COD: Nazi Zombies Will Be the ‘Most Terrifying’ Yet
During the Call of Duty: WW2 Nazi Zombies Reveal panel today at San Diego Comic-Con, Sledgehammer officially revealed the next iteration of their zombies mode calling it "probably the least campy and most terrifying" yet.
The panel opened with a finished version of the previously leaked trailer, showcasing an intensely gory, horror-themed take on the zombies formula.
"The number of times we think you’re going to maybe pee a little is going to be more than what you’ve experience before," Sledgehammer co-founder Michael Condrey said, who was joined by creative director Cameron Dayton and senior director of development Jon Horsley.
The team stressed their goal is to keep it grounded and avoid that natural desire to "dial everything up to 11," while Condrey drew parallels between lessons he learned from a previous game he developed, Dead Space.
Stargate SG-1 Webseries Prequel Announced
A new Stargate SG-1 prequel series called Stargate Origins is in development, MGM announced today at Comic-Con 2017.
The 10-episode webseries follows a young Catherine Langford as she tries to solve the mysteries that lie beyond the Stargate in order to save Earth from impending doom.
Stargate Origins will be directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan (Virtual Morality), written by Mark Ilvedson and Justin Michael Terry, and produced by both MGM and New Form.
Stargate Origins logo, courtesy of MGM
Netflix Drops a Death Note on Comic-Con
For the first time ever, Netflix films held court in Comic-Con’s Hall H, as moderator Terry Crews welcomed the cast and creative team of Death Note. He was joined by director Adam Wingard, producers Masi Oka and Roy Lee, as well as stars Nat Wolff, Margaret Qualley, and LaKeith Stanfield.
To start things off, the trailer for the film was played, and it depicted Light (Wolff) as he obtained the Death Note and decided to begin wiping out criminals as Kira. In the footage, Qualley’s Mia told him that he wasn’t crazy enough, and encouraged an expansion of his crusade against evil. Stanfield’s L had a few bizarre appearances in the footage as he confronted Light.
After the footage played, Wingard noted that they took the preexisting manga by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, and breathed new life into it while exploring various themes including good vs. evil. Wolff noted that in preparation for the role, he made his own Death Note. He said that he was slow to start, but then “names were just flying off of my pen.” He said that the power is very tempting.
Grant Morrison Announces Arkham Asylum Sequel
Nearly 30 years ago, writer Grant Morrison and artist Dave McKean united for Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, which became one of the seminal Batman stories of the ‘80s. On the first day of Comic-Con International, Morrison dropped by to deliver a bombshell announcement: he is working on Arkham Asylum 2 with Batman Incorporated artist Chris Burnham.
Morrison revealed the project when he joined Dan DiDio and Jim Lee’s "DC Publishers" panel midway through its run time. Morrison told the audience that when he and Mark Millar used to be friends, they would joke about how Arkham Asylum 2 would be the sign that Morrison’s career had jumped the shark. Now, Morrison is embracing the shark jump, and setting the new tale far in the future. The sequel will feature an adult Damian Wayne as Batman, the same alternate future version Morrison first introduced in 2007's Batman #666. He also mentioned that the will be 120 pages in length.
Legion Creator Working on Fox Marvel Movie
After stepping into the world of Marvel with FX's Legion, showrunner Noah Hawley is working on another Marvel project for Fox — and he's teased one of the characters involved.
During the San Diego Comic-Con Legion panel, Hawley teased he is developing a movie for Fox by specifically hinting at one character.
"Because I’m at Comic-Con, I wanted to let you know about a movie I’m developing for Fox. The first word is ‘Doctor.’ And the second is ‘Doom,'" Hawley said on stage to close out the panel.
The Fargo and Legion showrunner didn't elaborate on whether the film would focus solely on Doom or be a Fantastic Four film. Fox released its first Fantastic Four in 2005, which starred Julian McMahon as Victor von Doom/Doctor Doom, while Toby Kebbell played him in the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot.
Godzilla vs. Kong Director on the Monsters’ Size Differences
In an interview with IGN at San Diego Comic-Con 2017, the director of the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong film shined some light on the upcoming battle of the beasts.
Adam Wingard, who previously worked on the Blair Witch sequel as well as the upcoming Death Note Netflix adaptation, explained where they were in development with Godzilla vs. Kong. "It's been a pleasure already in the first stages of it, having an excuse to go back and watch 30 Godzilla movies and justifying it to yourself. For me, it's about taking the series to the next level."
When asked about the similarities in the way both the monster films as well as Death Note deal in shades of grey, Wingard continued, "I think they're very similar in a lot of ways. It's easy to demonize Godzilla on one hand, but I have a lot of emotional attachment to both monsters." In regards to the size difference between the two beasts, Wingard added, "They gave us a good out in Kong when they mentioned that Kong is still growing, but that'll be a challenge we have to deal with, and we're very aware of that issue."
The Dark Tower Director Nikolaj Arcel on His Favorite Easter Egg
The Dark Tower film is nearly upon us, and at San Diego Comic-Con 2017, we got a chance to talk with the director of the film, Nikolaj Arcel, who revealed some details about the adaptation of Stephen King's iconic series.
Arcel noted that there are a ton major easter eggs that massive Dark Tower fans will notice in the film, his favorite being present in The Dixie Pig in the form of Lobstrosities. Anyone who's read the books know that Roland the Gunslinger encounters some of these lobster beats in The Drawing of the Three, and...well, what happens next is a bit of a spoiler. But don't fret, in the film, the Lobstrosities will be kept in an aquarium in the evil cannibal haunt.
Geoff Johns Sheds Light on DC’s Doomsday Clock
DC's second major panel of SDCC was a spotlight of acclaimed writer-turned-head of DC Films, Geoff Johns. The panel was mostly devoted to Johns reminiscing about his past at DC and the genesis of the DC Rebirth relaunch last year, though he did reveal some intriguing new details about the upcoming Doomsday Clock mini-series.
If there was any remaining doubt that Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan is the unseen antagonist behind the events of DC Rebirth, Johns officially put those to rest when he confirmed that Doomsday Clock is a story about Superman finally confronting this all-powerful foe. Johsn said that Manhattan was really the only character with the means to bring about such massive changes to the fabric of the DCU, though he did admit to being very nervous about drawing the cast of Watchmen into DC continuity. He noted that he didn't want Manhattan's inclusion to be a mere gimmick.
Marvel Announces Digital-Only ‘Immortal Iron Fists’ Comic
Marvel has announced a new partnership with Comixology to publish original digital comic books exclusively on the Comixology and Amazon Kindle platforms. As revealed at Marvel's "Next Big Thing" panel at SDCC today, the first fruit of that partnership will be the mini-series Immortal Iron Fists.
Immortal Iron Fists will be written by Kaare Andrews (Spider-Man: Reign) and drawn by Afu Chan (Power Man & Iron Fist). This six-issue series is a continuation of Andrews' work on Iron Fist: The Living Weapon, though it's also being billed as a fresh jumping-on point for new readers. Immortal Iron Fists will focus both on Pei, a young monk coming to terms with being the youngest Iron Fist in history, and Danny Rand, now charged with training the newest heir to the Iron Fist mantle.
June’s Best Selling Console Was PS4
PlayStation had its best June ever, according to analysts at the NPD Group. Over all, hardware and software saw a 7% increase over the same period last year.
Tekken 7 found its way to the top of the game sales chart, pushing Injustice 2 to the second spot on the list. Once again, Grand Theft Auto V was the third best selling game by revenue for the month. Nintendo's Arms showed up in fifth place on the chart in spite of having only physical copies revenue counted for NPD's chart.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8, and Overwatch similarly only counted physical releases in NPD's numbers.
Here are the top 10 games in the US according to NPD: