Here’s What It’s Like to Get Married on Pandora
Anyone can get married at a beach, church, or winery, but how many of your friends have tied the knot on an alien planet? (Okay, fine, at a recreation of an alien planet, but a very lifelike one.)
Disney has offered custom weddings and honeymoons at its various theme parks and resorts for years, and thanks to its unscripted docuseries, Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings (currently streaming on Disney+), viewers can now peek behind the curtain to find out what it takes to have a wedding in the Valley of Mo’ara on Pandora, the alien planet introduced in James Cameron's Avatar, which has been brought to life at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida.
For an exclusive look at Patrice and Dontrell's wedding in Pandora from this week's episode of Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings, premiering on Disney+ on March 6, watch the video below or at the top of the page:
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While the gorgeous venue at Pandora does look like a nice spot to get hitched, we really wanted to know if Star Wars Galaxy's Edge is up for grabs. In order to learn about all things related to Disney weddings, IGN spoke to Korri McFann, Marketing Director of Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings, to see what dreams can come true.
"We do offer ways to celebrate Star Wars theming throughout your wedding however, at this time, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge is not an available venue, McFann told IGN. "But who knows what the future may hold."
Some iconic locations that are currently available include the Tower of Terror courtyard at Disney World's Hollywood Studios, the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom, locations in many of the countries around Epcot, the iconic railroad train station at Magic Kingdom, and the courtyards in front of the castles at Disneyland and Magic Kindgom.
McFann told us that the Disney weddings team has you covered every step of the way "from your engagement ring, to the first phone call with your wedding planner, picking out your wedding dress, to your wedding day, your honeymoon, and your return visits to Disney destinations."
IGN can also exclusively reveal some first-look photos of the Pandoran wedding in the gallery below:
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"This wedding was truly a special way to celebrate in a beautiful land inspired by the power and the majesty of nature," McFann said. "For this wedding, we incorporated exotic floral down the aisle and simple wooden benches to complement the beautiful surroundings at Disney's Animal Kingdom."
One of the important things to consider if a Disney wedding sounds like your cup of tea (in addition to the price tag, of course - event minimum costs can range from $5,000 up to $50,000) is that your ceremony will either take place early in the morning before the parks officially open or late at night after the parks close, which are the only times the venues are free of tourists who might stumble in and ruin your photo op. "But, as you can see from the Pandora setting, having your guests rise a little earlier for a sunrise wedding is worth the effort," McFann noted, saying couples can follow @DisneyWeddings on social media to keep up with the latest news and announcements.
"A Pandoran Wedding" featuring Patrice and Dontrell premieres on Disney+ on Friday, March 6, 2020.
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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.
Disney’s Mulan Tracking for 2020’s Biggest Domestic Opening Yet
Disney's Mulan is projected to have a domestic debut of $85 million, according to early tracking.
If The Hollywood Reporter's tracking is correct, Mulan will beat every other opening in 2020 so far with Bad Boys for Life, the biggest 2020 opening as of now, poised to drop to second place at $68.4 million. To put into perspective what an $85 million opening for Mulan looks like, Disney's last remake of one of their animated classics, 2019's The Lion King, brought in $185 million during its opening weekend.
The Lion King soared above last year's live-action Aladdin, which opened to $91 million, and tracking shows Mulan to be just under Aladdin. $85 million is nothing to scoff at though. Aladdin eventually surpassed $1 billion at the box office. $85 million would still place Mulan into the upper echelons of domestic openings for Disney's live-action remakes.
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It's important to note, though, that Mulan is doing a lot more than simply recreating the original 1998 animated film, which is why audiences won't see Mulan's dragon sidekick Mushu or her famous haircut in the new movie. Moviegoers also shouldn't expect this Mulan to randomly break into song, although the score will callback to those classic tunes from the original film.
It's also a PG-13 film, unlike its G-rated animated counterpart. It's easy to see why with the stunts and action exhibited in recent trailers and featurettes.
Mulan is set to open March 27 and is directed by Niko Caro (Whale Rider, The Zookeeper's Wife). The titular hero is played by Chinese actress Liu Yifei, also known as Crystal Liu. Last year, the actress found herself at the center of a controversy after making a statement of support for Hong Kong's police amidst protests.
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You can catch up on all things Mulan by checking out a sneak peek trailer from this year's Super Bowl and by looking at some recent character posters. We've also got some official photos from the movie to tide you over until you see it in theaters later this month.
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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.
GTA Online: Claim Double Rewards on Gunrunning Sell Missions This Week
This week in Grand Theft Auto Online, you can get double rewards on Gunrunning Sell Missions and the Bunker Series.
The Last of Us TV Show Will Replace the Film Adaptation
The Last of Us HBO TV series will replace the proposed movie adaptation, according to a source familiar with Sony’s plans for the popular Naughty Dog video game.
IGN has learned from sources at Sony Pictures that the newly announced HBO TV adaptation of The Last of Us will replace the film adaptation that Sony previously announced back in 2014. At the time, Sony announced that Neil Druckmann would write and produce the film adaptation under Sony’s Screen Gems’ movie label. Sam Raimi was also attached to produce the film.
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By 2015, Durckmann said that a second draft of the movie script was written and that actors had read for roles in the film. But by 2016, movement on the film stalled and there were no further updates on the project.
Instead, it seems Sony has decided to move forward with a television adaptation in its place. Druckmann is still attached to write and produce the series, but this time with Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin. The project has also moved under the PlayStation Productions label which was created in 2019 specifically to create adaptations of popular PlayStation video games.
Other video game adaptations currently being produced at PlayStation Productions include the Uncharted movie starring Tom Holland as a young Nathan Drake.
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The Last of Us HBO series doesn’t have a release date yet, and in a tweet announcing the TV news, Druckmann said that first, they need to release a video game. A reference to The Last of Us Part 2 which is the long-awaited sequel scheduled to be released this year.
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Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.
First Valorant Playable Character Revealed
Riot has revealed the first character from its competitive FPS Valorant. Phoenix is an agent from Britain who can use fire-based abilities to get the edge on enemy players.
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Valorant’s playable characters are known as Agents, and Phoenix is the first one to get a proper introduction. The short video Riot has put out shows him using a couple of abilities that involve controlling fire. The first is a fireball summoned with a click of his fingers that can be bounced around corners. While the video does not explicitly explain what each ability does, it appears to work akin to a flash bang, as the ability’s victim appears to have a stun-like visual before Phoenix scores an easy headshot on them. It appears that the ability can be used twice in a round, as it has two charges on the HUD.
The HUD also shows a further three abilities with a single charge each, one of which Phoenix uses to summon a wall of fire that’s impossible to see through. This allows him to cut a lane of the map off, use a fireball to help take on two enemies, and then eliminate someone approaching from the other angle as the firewall extinguishes.
The other two abilities are not used in the video, but the icons suggest one may be another form of the fireball ability (perhaps one that deals damage instead) and another ability that seems as if it could heal. With Phoenix borrowing his name from the legendary bird that rises from the ashes after death, could this be a resurrect skill?
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Abilities in Valorant work differently to other hero shooters, in that they are ‘bought’ at the start of each round with currency earned from kills and objective wins, rather than a permanent part of an Agent’s kit. If anything like Counter-Strike’s economy elements, certain abilities will be very expensive and require a certain amount of success in a match to afford.
For more on Valorant, check out our hands-on preview of Riot’s potentially huge FPS.
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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.
The Last of Us TV Show Coming to HBO, Written by Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin
The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann will team up with Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin on a television adaptation of The Last of Us for HBO.
According to THR, Druckmann will be involved in the creation of the HBO The Last of Us series. This is a rarity for video game adaptations as the game creators aren’t usually directly involved with the adaptation process of their games. Druckmann and Mazin will write and adapt.
Naughty Dog president Evan Wells will serve as executive producer alongside Carolyn Strauss. Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions will co-produce the series for the cable network.
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Mazin is best known for creating 2019's award-winning series Chernobyl about the nuclear disaster in Ukraine. Mazin is reportedly a fan of video games and has called Druckmann "without question the finest storyteller working in the video game medium, and The Last of Us is his magnum opus."
"Getting a chance to adapt this breathtaking work of art has been a dream of mine for years, and I'm so honored to do it in partnership with Neil."
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Drukmann also commented on the project saying, "From the first time I sat down to talk with Craig I was equally blown away by his approach to narrative and his love and deep understanding of The Last of Us. With Chernobyl, Craig and HBO created a tense, harrowing, emotional masterpiece. I couldn't think of better partners to bring the story of The Last of Us to life as a television show."
Druckmann confirmed the news in a Tweet.
The Last of Us was released first on PlayStation 3 in 2013, with a PlayStation 4 remaster following soon after. Naughty Dog is currently developing The Last of Us Part 2 for the PlayStation 4, which is set to release later this year. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/05/06/chernobyl-official-trailer-2019-stellan-skarsgard-jared-harris-emily-watson"] IGN is reaching out to HBO to learn further details about the project. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.Ellie and Joel are heading to HBO! But first... we got a little game to finish! https://t.co/eMIy5gmUiw
— Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) March 5, 2020
Star Wars Novelization Reveals Rey’s Father Is Failed Palpatine Clone
The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker novelization has reportedly revealed that Rey's father was actually a "not-quite-identical clone" of Emperor Palpatine.
An excerpt from an advanced copy of the Star Wars tie-in book, written by Rae Carson, recently emerged online (h/t ScreenRant) and shed new light on Rey's backstory, as it exposed her father to be a failed clone of the all-powerful Sith Lord.
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The passage pertaining to the revelation was posted on Reddit by a user who shared a photograph of the text, which reads: "The heretics of the Sith Eternal toiled, splicing genes, bolstering tissue, creating unnatural abominations in the hope that one of these strandcasts would succeed and become a worthy receptacle. The heretics would do anything, risk anything, sacrifice anything, to create a cradle for their god-consciousness.
"Nothing worked. But their efforts were not entirely in vain. One genetic strandcast lived. Thrived, even. A not-quite-identical clone. His 'son.' But he was a useless, powerless failure. Palpatine could not even bear to look upon such disappointing ordinariness. The boy's only worth would lay in continuing the bloodline through more natural means."
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It was previously revealed that Palpatine's spirit was thrust into a clone body, though it wasn't strong enough to maintain his power. However, this new extract adds an extra layer of understanding, as it reveals that the Sith Eternal strived to locate a new vessel for Palpatine's essence while one of the other failed strandcasts "thrived" to become Rey's father.
It was heavily teased before the release of The Rise of Skywalker – even by director J.J. Abrams himself – that Rey's backstory, and who her parents were, would be explained, despite the events of The Last Jedi having left some fans disappointed over the previous build-up to Rey's origins being halted by the not so earth-shattering revelation that her parents were "nobodies," junkers who sold their young daughter for drinking money.
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Last year, reports indicated that The Rise of Skywalker would be the longest Star Wars film ever, clocking in at 155 minutes, but before the film landed in theatres the new official runtime of 141 minutes was announced, suggesting that some more material had been cut in an effort to condense the film; this was further evidenced by a Reddit user who posted a complex thread alluding to a "JJ Cut" of Episode IX that supposedly hit around the three-hour mark.
Regardless of whether or not that JJ Cut exists, it seems that we should expect a few more twists and turns to come out of The Rise of Skywalker novelization, hitting shelves on March 17, as it is said to include some "expanded scenes and content not seen in theatres, as well as a few surprises — all culled from deleted scenes, never-before-seen material, and input from the filmmakers."
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For more on the Skywalker Saga, find out how The Rise of Skywalker's Visual Dictionary answers some of the plot's key questions, take a look at a few images of leaked concept art from Colin Trevorrow's axed Duel of the Fates film, and read all about George Lucas' secret cameos in recent Star Wars films.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
TCL Latest Foldable Phone Prototype Has a Rollable Screen
Foldable phones are officially a trend now and while we’ve seen devices that fold in half vertically and horizontally, TCL has shown us something completely new with its rollable phone.
At first glance, this handset looks mostly like any traditional 6.75-inch smartphone you would have in your pocket, but you can pull it apart to expand it into a 7.8-inch tablet. It’s a different spin on foldable phones as it keeps the expanded OLED display tucked away inside the phone itself.
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We only saw a dummy mockup of the rollable phone during our meeting with TCL, but the company tells us it has a working prototype with a working screen and even a motor that takes care of expanding the phone for you.
Out of all the foldable phones we’ve seen so far this one was the most appealing to us because it feels and looks like a regular smartphone when it's not expanded. It’s the closest thing we’ve seen to the Global Link communicator from Earth: Final Conflict and we hope to see a working prototype soon.
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Triple Changer
TCL also showed off a second foldable device that features a tri-fold display. It looks like a folding phone straight out of Westworld and its one of the first devices we’ve seen with two separate hinge mechanisms. Basically, you start off with a 6.65-inch phone that unfurls like a paper menu into a 10-inch tablet. Since you have one part of the screen that folds into the device and the second part that wraps around it you can use it in a variety of modes as a regular phone, a two- or three-screen tablet, and even a laptop. The last mode basically has you fold the device in a way that the middle third of the screen is sitting at an angle while the side that lays flat for you to type. We got our hands on a prototype that works and it was amazing to see the screen quickly adapt between us using one, two, or three screens. That said, when fully folded up this prototype is as thick as two or three smartphones stacked together, which is a lot to put in your pocket. We hope TCL refines this prototype into something thinner and slighter as its one of the most versatile foldable devices we’ve seen so far. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Kevin Lee is IGN's Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspamGhost of Tsushima Gets June Release Date
Ghost of Tsushima will be released on June 26.
Announced on the PlayStation Blog, Sucker Punch's new game also got a new story trailer, and details of the special, collector's and digital deluxe versions of the game.
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The story trailer shows off the game's hero, Jin Sakai, as well as his uncle Shimura – who is the lord of Tsushima – and Khotun Khan, the leader of the invading Mongol army.
As for those various editions of the game, you can get a good look at each one, and their contents, in the gallery below:
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Both the special and digital deluxe versions of the game come in at $69.99, and collector's edition at $169.99 (UK and AU prices not available at time of writing).
If you preorder any edition of Ghost of Tsushima, you'll get a digital mini soundtrack and Jin avatar, as well as a new PS4 Dynamic Theme based on the game's box art, which you can see in the tweet below:
It's been a long time waiting for Sucker Punch fans – Ghost of Tsushima was announced at Paris Games Week in 2017, and it was unclear when we'd get the game until last year's Game Awards, when were were teased with a 'Summer' release window. Ghost of Tsushima will likely be the last major Sony exclusive for PS4, ahead of the release of PS5 in Q4 this year. We'd quite like an Infamous sequel from Sucker Punch after that, if you please. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=9-sequels-that-would-make-ps5-a-force-to-reckon-with&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Weirdly, IGN's old Executive Editor of News, Andrew Goldfarb, wrote the blog post he based this story on. Follow him on Twitter (Joe, not Andrew, he's got enough followers).Anyone who pre-orders any edition of #GhostOfTsushima will get access to a digital mini soundtrack and Jin avatar, as well as a new PS4 Dynamic Theme based on our box art pic.twitter.com/xMHdW376XP
— Ghost of Tsushima June 26 (@SuckerPunchProd) March 5, 2020
Lucifer: Tom Ellis Reportedly Finalises Deal for Potential Season 6
Lucifer star Tom Ellis has reportedly finalised a new deal to return as the title character in a possible sixth season of the supernatural series on Netflix.
This latest update, reported by TVLine, is devilishly good news for Lucifans, as it seems to indicate that the show's stars are signing on to extend their contracts ahead of a potential season renewal, as co-showrunners Ildy Modrovich and Joe Henderson were also reported to have inked new deals last week.
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It is believed that Netflix recently entered talks with Warner Bros. to resurrect Lucifer beyond its planned fifth and "final" season, as fans have been campaigning for the show's continuation ever since it was cancelled by Fox after just three seasons on the air.
The fifth season of Lucifer was originally set to be a 10-episode run but Netflix significantly expanded the episode count while the show was still in production, ordering six additional episodes to take the grand total up to 16, split across two parts on the streamer.
The episode expansion signified that the writers required more scope to tell the story and wrap up all of the threads from the fourth season of the series, loosely based on Neil Gaiman's depiction of the Devil from the Sandman comic book and its spinoff Lucifer.
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Meanwhile, veteran actor Dennis Haysbert recently joined the cast of Lucifer to play God in the show's expanded fifth season. His role as the Almighty could potentially give his two sons, Lucifer and Amenadiel, more opportunities to bond together as a family.
In our review of Lucifer Season 4, we commended the characters' individual storylines, saying "a shorter season spins a tighter arc in which all threads wind together for a finale that either serves as a bittersweet conclusion or leaves the door open for a fresh, new chapter."
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
