1pm PT/4pm ET/9pm BST. PlayStation.Blog has revealed that Naughty Dog vice president and The Last of Us Part 2 director Neil Druckmann will "walk you through details of the gameplay experience and story." Also, it is said to run for a little more than 20 minutes and will end with an "extended sequence showing off about eight minutes of never-before-seen gameplay." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/06/the-last-of-us-part-2-official-story-trailer"] PlayStation specifically stated that there won't be any PlayStation 5 news or updates, so don't expect any reveals on the level of a next-gen port. This State of Play follows Ghost of Tsushima's that revealed much more about the world and gameplay in Sucker Punch's latest title that arrives on July 17, 2020. The much-anticipated follow-up to 2013's The Last of Us is less than a month away, and recently has gone gold, meaning the game is in a finished enough state that it can be sent to be put on discs and prepare for a digital release. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-last-of-us-part-2-special-edition-hardware-and-peripherals&captions=true"] The Last of Us Part 2 will be released on PlayStation 4 on June 19, 2020, and it was recently announced that a special edition PlayStation 4 Pro will be released alongside it that is themed after Ellie's new tattoo sleeve. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Posted in Uncategorized

The Last of Us Part 2 State of Play Announced for This Week

PlayStation has announced that a State of Play focused solely on The Last of Us Part 2 will take place on Wednesday, May 27 at 1pm PT/4pm ET/9pm BST. PlayStation.Blog has revealed that Naughty Dog vice president and The Last of Us Part 2 director Neil Druckmann will "walk you through details of the gameplay experience and story." Also, it is said to run for a little more than 20 minutes and will end with an "extended sequence showing off about eight minutes of never-before-seen gameplay." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/06/the-last-of-us-part-2-official-story-trailer"] PlayStation specifically stated that there won't be any PlayStation 5 news or updates, so don't expect any reveals on the level of a next-gen port. This State of Play follows Ghost of Tsushima's that revealed much more about the world and gameplay in Sucker Punch's latest title that arrives on July 17, 2020. The much-anticipated follow-up to 2013's The Last of Us is less than a month away, and recently has gone gold, meaning the game is in a finished enough state that it can be sent to be put on discs and prepare for a digital release. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-last-of-us-part-2-special-edition-hardware-and-peripherals&captions=true"] The Last of Us Part 2 will be released on PlayStation 4 on June 19, 2020, and it was recently announced that a special edition PlayStation 4 Pro will be released alongside it that is themed after Ellie's new tattoo sleeve. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Posted in Uncategorized
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