Monthly Archives: January 2016
Star Wars: Episode 9 to Shoot on Film Not Digital
Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow won't use digital cameras when filming Star Wars - Episode IX.
During a press conference at the Sundance Film Festival (via Variety) Trevorrow announced plans to use film stock when shooting the highly anticipated space epic, jokingly saying, "It’s a period film. It happened a long time ago."
Interstellar director Christopher Nolan was also in attendance, taking the opportunity to defend the use of film and shoot down the notion that digital is the way of the future. "There needs to be a choice," Nolan said. "As a medium it will continue to exist. It has to continue to exist. It’s pointless to pretend it has to go away."
Kim Basinger Joins Fifty Shades of Grey Sequel
Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile) has been cast in the upcoming Fifty Shades of Grey sequel, Fifty Shades Darker. Basinger is the first new cast member Universal Pictures has announced for the sequel.
According to Variety, Basinger will play Elena Lincoln, also known as Mrs. Robinson, a key character from the books who played a pivotal role in Christian Grey's (Jamie Dornan) teenage years.
The Fifty Shades of Grey sequel won't be Basinger's first risque film; the actress previously starred in 9 1/2 Weeks, a film about a woman involved in a sadomasochistic affair.
House of Cards Renewed for Season 5 as Showrunner Departs
House of Cards is coming back for a fifth season in 2017, but creator and showrunner Beau Willimon will not.
According to Variety, Netflix has renewed the drama and Kevin Spacey will reprise his role as Frank Underwood for Season Five. However, showrunner Willimon said it was time for him to “move on.”
“After five years and four seasons, it’s time for me to move on to new endeavors, but I’m supremely proud of what we’ve built together, wish the show much continued success, and leave it in the hands of a very capable team,” Willimon said in a statement.
How Grimm Turned Juliette From a Villain To Something New
Spoilers for Grimm: Season 5 continue below.
Bitsie Tulloch is back on Grimm, but she's not playing Juliette. Now she's Eve.
The actress, who portrayed the veterinarian who went from Nick's (David Giuntoli) love interest to the show's Hexenbiest Big Bad, hopped on the phone to discuss her return to the NBC drama. Though Juliette was seemingly killed in the Season 4 finale, she popped up again in the Season 5 midseason finale with a new platinum bob wig and an impressive control of her powers.
The return of Tulloch to Grimm was a tightly-kept secret on the production. The intent was always to make fans think that Juliette was gone for good, but showrunners Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt knew from the get-go how and why they would be bringing Tulloch back.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 Still Happening, Says Ancel
Beyond Good & Evil 2 ain't no Half-Life 3.
This is according to Beyond Good & Evil creator Michel Ancel during Double Fine's latest "Dev's Play" episode. While Ancel doesn't explicitly confirm or deny its existence, he talks about it in the present tense when Double Fine's Greg Rice asks after the sequel.
"That's the problem,
no choice," said Ancel. "
has to be great. When we started
there was not that much pressure. People are - the crazy thing is that
was really not that successful and nobody talked about the game...and now, year after year, more and more people are talking about
13 Million Copies of Star Wars Battlefront Shipped
Star Wars Battlefront has managed to exceed Electronic Arts' expectations, with over 13 million copies shipped since its launch in November.
The publisher shared the news in its Q3 financial report for the 2016 fiscal year. It's important to note this figure specifically refers to the number of copies sold-in to retailers and not through to consumers.
Electronic Arts was initially aiming to ship 10 million units by the end of March 2016 but increased its projection to 13 million back in October, just a few weeks ahead of the game's November 17 release.
How The Division Will Avoid the Let-downs of Destiny 1.0
In the lead-up to Destiny, the rhetoric around the upcoming Bungie title was, well, garbled. Bungie didn’t want to call it an MMO, but nor was it a straight shooter or an online RPG. It was both solo and co-op, but it also had a competitive environment. In retrospect, this lack of clarity was most likely because there wasn’t an easy way to label the game: calling it any one of those things sold Destiny short on the breadth of other genres which were part of the game’s DNA.
Destiny 1.0, or Destiny Year One as it’s otherwise known, ultimately proved to be a victim of its hype. While it certainly fused first-person shooter, RPG, open-world, co-op, competitive and MMO-lite genres into a single package, the sum of its parts wasn’t particularly strong. While that’s been addressed to a certain extent with Destiny 2.0, aka The Taken King expansion, the gripes with launch Destiny have paved the way for other titles looking to enter the new sub-sub-sub-genre Bungie’s ambitious game created to easily differentiate.
Computer Beats Human at ‘Go’ for the First Time
Computers can now add the game of Go to the list of board games they've mastered and beaten a human player at.
AlphaGo, a program created by Google's London-based AI company, DeepMind, beat Fan Hui, the European Go champion, in five back-to-back matches. As reported by Nature, it has since gone on to win 99.8% of its matches against other programs, and has a match against South Korean professional Lee Sedol scheduled for March.
To master Go, DeepMind's A.I. program studied 30 million positions from expert level games, then played against itself across 50 computers. It got better with each game it played, putting in on par with other Go programs, but DeepMind then gave it the ability to examine and interpret Go boards in order to pick its next move.
Legends of Tomorrow to Feature DKR-Inspired Green Arrow
Stephen Amell will appear on DC's Legends of Tomorrow as a much older and grizzled Oliver Queen.
Speaking to EW, executive producer Marc Guggenheim revealed Amell will appear in the season's sixth episode, which jumps forward to 2046. At this point Queen has a goatee and is missing his left arm, sporting a look akin to Arrow's appearance in Dark Knight Returns.
Here's a look at Oliver Queen from Dark Knight Returns, courtesy of DC Entertainment:
VR Crucial to the Future of Star Wars Stories
Star Wars is moving into virtual reality.
Per a special report from SlashFilm, Lucasfilm and Disney are currently exploring stories - er, cinematic experiences - that connect with the upcoming films and will be helmed by "big-name filmmakers and screenwriters". According to the Lucasfilm Story Group's Diana Williams, the filmmakers involved in the upcoming batch of Star Wars movies will be involved in these side projects, and will work with "creatives from the world of video games that have more experience in interactive storytelling".
The companies aren't just venturing into traditional virtual reality, either - they're currently exploring 'holo cinema', an augmented reality experience. This tech will also be used in theme parks, like the upcoming Star Wars Land.