WWE Alum AJ Lee on Her “Crazy” Road to Wrestling
Like many past and present members of the WWE locker room, April “AJ” Mendez Brooks grew up loving wrestling and dreaming of becoming a WWE superstar herself. But for AJ, the possibility of achieving stardom in that world seemed especially unlikely, given her diminutive stature, and that in the post-“Attitude”, pre-“Divas revolution” era, the WWE’s female wrestlers were being given very little storyline time, with only a handful of deviations to the types of women on the roster.
However, not only did Mendez Brooks make it into the WWE, she became a breakout star under her WWE name, AJ Lee – in the process becoming the first woman to both have merchandise made for her or to be put on a WWE Pay-Per-View poster in several years, thank to her popularity. Along the way, she became a three time Divas champion, was included in prominent storylines with the likes of Daniel Bryan, Kane, Dolph Ziggler, and her future real life husband, CM Punk, and was named WWE RAW General Manager, among many other milestones.
Daniel Craig Reportedly Persuaded Back for Bond 25
He may have been far from eager for another go at playing 007 back when he was promoting SPECTRE, but Daniel Craig has reportedly been wooed back for James Bond 25.
New York Post's Page Six gossip column, citing multiple sources, claims Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has "'just about persuaded Daniel Craig to do one more Bond movie.'"
Broccoli also recently produced the off-Broadway production of Othello, which won Craig good notices for his turn as the villainous Iago.
Invincible Movie Announced
Robert Kirkman's long-running superhero comic book series Invincible is being turned into a movie.
Skybound announced today that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg will direct, write, and produce the film adaptation for Universal. Kirkman promises that Rogen and Goldberg are the perfect filmmakers for the project and the comic's "surprising, edgy, shocking, and oftentimes blood-soaked story couldn't be in more capable hands."
Invincible comic.
Kirkman went on to say he's "very confident this will be another superhero movie, in a long line of superhero movies that continues to prove that it's a viable, thrilling genre that will keep people coming back to the cinema for years to comes."
Google Reveals What Games, Consoles Teens Think Are Cool
The Legend of Zelda, Grand Theft Auto and Minecraft are among a handful of the most popular game franchises for teenagers, according to a new study.
It's all part of a Google guide that researched what teens — specifically, Generation Z, which includes people born between the mid-1990's and the early 2000's — think are cool. But those series aren't alone. When it comes to games, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Pokemon also sit at the top for the youthful demographic. For the purposes of the study, Google classifies Gen Z as teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17.
Every Major Fast and the Furious Character
From Dominic Toretto's days racing on the streets of Los Angeles to flying a car through skyscrapers in Abu Dhabi to, shockingly, turning on the Fast Family in New York City, the Fast and Furious franchise has spanned eight films and many, many characters.
With The Fate of the Furious releasing on April 14, IGN has decided to live life a little more than a quarter mile at a time and reflect on every major character from the last seven films — and the few we know will appear in the upcoming eighth film.
Check out the gallery below to see every major hero, villain, hero-turned-villain, villain-turned-hero, and (nearly) every key side character who has helped, or try to hurt, the Toretto crew along the way. (So yes, some are not quite as major as the core Fast Family.) Spoilers obviously follow for the first seven movies...
Shia LaBeouf Movie Sells One Ticket in the U.K.
Shia LaBeouf's latest indie drama Man Down was a major flop at the U.K. box office.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, via comScore's report, the film only managed to sell one ticket at a theater in Burnley, grossing just $8.70/£7 in its opening run.
Though Man Down only opened in a limited number of theaters and also debuted simultaneously on digital platforms in the U.K., the $8.70 gross was certainly well below expectations. However, Man Down did perform better in the United States, earning roughly $454,490 in a limited theatrical run in early December.
Wonder Woman Director on Joss Whedon Joining the DCEU
Patty Jenkins, the director of Warner Bros.' upcoming Wonder Woman movie, is excited at the prospect of Joss Whedon joining the DCEU and believes he's well suited to helm a film about Batgirl.
When asked by Toronto Sun about the recent report that Whedon is in talks to write, direct and produce a standalone Batgirl movie, Jenkins said she's not sure if a deal has yet to made, "but if it is done, then I'm excited about it."
The Walking Dead: Season 7 Finale Lowest Rated in Years
The viewership for The Walking Dead's Season 7 finale was the lowest it's been since the show's second season.
According to Deadline, 11.3 million viewers watched the episode, titled "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life" (read IGN's review), on Sunday night. While this marks a 7 percent increase in total viewing audience compared to last week's episode, the finale's total viewership was down 20 percent when compared to the Season 6 finale.
Why Ian McKellen Turned Down Dumbledore
Ian McKellen has revealed why he turned down the role of Dumbledore in the Harry Potter film series after Richard Harris' death in 2002.
In an interview with BBC's HARDtalk show, McKellen explained that Harris disliked him as an actor, calling McKellen, along with Derek Jacobi and Kenneth Branaugh, “technically brilliant, but passionless” performers. Due to Harris' harsh criticism, McKellen couldn't accept the role.
"I couldn’t take over the part from an actor who I’d known didn’t approve of me," McKellen said.
McKellen then went on to praise Michael Gambon, who eventually succeeded Harris as Dumbledore in the final six Harry Potter films, calling his performance glorious. The Lord of the Rings actor also wrote in his website following Harris' death that, despite turning down Dumbledore, he ended up starring as "the superior wizard" in Gandalf.
Persona 5 Blocks PS4 Share Features
Persona 5 players won't have access to built-in PlayStation 4 sharing for screenshots and videos.
Atlus has announced that those features are currently blocked for Persona 5. Additionally, the company is threatening consequences for people who stream and post late-game content, noting that players who show anything in-game past July 7th within Persona 5 "do so at the risk of being issued a content ID claim or worse, a channel strike/account suspension."
"Simply put, we don’t want the experience to be spoiled for people who haven’t played the game," Atlus wrote on the company's website. "Our fans have waited years for the game to come out, and we really want to make sure they can experience it fully as a totally new adventure."