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  • HBO Max and Disney+ Share 20th Century Streaming Rights Until 2022

    HBO Max and Disney+ Share 20th Century Streaming Rights Until 2022

    The streaming market has become quite competitive with many jumping in to get a piece of the action. Disney+ and HBO Max have been harsh competitors for Netflix, but also each other. This is especially a big factor in the fact that Warner Bros. still had an exclusive deal with 20th Century Fox to add their library to HBO and HBO Max. Well, it seems that this deal is slowly coming to an end.

    In a new report by Variety, it turns out that HBO Max’s streaming access will end with one more year. Yet, they will also share the streaming releases with Disney+ and Hulu moving forward with Ron’s Gone Wrong being the first in December. The deal will end in 2022 however, and there’s no expectation it’ll get extended due to Disney wanting to include the library in their streaming service.

    For now, they will co-share rights to 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures productions with Disney’s in-house streaming offerings. Ron’s Gone Wrong will release on December 15th on both platforms. So, they’ll also share the same release date moving forward. Any production for an older audience will release on Hulu most likely and in the Star expansion of Disney+ in specific countries.

  • New Details on ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Spider-Man and Raid DLC

    New Details on ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Spider-Man and Raid DLC

    It looks like more information has found its way online on the upcoming November 30th expansion of Marvel’s Avengers. Not only will PlayStation owners get access to a new character in the always popular Spider-Man, but we also will embark on the game’s biggest endgame content offering in the “Discordant Sound” raid. earlier today we got our first footage of the character, but some additional reports have added some curious new details to his addition.

    It seems the story will include some new additional NPC characters that may or may not have a story later down the line. His college classmate Liz Allen will be found at the Ant Hill as well as Mark Raxton, who becomes the Molten Man in the comics. Crystal Dynamics played coy on if he might take a villainous turn at some point. While most of the story is told through files, it’s great to see them expand the world.

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    Let’s start off with the new playable hero. There has been some debate, especially in IGN’s coverage, about how Spider-Man swings from one location to the next. Forbes’ Paul Tassi has highlighted that it comes quite close to what Insomniac offers which is impressive given the restrictions. He does swing off of “nothing” but that is something one has to suspend disbelief in for any game, as he did the same in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 due to playability being prioritized.

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    The character also comes with a new status effect based on his webs. He’s more of a crowd-control and support character in the game. It’s a curious direction but his new web abilities support that direction and make him stand out from the rest. Yes, he is a strong fighter but has the ability to help out the team when they are getting swarmed by enemies, which will be a recurring issue in the upcoming raid. He also has different web shooter variants, which include a charge shot and web bombs. You can even knock enemies against a wall and web them up.

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    Speaking of, it seems that the entire raid has been built from the ground up just for this mission. The giant Klaue fight that has been teased for quite some time takes up half of the game, which is an exciting prospect of that giant constantly taking you down. You can also expect traditional bosses and mini-bosses. Communication is key, and while they’re still working on a join-in-progress offering, it’s good to play with people you know well.

    Source: Forbes, GameInformer

  • EXCLUSIVE: Diane Guerrero Open to Voice Green Lantern Jessica Cruz Again

    EXCLUSIVE: Diane Guerrero Open to Voice Green Lantern Jessica Cruz Again

    Disney’s 60th animated film, Encanto, is set to release in the United States on November 24th. The film features an all-star cast and star Diane Guerrero couldn’t be more excited to be part of the animated family. She sat down to discuss her big role in the newest Lin-Manuel Miranda musical for an exclusive interview with myself and Murphy’s Multiverse. During our conversation, many of her previous roles doing voice work were brought up in relation to her latest film.

    This included her time bringing Jessica Cruz, one of DC Comics’ many Green Lanterns, to life in 2019’s animated movie Justice League vs. the Fatal Five, which is quite different from a Disney animated project. When asked what it was like to do voice work on a smaller, direct-to-video scale compared to her recent experience making a massive, big-budget Disney project, the former Superior Donuts actress revealed her deep, general love of animation as a storytelling format:

    It was still a dream come true for me because I love animation. I really, really, really…y’know, when I got into this work, early on, I was like: ‘I want to voice cartoons, I want to do animation’. I’m just such a big fan, y’know? I watched it, I relate to it, I really enjoy the visuals, and that kind of storytelling.

    Diane Guerrero

    Of course, I couldn’t let Guerrero go without asking if that meant she’d be willing to return as the voice of Jessica Cruz in the future. Her response was quite ecstatic, as she repeatedly highlighted she’d love to return to voice the role once again.

    Oh my God, I would love it. I would love it. I love that character.

    Diane Guerrero

    Hopefully, this means we haven’t seen the last of Diane Guerrero lending her wonderful talent to animated characters. Perhaps this will even allow her to take on more comic book roles in the near future. Until then, you can take the whole family to enjoy Encanto in theaters later this month.

  • ‘Hawkeye’ Director Reveals Where the Show Fits in the Sacred Timeline

    ‘Hawkeye’ Director Reveals Where the Show Fits in the Sacred Timeline

    Ever since Avengers: Endgame introduced the five-year Blip between Thanos’ snap in Infinity War that erased half the population of the universe and Hulks’ snap that undid it, it has been a constant guessing game as to when Phase 4 properties take place. So far, answers to that question have been mostly vague. While we still have more questions than answers, there’s now some confirmation on where the upcoming Hawkeye series exists within the Sacred Timeline. Director Rhys Thomas revealed to Game Radar:

    Clint’s someone that we haven’t gotten to spend a lot of time with obviously, over the course of the films…We get to see where he’s at, we’re two years after the events of Endgame. And so we get to see what he’s been doing and how he’s dealing with his past.

    Rhys Thomas

    Since the events of Endgame took place sometime in 2023, that means that Clint Barton and Kate Bishop are set to take on their New York adventure roughly in 2025. Set photos had previously hinted at a 2025 date for the series by showing the date for Chinese New Year in that very year. Hawkeye is set at Christmas-time, though, so it would appear that the series actually takes place in late 2024 leading into the New Year.

    While the puzzle pieces of the Sacred Timeline’s Phase 4 entries are slowly being put together, Hawkeye‘s 2024 winter timing raises more questions about how where the series falls with respect to next month’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. Marvel Studios has played coy on this question, but we will learn more soon as Hawkeye drops this Wednesday, November 24, on Disney+.

    Source: Games Radar

  • Jon Favreau Talks Boba Fett’s Rocky Transition to Crime Lord in ‘The Book of Boba Fett’

    Jon Favreau Talks Boba Fett’s Rocky Transition to Crime Lord in ‘The Book of Boba Fett’

    To hear Jon Favreau tell it, the ease with which Boba Fett calmly strolled into Jabba’s Palace and offed a fattened Bib Fortuna belies the tough road ahead for the bounty hunter. In fact, it seems that Boba’s move has will cause him more problems than even he anticipated when we see him in next month’s Disney Plus streaming series, The Book of Boba Fett.

    Speaking to Empire, Favreau, who along with Dave Filoni has given new life to not only Boba Fett but the Star Wars franchise, explains that Boba is going to have to learn on the fly.

    Although Boba Fett is a very experienced bounty hunter, he’s not experienced at running a criminal syndicate or managing forces. He’s not normally a newcomer. He’s an expert as we see him in most areas. But in this case, he’s trying to transition to another position.

    The first look at the series showed fans that not everyone in the criminal underworld is going to readily accept Boba as the new boss and that he’s going to have to resort to some less political means to change some opinions, going so far as what director Robert Rodriguez called “barbarian mode.” While Fortuna may have been running it, it was always Jabba’s empire and with the big guy out of the way, Boba probably isn’t the only one gunning to be the new number one.

    “There is a power vacuum because Jabba is gone. Jabba was clearly a very strong and imposing leader, who people were very scared of, and who seemed to rule with an iron fist. You pull somebody like that out of the ecosystem of Tatooine – and Hutt Space in general – and you have the opportunity that’s ripe in the gangster genre.

    Who knows what organizations and which villains Boba will meet along the way. With Qi’ra and Crimson Dawn, along with some other criminal factions, getting a lot of run in the Star Wars comics, it’ll be interesting to see who Boba finds himself facing off with to fill that Jabba-sized void in the galaxy.

  • Kathleen Kennedy Teases Future Plans for ‘Star Wars’ Sequel Trilogy Spinoffs

    Kathleen Kennedy Teases Future Plans for ‘Star Wars’ Sequel Trilogy Spinoffs

    It looks like Lucasfilms might have some plans for the newly introduced characters of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Most of the current projects are focused on exploring the different eras in the past, such as The Mandalorian taking place after the original trilogy ended. Obi-Wan Kenobi will bridge that era with the prequel trilogy. In an interview with Empire, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was asked if they had any plans and she teased that they haven’t forgotten about characters and there are ongoing discussions.

    Certainly, those are not characters we’re going to forget. They will live on, and those are conversations that are going on with the creative team as well.

    Kathleen Kennedy

    The Rise of the Skywalker ended the original saga first started in 1977. It continued the legacy of those characters and tried its best to tie some loose ends. It didn’t hit the mark for everyone, but we still got some interesting characters out of the new trilogy. It would be interesting to see what the aftermath of these events might look like. Daisy Ridley‘s Rey has now taken on the name Skywalker and might carry on the traditions of Jedi. John Boyega‘s Finn, as a former Stormtrooper, still has the most potential for an interesting storyline, as there might still be many out there forced to work for the remnants of the New Order. So, here’s hoping we find out what new and old corners they might visit in the near future.

    Source: Empire

  • Robert Rodriguez Promises “Barbarian Mode” for Boba in ‘The Book of Boba Fett’

    Robert Rodriguez Promises “Barbarian Mode” for Boba in ‘The Book of Boba Fett’

    In just over a month, The Book of Boba Fett will head into homes on Disney Plus and to hear director Robert Rodriguez tell it, Boba will come out swinging in his first-ever solo series. Fans of the iconic bounty hunter were thrilled when he made his return from the Sarlaac in The Mandalorian and will now get to see him move into his own series and into a new role as a crime boss.

    It’s certainly uncharted territory for Boba and fans have been eager to learn more about what to expect in the series…and now we know it sound like an awful lot of fun. In an interview with Empire, Rodriguez promises fans that they’ll see “more of (Boba’s) true character” which includes, apparently, “barbarian mode.” Rodriguez directed Chapter 14 of The Mandalorian, “The Tragedy”, and gave long time fans of Boba a glimpse of what they’d always hoped to see him do and now it sound like he’s ready to turn it up to 11 by expanding not only on the story of Boba, but taking off the training wheels and letting him show fans, and the galaxy, why he’s always been so feared.

    The first look at the series made it apparent that while Boba may now be sitting on Jabba’s throne, that doesn’t mean he has the respect of everyone who used to fall under the fat fist of the Jabba or the much less feared Bib Fortuna, who we saw Boba take care of at the end of Season 2 of The Mandalorian. To that end, it sounds like Boba and Fennec Shand are going to have to do some convincing and may have to do so that hard way. So after a reintroduction to the character that involved some softer moments than one might expect from one of the galaxy’s most feared bounty hunters, it sounds like The Book of Boba Fett is going to deliver on decades of fans’ dreams of what Boba could do.

    The Book of Boba Fett begins streaming on Disney Plus on December 29th.

  • ‘Eternals’ BTS Image Hints at an Earlier Appearance of Harry Styles’ Eros

    ‘Eternals’ BTS Image Hints at an Earlier Appearance of Harry Styles’ Eros

    It’s already been a few weeks since Eternals was released, but there are still some curious details that find their way online, especially with the reveal of Harry Styles playing Eros. While we’re still wondering how exactly the new origin of this alien race might connect to Thanos, it seems that Styles’ character may have had an appearance at an earlier point in the story. Sprite actress Lia McHugh took to Instagram to share some pictures from behind-the-scenes with one including Styles. Yet, their outfits and Richard Madden‘s inclusion raise some eyebrows for those that have seen the post-credit sequence.

    The outfits they are wearing are the ones we see them in when they are on their way to earth. So, we may have spent some time with others from the race before they eventually made their trip o fight the Deviants. Madden‘s inclusion highlights that this is probably from earlier in the film, as he’s not around when Styles makes his grand appearance. There’s, of course, the chance that the post-credit sequence would’ve included a flashback or even a visit to the World Forge, where they meet others like themselves.

    We know that Eros is an Eternal, but we don’t know if there’s something special about his kind, especially with the mystery of how he relates to Thanos. There’s a chance that he might be adopted or that the Celestials tested out the evolution aspect on a handful of Eternals who remained on Titan. Here’s hoping we won’t have to wait too long until we get an answer to these questions.

    Source: Instagram

  • Ridley Scott Developing a Live-Action ‘Blade Runner’ Spinoff Series

    Ridley Scott Developing a Live-Action ‘Blade Runner’ Spinoff Series

    Ridley Scott, the creator behind classics like Alien and Blade Runner, has been quite busy discussing his latest film, House of Gucci. In an interview with BBC, he talked about the upcoming Alien series that was announced as part of FX’s line-up during Disney’s Investors Day. Yet, he also revealed that they are also working on a live-action Blade Runner series where he highlights that they’ve already finished the pilot and the series bible. In his full quote, he stated that:

    We [have already] written the pilot for ‘Blade Runner’ and the bible. So, we’re already presenting ‘Blade Runner’ as a TV show, the first 10 hours.

    Ridley Scott

    The franchise isn’t a stranger to long-form storytelling, as Adult Swim recently released the Anime adaptation titled Blade Runner: Black Lotus. There’s a good chance they’ll simply explore the world of the franchise but not connect it to the plot of the original, as Denis Villeneuve’s sequel, Blade Runner 2049, already expanded upon the story set up back in 1982. He also didn’t point out where we can expect the series to release. If it might join Aliens on FX or go to a different streamer, like HBO Max. We’ll see once more details are revealed on the new series.

    Source: BBC via Variety

  • ‘Marvel’s Avengers’: First Look at Spider-Man’s Gameplay

    ‘Marvel’s Avengers’: First Look at Spider-Man’s Gameplay

    It looks like the first gameplay has found its way online of Marvel’s Avengers‘ upcoming Spider-Man DLC. There has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding his addition due to him being PlayStation exclusive, but the fan-favorite has still been on many players’ radar. After a long wait, we finally got a small teaser trailer for his Hero Event, which is not the same as the usual operation, but nothing on his gameplay. Well, the wait is finally over as IGN has shared a new Hands-On Preview of Spider-Man in action and he seems quite promising.

    There are comments made regarding the limitations of his swing, but that is a given with this game not being open-world like 2018’s Spider-Man. It’s great that they added a full swinging animation rather than how for example Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 handled it due to the restrictions. Of course, there’s a glass ceiling in the game, but it’s the same with any flying characters. So, it was to be expected, and still great they made it a swinging animation rather than just him switching from web to web.

    His combat options certainly stand out, especially his heroics are quite creative. The web bomb looks like a great way to take care of a larger crowd, but a personal favorite will be his Ultimate, the Wrecking Ball. It reminds me of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimension where he would form weapons out of his webs. Of course, there’s the highlight that we don’t get any story missions but it might be a deliberate decision due to his exclusive availability. So, their hands were probably tied in how they approached his DLC. Yet, he is not releasing standalone and is available with the game’s first raid, a complete overhaul of their gear system, and earnable cosmetics. So, while spidey is a more moderate addition, the game is getting a fairly large update.

    Source: YouTube