AT&T Buying Time Warner
After several days of negotiations, AT&T has reached a deal to acquire Time Warner.
According to The Wall Street Journal (via Variety), the purchase is valued at over $80 billion. Ownership of Time Warner means that AT&T will also be the proud owner of Warner Bros., DC Comics, HBO, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, as well as a number of iconic characters, including Superman, Batman and Mad Max.
While AT&T will also have ownership of the Harry Potter film franchise, the company won't outright own the Harry Potter character.
‘Preacher’ Artist Steve Dillon Passes Away at 54
Comic book artist Steve Dillon has passed away at the age of 54.
Dillon's passing was confirmed this morning by his broth Glynn, who tweeted, "Sad to confirm the death of Steve, my big brother and my hero. He passed away in the city he loved (NYC). He will be sorely missed. Cheers x"
Jessica Jones: Female Directors to Helm All of Season 2
The directorial lineup for the second season of Marvel's Jessica Jones will be comprised entirely of women.
Melissa Rosenberg, executive producer of the hit Netflix-exclusive series, shared the news during her panel at Transform Hollywood, which was relayed on Twitter by Variety's Mo Ryan (via ScreenRant).
Rosenberg spoke to aiming for a diverse set of perspectives as well when hiring for the show's writing staff, according to Variety, explaining that she looks for those with people who have experiences separate from hers.
Deadpool 2 Just Lost Its Director
Director Tim Miller has reportedly left Deadpool 2 over creative differences with star Ryan Reynolds.
While its unknown what those differences were specifically, Miller's exit was reportedly "amicable," according to Variety. Both Miller and Reynolds were confirmed to be returning for the sequel when it was announced back in April.
The Miller-directed Deadpool hit theaters earlier this year and went on to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, earning over $780 million USD worldwide. The sequel is set to introduce both Cable and Domino. Kyle Chandler (Bloodline, Friday Night Lights) is reportedly in the running to play Cable, while six actresses, including Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Lizzy Caplan, are reportedly in contention to play Domino.
Lord of the Rings Spinoff Beren and Lúthien Coming in 2017
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings spinoff story about Beren and Lúthien will be published next year.
According to Entertainment Weekly, HarperCollins will release the book sometime in 2017, a full century after Tolkien first wrote the story.
Beren and Lúthien tells the love story of a mortal man named Beren and an elf maiden named Lúthien. In addition to appearing in Tolkien's collection of works The Silmarillion, the pair are mentioned by Aragorn, whose relationship with Arwen in The Lord of the Rings is very similar to that of Beren and Lúthien.
The story was first released in a 12-volume series called The History of Middle-Earth, but will now be available as a standalone book that includes illustrations by Alan Lee and passages from several iterations of Tolkien's work.
Indie Dev Proposes in Destiny With Help From Bungie
Two independent game developers are celebrating their Destiny-set engagement, thanks to some help from Bungie.
Adriel Wallick, organizer of the annual Train Jam, an event that invites game developers to create a game on the 52-hour train ride from Chicago to San Francisco in the lead up to the Game Developers Conference, proposed to her partner Rami Ismail, one-half of the independent developer Vlambeer, the studio behind Nuclear Throne and Luftrausers.
Using some custom-made Destiny content for the engagement, the team at Bungie delivered the proposal from Wallick as a letter from the Postmaster.
Assassination Classroom Creator’s Thoughts on Spin-offs, Dubbed Anime
A yellow, octopus-like creature that can move at Mach 20 speed is planning on destroying the earth, and the only thing that can stop him is his class of junior high school delinquents armed with an assortment of weird weapons. This is Assassination Classroom, and IGN had the chance to send a few questions to its creator Yusei Matsui during New York Comic Con.
With the wild, heartfelt anime and manga concluded, we asked Matsui (through a translator) about his work experiences, how he came up with a character like Koro-sensei, and briefly discussed what's next for him and the Assassination Classroom kids.
Warning: Mild spoilers for the end of Assassination Classroom follow!
Daily Deals: 40% off GTA V, Doom, Overwatch, Xbox One Hard Drive
Help us get to 2000 likes! Like our page to get the latest deals straight to your news feed and also look out for exclusive codes for our readers.
If you haven't yet sampled the mayhem of next-gen GTA V, consider scoring the game while console copies have reduced to £27.99. If you're like us and follow the market on these games you'll realise that this is as cheap as GTA ever gets; it is the only game that is notoriously known to hold its value (it's still £44.99 at GAME!). Forget the world-class campaign, £28 for GTA V is worth it just for GTA Online alone.
Development on The Last Guardian Is Complete
UPDATE: Sony president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida has now confirmed the news on Twitter, writing, "I've waited a very long time to say this... The Last Guardian has gone gold! I'm so excited for you all to finally experience it."
Development on The Last Guardian is reportedly complete.
In a tweet that was since deleted (but was captured by Polygon), Sony Interactive Entertainment producer Jun Yoshino announced today that the PlayStation 4 exclusive has gone gold, indicating the game will make its December 6 release date. However, after the news spread, Yoshino pulled the tweet in less than an hour.
Justice League Director Reveals New Wonder Woman Photo
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Wonder Woman, Zach Snyder has released a new photo of Gal Gadot as the Amazonian superhero in his upcoming Justice League film.
The image was shown in honor of the character during a celebration at the United Nations, and has since been posted on Snyder's official Twitter account. Check out the photo below to see Gadot sporting a very serious face amidst a fiery background.
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in Justice League, via Zack Snyder on Twitter