Yearly Archives: 2020

Kingdom Hearts TV Show Reportedly Coming to Disney+

A Kingdom Hearts TV show is reportedly in development for Disney+. According to a few entertainment industry journalists posting on Twitter, a TV show adaptation of Square Enix’s video game series is in production.

There is a #KingdomHearts series in the works at Disney+.
Disney originally wanted to make it but that didn't work out, so Square Enix was asked to create a pilot using Unreal Engine. This series is most likely not live-action, but CG animated. They're currently casting. pic.twitter.com/jroZXImeOm — Emre Kaya (@Vullein) May 26, 2020

Emre Kaya, writer for The Cinema Spot, tweeted that Disney originally had plans to make the show, but duties apparently shifted to Square Enix. The company has reportedly created a pilot episode using the Unreal Engine, the software used to build the video games. “This series is most likely not live-action, but CG animated. They're currently casting,” said Kaya. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/01/24/kingdom-hearts-3-review"] Kaya claims that the information was originally due to be published as an exclusive report, but that changed due to other insiders knowing about the project. This seemingly encouraged others to add to the conversation, with MCUCosmic founder Jeremy Conrad also claiming that “it’s true”. The DisInsider editor-in-chief Skyler Shuler added more to the story, claiming that “Disney VO actors are expected to reprise their roles (Jim Cummings, Bill Farmer, Tony Anselmo)”.

Been tagged in Jeremys post (which is true), so here’s what I know:
-Kingdom Hearts will be a Disney+ series, not a movie. -It’s animated (CG) -Disney VO actors are expected to reprise their roles (Jim Cummings, Bill Farmer, Tony Anselmo) All I know. https://t.co/UTFGqXtSP6 — Skyler Shuler (@SkylerShuler) May 26, 2020

Disney originally planned to create a Kingdom Hearts animated series after the success of the original game in 2002, but it was cancelled due to being a “vastly different interpretation” of the game’s story. Disney nor Square Enix has made any announcement about the animated show, so the official status of such a project - if it is indeed real - remains unknown. For more Kingdom Hearts you can see right now, check out our review of Kingdom Hearts 3 and its Re Mind DLC. More Kingdom Hearts is due in a mobile game soon, and Square Enix is staffing up for further development in the series. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.

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Avatar 2 to Resume Production, New Plot Details Revealed

Avatar 2 producer Jon Landau has teased a few early plot details about the long-awaited sequel, as the crew prepares to recommence filming in the wake of its production shutdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In a recent Instagram post, Landau, who is co-producing Avatar 2 with director James Cameron, shared a set photo of two high-tech underwater ships, as he announced the crew's plans to resume production in New Zealand soon. "Our Avatar sets are ready — and we couldn't be more excited to be headed back to New Zealand next week," Landau revealed in the caption a few days ago before making a direct reference to the accompanying photo. "Check out the Matador, a high speed forward command vessel (bottom) and the Picador jetboat (top) — can't wait to share more." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2017/08/10/james-cameron-on-why-avatar-sequels-spirituality-is-essential"] As one of the first major studio productions to start up shooting again, Landau confirmed to New Zealand news site RNZ that only a small team will return to the country, where they will enter quarantine for two weeks, as the cast and crew plan to follow a "detailed and diligent safety plan that will keep everybody as safe as possible in these unprecedented times." In the same interview, Landau shared a few minor details about the story of the 2021 sequel, as he revealed that Sam Worthington's Jake and Zoe Saldana's Neytiri will be forced to abandon their home and explore never-before-seen parts of Pandora in the forthcoming film. "This is the story of the Sully family and what one does to keep their family together," Landau explained to the outlet. "Jake and Neytiri have a family in this movie, they are forced to leave their home, they go out and explore the different regions of Pandora, including spending quite a bit of time on the water, around the water, in the water." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=avatar-sequels-concept-art-revealed&captions=true"] Landau's tidbit of information about the plot aligns with the previously released concept art for the Avatar sequels, showcasing various scenic locations, including islands surrounded by azure blue seas, bioluminescent bays, and floating rock formations. We suspect that there will be more sneak peeks over the coming months, as Avatar 2 currently remains on track to swoop into theatres on December 17, 2021 - with the other sequels set to release on December 22, 2023, December 19, 2025, and December 17, 2027. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

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Teaser Leak Suggests Star Wars Battlefront 2 Is June’s Second PS Plus Game

A leaked teaser suggests that Star Wars Battlefront 2 will be June's second PS Plus game. The short video, which was spotted on Instagram and posted to twitter by Nibellion, shows a short clip of Star Wars Battlefront 2 and notes that the game will be "available with PS Plus this month." It was previously announced on Monday that PS Plus subscribers would receive Call of Duty: WWII as the first of June's free games, with more details to come later in the week.

Rumor: 2nd PS+ game for June is Star Wars: Battlefront 2 according to a teaser trailer that popped up on Instagramhttps://t.co/by3oWfkyBN pic.twitter.com/06Suz12yVt
— Nibel (@Nibellion) May 27, 2020

This leak looks credible and suggests that PlayStation may officially reveal June's full lineup soon. Star Wars Battlefront 2 has had something of a redemption arc following its controversial launch. We re-reviewed the game in 2019 after its initial 2017 launch, and found it delivered an "unrivaled Force-fueled multiplayer fantasy." Back in late April, Star Wars Battlefront 2 received its final "regular content" update in the form of the Battle of Scarif update, which brought the iconic set piece from Rogue One into the game alongside updated The Rise of Skywalker skins for the game's many hero characters. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

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Mister Sinister Was Supposed to Be in This X-Men Movie

Iconic Marvel Comics villain Mister Sinister narrowly missed his chance to appear in Fox's X-Men movie franchise. According to Dark Phoenix writer/director Simon Kinberg, the plan was for Sinister to appear in the now canceled Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum. Kinberg confirmed those story plans while taking part in IGN's Watch From Home Theater for X-Men: Days of Future Past. 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse was indeed meant to set the stage for a Mister Sinister-driven X-Men movie. Just maybe not the one fans would have guessed. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=all-the-x-men-movies-that-probably-wont-happen-now-and-a-few-that-will&captions=true"] "We had a tease of it at the end of Apocalypse. The Essex Corp is something that you see in a tag at the end of Apocalypse," said Kinberg. "We had talked about doing something with him, and I won't get into the specifics of it since it's no longer a 20th Century Fox property and now it's part of the MCU. I have no idea what the plan is. But Mister Sinister was going to be part of the Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum." This seems to discredit another popular online rumor suggesting Sinister would have a cameo in New Mutants (with actors like Jon Hamm and Daniel Craig rumored for the role), setting him up as a major villain in that particular spinoff series. Indeed, Kinberg told IGN that plans for Mr. Sinister never got close enough to the casting stage so you can forget about those rumors of Hamm and Craig. A Gambit movie has been in various stages of development ever since the character's live-action debut in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Channing Tatum came aboard to star in and produce the Gambit movie in 2014. Sadly, despite appearing at Comic-Con in 2015 alongside Stan Lee and the rest of the X-Men movie-verse cast, Tatum's dream of playing the Ragin' Cajun never materialized. The film cycled through several directors, including Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity), and Gore Verbinski (the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy). But ultimately, Gambit was one of many planned X-Men movies canceled after Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox. [youtube clip_id="CodGWCorX8I"] As Kinberg alludes, there's no telling what Marvel Studios' plans for the X-Men franchise are right now. It's always possible the Gambit movie will survive the transition to Disney (as Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool 3 seems to have done) and we may still see Tatum given the chance to play Gambit at long last. But for now, fans may need to wait a very long time to see Gambit finally battle Mister Sinister on the big screen. Check back soon for even more juicy tidbits revealed during the Days of Future Past WFH Theater stream. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

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Mister Sinister Was Supposed to Be in This X-Men Movie

Iconic Marvel Comics villain Mister Sinister narrowly missed his chance to appear in Fox's X-Men movie franchise. According to Dark Phoenix writer/director Simon Kinberg, the plan was for Sinister to appear in the now canceled Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum. Kinberg confirmed those story plans while taking part in IGN's Watch From Home Theater for X-Men: Days of Future Past. 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse was indeed meant to set the stage for a Mister Sinister-driven X-Men movie. Just maybe not the one fans would have guessed. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=all-the-x-men-movies-that-probably-wont-happen-now-and-a-few-that-will&captions=true"] "We had a tease of it at the end of Apocalypse. The Essex Corp is something that you see in a tag at the end of Apocalypse," said Kinberg. "We had talked about doing something with him, and I won't get into the specifics of it since it's no longer a 20th Century Fox property and now it's part of the MCU. I have no idea what the plan is. But Mister Sinister was going to be part of the Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum." This seems to discredit another popular online rumor suggesting Sinister would have a cameo in New Mutants (with actors like Jon Hamm and Daniel Craig rumored for the role), setting him up as a major villain in that particular spinoff series. Indeed, Kinberg told IGN that plans for Mr. Sinister never got close enough to the casting stage so you can forget about those rumors of Hamm and Craig. A Gambit movie has been in various stages of development ever since the character's live-action debut in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Channing Tatum came aboard to star in and produce the Gambit movie in 2014. Sadly, despite appearing at Comic-Con in 2015 alongside Stan Lee and the rest of the X-Men movie-verse cast, Tatum's dream of playing the Ragin' Cajun never materialized. The film cycled through several directors, including Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity), and Gore Verbinski (the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy). But ultimately, Gambit was one of many planned X-Men movies canceled after Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox. [youtube clip_id="CodGWCorX8I"] As Kinberg alludes, there's no telling what Marvel Studios' plans for the X-Men franchise are right now. It's always possible the Gambit movie will survive the transition to Disney (as Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool 3 seems to have done) and we may still see Tatum given the chance to play Gambit at long last. But for now, fans may need to wait a very long time to see Gambit finally battle Mister Sinister on the big screen. Check back soon for even more juicy tidbits revealed during the Days of Future Past WFH Theater stream. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

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Tenet: Nolan Blew Up a Real Jumbo Jet Because It Was Easier Than VFX

Director Christopher Nolan is renowned for his preference for practical effects over CGI. In that case, it may come as no surprise that – during the production of the highly-anticipated Tenet – Nolan opted to simply blow up a real 747 rather than rely on visual effects. “I planned to do it using miniatures and set-piece builds and a combination of visual effects and all the rest,” Nolan told UK magazine Total Film, via GameRadar. “We started to run the numbers... It became apparent that it would actually be more efficient to buy a real plane of the real size, and perform this sequence for real in camera, rather than build miniatures or go the CG route.” [ignvideo width=610 height=374 url=https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/22/tenet-official-trailer-2] According to Nolan the team discovered a stockpile of old planes while location scouting in California, and called the purchase “kind of impulse buying.” Star Robert Pattinson dubbed the move “so bold to the point of ridiculousness.” “You wouldn’t have thought there was any reality where you would be doing a scene where they just have an actual 747 to blow up!” said the actor. This isn’t the first time Nolan has insisted on using genuine aircraft for a production; Dunkirk used real Spitfires and a Spanish-manufactured HA-1112 Buchón (a license-built version of the infamous Messerschmitt Bf 109) for its remarkable dogfighting sequences. However, despite rumours Nolan had planned to crash an antique plane during Dunkirk’s production, all destruction scenes in the movie were shot with replicas. Nolan recently unveiled the second trailer for Tenet, after which leading man John David Washington revealed that he and the other actors were often just as confused about the movie’s plot as fans watching the teaser. Despite uncertainly around the operation of cinemas worldwide related to the current pandemic, Tenet’s release date still stands at July 17, 2020. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter sporadically @MrLukeReilly.

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Tenet: Nolan Blew Up a Real Jumbo Jet Because It Was Easier Than VFX

Director Christopher Nolan is renowned for his preference for practical effects over CGI. In that case, it may come as no surprise that – during the production of the highly-anticipated Tenet – Nolan opted to simply blow up a real 747 rather than rely on visual effects. “I planned to do it using miniatures and set-piece builds and a combination of visual effects and all the rest,” Nolan told UK magazine Total Film, via GameRadar. “We started to run the numbers... It became apparent that it would actually be more efficient to buy a real plane of the real size, and perform this sequence for real in camera, rather than build miniatures or go the CG route.” [ignvideo width=610 height=374 url=https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/22/tenet-official-trailer-2] According to Nolan the team discovered a stockpile of old planes while location scouting in California, and called the purchase “kind of impulse buying.” Star Robert Pattinson dubbed the move “so bold to the point of ridiculousness.” “You wouldn’t have thought there was any reality where you would be doing a scene where they just have an actual 747 to blow up!” said the actor. This isn’t the first time Nolan has insisted on using genuine aircraft for a production; Dunkirk used real Spitfires and a Spanish-manufactured HA-1112 Buchón (a license-built version of the infamous Messerschmitt Bf 109) for its remarkable dogfighting sequences. However, despite rumours Nolan had planned to crash an antique plane during Dunkirk’s production, all destruction scenes in the movie were shot with replicas. Nolan recently unveiled the second trailer for Tenet, after which leading man John David Washington revealed that he and the other actors were often just as confused about the movie’s plot as fans watching the teaser. Despite uncertainly around the operation of cinemas worldwide related to the current pandemic, Tenet’s release date still stands at July 17, 2020. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter sporadically @MrLukeReilly.

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If Found Review – Call Me By My Name

A little empathy goes a long way. Especially when it comes to those we seek unconditional love and support from, it can mean the difference between spiralling into a black hole of depression and having the comfort to simply exist free of judgment. It's one of the many themes If Found so vividly represents in sketchbook-style visual novel form. Through expressive minimalist illustrations, ethereal sound design, sharp writing, and thematic coherence, the chaos and serenity of young adulthood jumps out of its pages for a story that's heartbreaking, heartwarming, and wholly affecting.

With a diary and eraser, we recollect and move past the memories of main character Kasio during a pivotal time in her life. It's December 1993 in County Mayo of Ireland, and having come back to her small hometown of Achill from Dublin for the holidays, she's kind of lost. With two higher-education degrees to her name and a lukewarm desire to pursue a Ph.D, she gets the "why don't you get a decent job and start a decent life" spiel from her mom--a conversation that some of us are all too familiar with. But underlying in this early exchange is a hint that a source of pain comes from her own mom seeing right past who Kasio really is.

Tension between Kasio and her mom can paint painful scenes.

In real life, not everyone has a place to go, a network to build off and help spring you into adulthood, or even a loving home to fall back on--such is Kasio's life. As you literally erase each scene on screen with your cursor to move through the day-by-day events, all of her introspections and interactions are laid bare. Erasure is a simple gameplay mechanic, making you peel layers upon layers of vivid memories, and one with powerful implications.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

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If Found Review – Call Me By My Name

A little empathy goes a long way. Especially when it comes to those we seek unconditional love and support from, it can mean the difference between spiralling into a black hole of depression and having the comfort to simply exist free of judgment. It's one of the many themes If Found so vividly represents in sketchbook-style visual novel form. Through expressive minimalist illustrations, ethereal sound design, sharp writing, and thematic coherence, the chaos and serenity of young adulthood jumps out of its pages for a story that's heartbreaking, heartwarming, and wholly affecting.

With a diary and eraser, we recollect and move past the memories of main character Kasio during a pivotal time in her life. It's December 1993 in County Mayo of Ireland, and having come back to her small hometown of Achill from Dublin for the holidays, she's kind of lost. With two higher-education degrees to her name and a lukewarm desire to pursue a Ph.D, she gets the "why don't you get a decent job and start a decent life" spiel from her mom--a conversation that some of us are all too familiar with. But underlying in this early exchange is a hint that a source of pain comes from her own mom seeing right past who Kasio really is.

In real life, not everyone has a place to go, a network to build off and help spring you into adulthood, or even a loving home to fall back on--such is Kasio's life. As you literally erase each scene on screen with your cursor to move through the day-by-day events, all of her introspections and interactions are laid bare. Erasure is a simple gameplay mechanic, making you peel layers upon layers of vivid memories, and one with powerful implications.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

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Fantastic Four Director Josh Trank Has No Interest in a ‘Trank Cut’

Josh Trank, who directed 2015's notorious Fantastic Four reboot, has gone on the record as saying that he is not interested in any "Trank Cut" of the film being released. The so-called "Trank Cut" is obviously a reference to The Snyder Cut of Justice League. It was announced last week that Zack Snyder's version of that film will be finished and released on HBO Max in 2021. As CBR points out, a fan on Twitter suggested the idea to Trank of a director's cut of his Fantastic Four, but the filmmaker replied "No need." He then followed up with a retweet of CBR's story, saying rather cheekily, "Yeah... No trank you."

Trank's most recent film, the Tom Hardy drama Capone, was just released. He's acknowledged the problems he had on Fantastic Four. "What I tried to do with Fantastic Four was so arrogant for somebody who hadn't really gotten the handle of his own skill set as a filmmaker to do that kind of stuff with it," he told The Hollywood Reporter. He had some fun with a review of the film on Letterbox last fall, saying he was in a "heavily f**king traumatized state of mind" just two weeks before the movie was set to release. In that review, he even asked "Is there a #releasethetrankcut?" before adding that it "doesn't matter."

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=best-superhero-directors-cuts-you-can-stream-now&captions=true"]

The full story of what happened with Fantastic Four has never been revealed, but after the movie was released, actor Toby Kebbell (who played Doom in it) said that Trank "cut a great film that you’ll never see. That is a shame. A much darker version, and you’ll never see it.” Trank also tweeted a similar sentiment when the film was first released, saying "A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would've received great reviews. You’ll probably never see it. That’s reality though."

What do you think? Should a Trank Cut see the light of day? Let's discuss in the comments!

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