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Category: News

  • ‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ Outsold ‘The Last of Us: Part II’ and ‘Ghost of Tsushima’

    ‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ Outsold ‘The Last of Us: Part II’ and ‘Ghost of Tsushima’

    Here’s a curious showcase of staying power. The original Spider-Man game from 2018 was a massive success for PlayStation and Insomniac. Sony reported that it had already sold nine million copies worldwide by November after releasing in September of the same year. It beat out Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which held the record at 8.7 million. It didn’t stop there as it managed to continue to grow to sell 20 million copies since. Of course, the pressure is up for their follow-up, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, to perform similarly. Well, it looks like the game has been a mainstay in many people’s shopping lists.

    Initially, the game sold 4.1 million in seven weeks. It wasn’t quite as high as its predecessor, but it saw a considerable boost during Christmas. Now, the game was launched alongside the PlayStation 5’s international launch and there seemed to be a heavy correlation between the two. NPD released sales data for March of 2021, which revealed that the game is still sticking to the top five positions. It has now sold more than other PlayStation exclusives The Last of Us: Part II and Ghost of Tsushima. The fact that PlayStation 5 remains the fast-selling U.S. console helps boost the continuous sales of the Spidey spin-off. Executive Director of the NPD Group, Mat Piscatella, shared their latest numbers on Twitter:

    https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1383042822601777156?s=20

    March has been a great year overall. Newcomers to Monster Hunter: Rise and Outriders, who have seen exceptional sales even with the release on Xbox Games Pass, had a great start into the sales charts. There were some returning champions, such as Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time getting new legs from 65th placement back into the top 15. Marvel’s Avengers also saw a good bump from 16th into the top ten on Xbox. Overall, it looks like Miles Morales won’t be stopping anytime soon and could potentially even surpass the 2018 original sales. It’ll be interesting to see how the sequel to the original will perform once it eventually releases.

    Source: Venture Beat, Essentially Sports, Games Industry, NPD March, Games Industry (NPD), GameRant, Venture Beat (NPD), Twitter

  • How Amazon and Marvel Studios Paved the Way for ‘Fear Agent’

    How Amazon and Marvel Studios Paved the Way for ‘Fear Agent’

    The Marvel Cinematic Universes’ success, which itself also stood on the shoulders of giants, has made it possible for studios to take chances on superhero comic adaptations that were unlikely to see the light of day a few years back. That also includes more mature stories. Awakening such an enormous audience for this type of content has allowed new projects to be given both the budget and attract the talent they managed to bring on in their current iterations. This development resulted in a comic series, like The Boys, getting adapted to the small screen without any compromise. Amazon understood that, nowadays, the risk behind this type of project isn’t all that much.

     

     

    Less than two years after The Boys premiered, Amazon and Seth Rogen‘s Point Grey Pictures tackled an Invincible adaptation continuing with this adult-oriented approach. Much like The Boys back in 2019, Invincible also received excellent reviews from critics and fans alike. It highlights that the general audience is comfortable with a more violent and adult approach when the source material also kept its integrity.

    This new R-rated environment for non-Marvel and non-DC comic adaptations that the time has come for Fear Agent to step into the frame. It finally was announced in January that Amazon won the bidding war for the comic series. The concept benefits from an optimal situation to properly showcase what made it an incredible comic series. Amazon and Point Grey Pictures have the perfect track record to develop the series. That way, we can expect the same type of attention and respect towards the source material that both previously mentioned shows got will remain a priority as audiences get introduced to the universe of Heath Huston, an alcoholic trucker turned alien exterminator.

     

     

    The comic series, which had a somewhat unconventional run by switching publishers midway through, tells the story of an alien invasion and its survivors. They dubbed themselves the Fear Agents as they try to drive the aliens off of their planet. But doing so meant that Heath had to commit alien genocide. As such, he got ostracized. Now, he makes his living as an alien exterminator with a bottle of whiskey at his side. The series deals with family loss, as Heath struggles to find his purpose in the universe as he goes through a series of adventures that end up presenting the possibility of getting back everything he once held dear.

    The result is a mish-mash of genres that range from sci-fi to western (much like the acclaimed Firefly). It plays with comedy to horror tropes, as it switches from drama to full-out action-adventure. If adapted in a way that respects the source material (something that Amazon and Point Grey Pictures seem to be talented in), it might turn into a bigger hit than the previously mentioned The Boys and Invincible. They can go beyond the super-hero tropes to explore uncharted territory and offering something truly unique. Its author, Rick Remender, has recently penned a deal to adapt Tokyo Ghost into a feature film. Unfortunately, the last adaptation of Deadly Class got canceled after its first season before gathering an immense following once it got picked up by Netflix internationally. The series is yet to have any of the cast announced, and its release date is still undisclosed, but it will hopefully stream exclusively on Amazon Prime soon.

    Source: Hollywood Reporter

  • UPDATE: Dominic Purcell Exits ‘LEGENDS OF TOMORROW’

    UPDATE: Dominic Purcell Exits ‘LEGENDS OF TOMORROW’

    UPDATE: Purcell has now deleted the initial posting and seemingly has backpedaled on there being any problem with the studio. He did confirm he will be leaving full-time, but we may expect him to make an appearance throughout the series’ future seasons. It is unsure if this may have been planned in advance, but his character isn’t leaving the Arrowverse for good.

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CNyF5DuhAp_/

    Source: Instagram

     

    The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow adds another name to the series’ long history of cast shake-ups. Dominic Purcell has announced via his Instagram account that he will be leaving the long-running DC show after an apparent fallout with the studio. The British-Australian actor was one of the few remaining original cast members on the show after previous storylines and personal decisions led to the departures of names like Brandon Routh, Victor Garber, and Wentworth Miller.

    He made his debut in 2014 as a recurring villain on The Flash. Purcell was promoted to leading status for Legends of Tomorrow and went on to portray Mick Rory (a.k.a. Heat Wave) as an anti-hero for five seasons. There had not previously been any indication of his impending exit from CW’s Arrowverse, but an expletive-laden social media post from the actor revealed he had been having issues with higher-ups behind the scenes.

    Aside from his work with DC television, Purcell is known for playing the “tough guy” in a variety of projects. He famously worked with his former Legends of Tomorrow partner, Wentworth Miller, as one of the leads on Fox’s cult hit Prison Break. He also once dipped his toes into the Marvel side of things, bringing Dracula to life for the infamous Blade: Trinity. It’s sad to see him exit the show and, hopefully, there is another project out there that will allow the actor to let loose.

    Source: Instagram

  • Latest ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Dev Stream Offers Updates on Tachyon Anomaly, Red Room Takeover, and More

    Latest ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Dev Stream Offers Updates on Tachyon Anomaly, Red Room Takeover, and More

    Our weekly tradition returns as Crystal Dynamics offered some new details in the latest developer stream. We’ve got quite a bit of information on how they will expand their weekly blogs, as well as teasing upcoming updates for Loot 2.0. As we are about to start the game’s first event, we got a first glimpse at the rewards you can expect alongside a new neon skin set.

    • We might get a first look at Marvel Cinematic Universe skins in next week’s developer stream.
    • The patch for the Tachyon Anomaly will release on Tuesday, but the event won’t kick off until Thursday. It will also include fixes for the Villain Sector. There will be additional options for the Custom HARM Rooms so you can summon Dreadbots and airborne enemies. They discussed some details on the Tachyon Anomaly that got highlighted in this week’s blog, which you can read up here.
    • We will get a special dev stream next Tuesday. They will get joined by the voice actress Sandra Saad, who voices Kamala Khan, will join. If you have any questions for her, you can check out a Reddit thread to drop some.
    • We got our first reveal of the first set of animated nameplates. CD confirmed that these are just the first they are showing, and we’ll see more animations.

     

     

    • Red Room Takeover will be a temporary event.
    • We got a motivating update for the Omega-Level Threats, as they have gotten it down to a few more bugs that need to get squashed. So, we might get a clearer date soon.
    • We will see a new update to the Weekly Blog posts, such as getting progress updates on projects. They will add ongoing bullet points to keep players updated.
    • Crystal Dynamics confirmed that we are getting additional blogs that will offer an insight into Loot 2.0 and requested features (loadouts got specially mentioned). So, we will get a lot more insight into what they are working on currently.
    • Monotronic suits got revealed as the next skin set. They gave us a glimpse at them for Iron Man and Hulk. We’ll see Captain America’s suit next week.

     

     

    It’ll be interesting to see when they roll out the information on the future updates, but it seems like the developers are at a point that they can get information out at a more reasonable pace. I am excited about next week’s first event and play alongside others as a group of Hulks or Iron Man. We’ll see how the next week develops and what we can expect once the Tachyon Anomaly starts.

    Source: Twitch, Twitter

  • Alfred Molina Confirms Involvement with ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ And Shares First Set Details

    Alfred Molina Confirms Involvement with ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ And Shares First Set Details

    Spider-Man: No Way Home might be the worst kept secret. We’ve seen countless reports on what characters are returning in their respective roles. Through various leaks, we learned that many of the iconic characters from past Spider-Man franchises will make a grand return in one way or another. One of the first to break was the return of Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus in the threequel. Now, it seems he gave up on keeping the secret, as he talked with Variety on his role in Promising Young Woman:

    When we were shooting it, we were all under orders not to talk about it, because it was supposed to be some great big secret. But, you know, it’s all over the internet. I actually described myself as the worst kept secret in Hollywood

    So, he just went out of his way to confirm his involvement. Luckily, he even gave some insight about how it was returning to his role and reflecting on the fact he hasn’t played the character in almost 17 years.

    It was wonderful. It was very interesting going back after 17 years to play the same role, given that in the intervening years, I now have two chins, a wattle, crow’s feet, and a slightly a slightly dodgy lower back.

    He even revealed that director Jon Watts confirmed that his character is picking up where he died in the original Spider-Man 2. After tampering with a fusion reactor that was about to blow, he sacrifices his life to save his former student and New York City. What stands out in the interview is that he confirms Doc Ock will be de-aged in the film after he questioned how they would continue his story now that he is 67. The actor even references The Irishman, as he feared that he may look young but not able to move fast enough. Luckily, the good doctor has some helpers to keep him moving around without a problem.

    I then remembered that it’s the tentacles that do all the work! My basic physical move as Doc Ock, as the actor, is just this. I just do that a lot, and the arms are doing all the killing and smashing and breaking. I’m just going —” he glared again — “with a kind of mean look on my face.

    It sounds really exciting and that they considered the differences between the last times they played these characters. Now, the question is how this will tie into the universe and why Doc Ock will return from the dead. His teases offer our first real glimpse into what happened on the set. Now, we will wonder how it will all tie together.

    Source: Variety, Variety (Interview)

     

  • New ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Series to Premiere on YouTube during Earth Day

    New ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Series to Premiere on YouTube during Earth Day

    It feels like yesterday that Nickelodeon announced it formed a brand new Avatar Studio that will dedicate its work to create films and spin-offs of the iconic franchise. After only two months, they surprised us by announcing that Avatar: The Last Airbender will get a new original series this April. It will premiere on the official YouTube channel on April 24th to celebrate Earth Day. The channel revealed that the 3-day event features earth-shattering original videos. They used a GIF of Toph, but that doesn’t mean she will be the series’ focus. It is uncertain if these are just a bunch of mini-episodes rather than the usual 22-minute runtime.

    The series will be available on the service permanently even once Earth Day ends. So, this isn’t a timed exclusive. As Avatar News points out, the voice of Korra, Janet Varney, has teased that a project of some kind is in development. The series has built up a strong connection with the relationship between humanity and Mother Nature. So, it’s a clever tie-in to celebrate the revival of the franchise.

    Avatar was originally going to get adopted as a live-action Netflix series. However, the creators and showrunners left the project due to creative differences. The sudden announcement by Nickelodeon pretty much hinted at that live-action adaptation getting scrapped, as the creators took over the reins to continue development on the franchise through animation. There are no details on this series. So, we might get a vignette with familiar characters or a unique series that simply explores the world in celebration of Earth Day. Whatever it may be, we are excited to return to the franchise after this long hiatus.

    Source: Avatar News, YouTube

  • EXCLUSIVE: Jon Favreau Returning for ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’

    EXCLUSIVE: Jon Favreau Returning for ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’

    After having appeared as one of the more prominent mentor characters for Peter Parker throughout his series of solo films, we can exclusively confirm that Jon Favreau will indeed be returning as Happy Hogan for Spider-Man: No Way Home. It was almost certain that Favreau would be returning alongside the main cast of the previous two films, but due to COVID-19 and filming schedules, there were always doubts regarding his return to the franchise’s next installment. The full details regarding his role in this film remain unknown. However, he could certainly have a considerable supporting role similar to that of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home.

    Happy Hogan had a rather interesting side story in Far From Home, where both Happy and Aunt May (played by Marisa Tomei) developed a relationship that was played for laughs. At the end of the film, when confronted by Peter about the situation, Happy confessed that he actually did have feelings for Aunt May and believed that they were dating, while Aunt May only described the relationship as a “summer fling.”

    It’ll be interesting to see how the dynamic between the two characters develops as well as knowing how Happy will react to the events of the post-credit scene in the last film when Spider-Man identity was outed to the world. Nevertheless, we can always count on Happy to be the man with a plan and we can’t wait to see more of him when Spider-Man: no Way Home hits theaters this coming Christmas season.

  • ‘What If’ Concept Art Leaks Online Teasing the Return of Ultron

    ‘What If’ Concept Art Leaks Online Teasing the Return of Ultron

    It looks like some concept art for the upcoming What If series has found its way online teasing some iconic characters in new designs. It isn’t the first time something related to Marvel Studios’ first animated series finds its way online, as recently a poster was released prematurely featuring our first look at various characters. The art teases some recognizable faces, such as Loki in his Thor get-up and Tony Stark riding a makeshift Hulkbuster. To be fair, we can’t make out his face so anyone could be in that suit.

    We even will have the return of Benicio del Toro‘s Collector. Now, what stands out is that it showcases Gamora in Thanos’ armor. It would hint at her embracing the legacy her adoptive father decided to pass on to her rather than running away with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Yet, the biggest reveal is the return of Ultron, who hasn’t appeared since 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.

    Now, it doesn’t confirm if James Spader will return to take on the character, but if you consider most of the MCU staff are returning for their characters it is rather likely. His design seems to imply he has become a ruler and could hint at a story if he won the battle for Sokovia. Now, that would imply that his meteor did exactly what it was intended to do and the world was reshaped in metal.

    Now, that is a fun idea to play around with as it would be the MCU’s way of introducing the Wasteland from the Future Imperfect and Old Man Logan series. It recently introduced in the Marvel’s Avengers game as part of the Hawkeye DLC. What If is starting to shape into a must-watch once it releases some time this summer.

    Source: Twitter

  • Amazon Investing $465 Million in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ First Season

    Amazon Investing $465 Million in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ First Season

    It looks like Amazon Studios’ ambitions have reached an all-new high, as recent reports have unveiled that their upcoming The Lord of the Rings series might be the most expensive show ever produced. They are estimated to spend NZ$650 million, which is around US$465 million. Keep in mind, this is the budget for the first season and not the entire series run. As far as we know, they also plan to have future seasons to expand it.

    This investment also has a very important meaning for New Zealand moving forward, as the money is invested into their local economy. Amazon received a $100 million boost for the film production and made a multi-year deal to secure benefits from the country. Minister of Economic Development and Tourism Stuard Nash shared his enthusiasm:

    I think what we have got out of Amazon in terms of the MOU and the industry and how we’re going to train people and our ability to use footage for tourism, the ability to leverage off a lot of what Amazon is doing, is fantastic

    It is a historic development that could be the start of higher budgeted shows moving forward. Disney+ has been moving to give their series movie-level budgets with their originals. The Mandalorian cost $15 million per episode while Marvel Studios’ productions would reach up to $25 Million. As The Hollywood Reporter points out, even HBO’s titan Game of Thrones cost $100 million per season. It’ll be interesting to see if this high investment pays off for them.

    Source: Hollywood Reporter, RNZ, Hollywood Reporter (Disney+)

  • Spin-Off In Development for Netflix’s ‘Castlevania’

    Spin-Off In Development for Netflix’s ‘Castlevania’

    Netflix has been expanding into almost every medium. Recently, they’ve seemed to have a strong liking for adapting anime into live-action. It was recently revealed that Jordan Vogt-Roberts will adapt the iconic anime franchise Gundam. Well, they’ve also been exploring video game adaptations. One of its biggest surprises was the release of the animated adaptation of Castlevania. The series was based on the franchise that started in 1986 on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It follows the story of Trevor Belmont, Alucard, and Sypha Belnades as the unlikely trio comes together to kill Dracula. Sadly, it seems the upcoming fourth season will be the series end.

     

     

    The series embraces the R-rating and tells some truly dark tales. Luckily, it seems that the fourth season may end one series, it is the beginning for another. According to Deadline, Konami and Netflix are already working on a brand new series that will take place in the same universe. The only detail they could reveal is that it’ll focus on a brand new cast of characters. Now, the advantage of the Castlevania franchise lies in its approach to legacy.

    Every entry in the gaming franchise focused on a new member of the Belmont family. So, they could be taking a similar approach. Alucard’s inclusion paid tribute to the PlayStation game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but only loosely. We could get a future season that builds on the stories to adhere by introducing Richter Belmont, who was the focus of Rondo of Blood in 1993. It’ll be interesting to see if the series’ ending might tease what is to come in the future.

    Source: Deadline