Yet another video game is getting spun into a movie. Deadline reports that a film based on Saints Row is in development, with F. Gary Gray attached to direct. Gray directed Straight Outta Compton, The Fate of the Furious, and the upcoming Men in Black: International.
Greg Russo is writing the script; it’s at least his second video game job, as he’s also writing the script for the Mortal Kombat reboot movie in the works at Warner Bros.
The movie is produced in part by Koch Films, a division of Koch Media, which owns Deep Silver and the rights to Saints Row. THQ previously held the rights, but Koch Media acquired the rights and developer Volition out of THQ’s bankruptcy auction. Last year, Volition and Saints Row returned to THQ … sort of … when THQ Nordic (which itself acquired the THQ name) acquired Koch Media and all of its assets.
The Saints Row movie has been in the works for a long time. Back in 2009, the rapper 50 Cent announced that he was working on a Saints Row movie when the franchise was with THQ.
There have been four main Saints Row games so far, but it’s not clear if the story will be based on any plot from the franchise or if it’s something entirely new. Also unknown is who will star in it, when production may begin, and when it could be released. In Hollywood, projects tend to get announced and take a long time to materialize, if they ever do.
Blizzard, the gaming giant behind franchises like World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, will not attend Gamescom this year. The company said in a statement that it’s not attending the show in Cologne, Germany as part of its “renewed effort” in 2019 to focus on game development.
Blizzard plans to return to Gamescom someday, but it’s not clear when.
“As part of a renewed effort this year to maintain our focus on development, for our current games and our future projects, we won’t have a booth at Gamescom 2019,” Blizzard said. “The show is an important one for the European and global gaming community, and we’re going to miss meeting players in Cologne this year. You’ll still be able to find Blizzard gear in the gamescom 2019 shop area, and we’re looking forward to returning to the Gamescom show floor in the future.”
Blizzard also teased in its statement that it is eager to talk about upcoming, unannounced projects “when the time is right.”
The confirmation of Blizzard dropping out of Gamescom comes just days after the company announced a bigger presence for BlizzCon 2019. The company has even more activities planned for the event, and seemingly as a result, ticket prices are going up.
In December last year, Kotaku reported that Blizzard was undergoing cost-cutting measures to prepare for a “lean 2019.” Operating a booth at a major show like Gamescom is likely no small cost, so dropping out of the show is no doubt saving Blizzard some money.
Gamescom, which is open to the public, is believed to be the world’s largest gaming show. Around 370,000 people from 114 countries attended the 2018 show, according to GI.biz. By comparison, the all-time attendance record for E3 is 70,000 from back in 2005. E3 only just recently opened to the public, while Gamescom has been public for years.
The Red Woman Melisandre has been wandering around Westeros for most of the run of Game of Thrones, trying to prepare people for the Great War–the big throwdown between the living and the dead. When the Night’s Watch was trying to convince the lords of Westeros that the White Walkers were coming, Melisandre believed it immediately, and convinced Stannis Baratheon to help the Night’s Watch prepare for them.
When the army of the dead finally reached Winterfell in Episode 3 of Game of Thrones Season 8, The Long Night, Melisandre had already had a big influence on everything that happened leading to that point. She resurrected Jon Snow after he was betrayed by his Night’s Watch brothers; she led Stannis to his doom fighting the Boltons at Winterfell, which led Davos to join up with Jon; and she suggested Daenerys meet with Jon and hear what he had to say about the threat of the Night King. And when Melisandre ran into Arya Stark during the battle, she had an influence on her, as well–one that recalled their earlier meeting, way back in Season 3.
If you don’t remember the interaction between Arya and the Red Woman, it’s because it was pretty fleeting. It happened back in Season 3, when Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie were nabbed by the Brotherhood Without Banners. Gendry had decided to stay with the Brotherhood and smith for them, but that changed when Melisandre caught caught up with them.
In exchange for the money they needed to feed and arm themselves, the Brotherhood–led by the moral outlaw Beric Dondarrion–sold Gendry to the Red Woman. She intended to use his king’s blood–Gendry is King Robert Baratheon’s bastard–for her spells to help Stannis defeat his enemies and take the Iron Throne.
Arya confronted Melisandre briefly as she and Stannis’s men were carting Gendry away.
“You’re a witch,” Arya said. “You’re going to hurt him.”
Melisandre, for her part, was arrested by seeing Arya and immediately did her magic vision schtick.
“I see a darkness in you,” Melisandre replied. “And in that darkness, eyes staring back at me. Brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes. Eyes you’ll shut forever. We will meet again.”
It wasn’t clear what Melisandre was foreseeing during the interaction, other than the fact that Arya was going to go on to become a frighteningly effective killer. “Brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes” seemed to refer to the many victims she’s racked up over the years. But then Arya found Melisandre at Winterfell, and both instantly recalled their last meeting and how Melisandre said they would meet again.
“You said I’d shut many eyes forever,” Ayra said in their final meeting. “You were right about that too.”
“Brown eyes, green eyes–and blue eyes,” Melisandre answered. The two locked eyes as Arya realized what Melisandre meant in that moment: She was referring to the blue eyes of the White Walkers, and it was that revelation that sent Arya to the godswood.
While it seems like Melisandre’s prophecy for Arya was realized once she took down the Night King, we know Arya still has scores to settle–her kill list still includes Cersei Lannister and the Mountain. There’s a theory that speculates that the rest of Melisandre’s prophecy refers to the Lannister queen, who has green eyes (they’re even called “emerald green” in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels on which Game of Thrones is based). Now that the focus of the show is returning to the war for the Iron Throne with the final three episodes of the series, Arya might finally get her chance to cross those final names off her list.
Game of Thrones fans expected a lot of characters to die during the massive battle at Winterfell in Episode 3, “The Long Night,” and technically, the episode didn’t disappoint. All told, seven minor-to-main characters were killed, if you including the Night King–not to mention the entire Dothraki horde, down to the last man, and by the looks of it, most of the Unsullied too. On paper, it sounds glorious.
So why were so many fans–myself included–disappointed once the credits began rolling? Despite being viewed by a record-breaking 17.8 million people, “The Long Night” has emerged as Game of Thrones’ second-lowest-rated episode ever on Rotten Tomatoes, next to only the Season 5 episode in which Sansa got raped. Plenty of people thought the episode was great–trust me, I’ve heard from them on Twitter since writing my review–but many fans also agree that the episode was oversimplified, underwhelming, and just plain disappointing.
Technically speaking, this episode was full of good deaths. So why did it leave me feeling so cold? As I watched characters like Dolorous Edd, Theon Greyjoy, Beric Dondarrion, Jorah Mormont, and even little Lady Lyanna die gruesomely on the battlefield, I felt nothing but a growing dread that this most crucial of episodes was shaping up to be a major letdown. And I think I know at least one reason why.
Many fans have felt mildly traumatized by Game of Thrones’ most shocking deaths over the years, whether we read them on the page or watched them unfold onscreen first. Nevertheless, I was prepared for more as the final battle at Winterfell approached. I wanted to feel that feeling again–the electrifying despair of Ned’s execution, Robb’s murder at the Red Wedding, or even Jon’s more recent (and very temporary) trip to the afterlife. There’s a specific reason those deaths were so effective: These characters had a lot left to do.
They didn’t die like storybook heroes; they died like real people in real life, with work undone, promises unfulfilled, and regrets weighing heavy on their souls. Ned never told Jon the truth about his parentage, left his daughters to be devoured by lions in King’s Landing, and never even said goodbye to his wife. Robb won the battles but lost the war, and all because of his foolish devotion to lofty ideals like love and honor. He led his loyal subjects to an all-encompassing slaughter, and left the surviving Starks–his brothers and sisters–more vulnerable than ever. All his plans for revenge and strategies to take the Lannisters down died with him. And Jon died without even a hint of the knowledge of who he really was, with the Night’s Watch in ruins and his most important battles unfinished.
Even many of the series’ villains got similarly ill-timed ends. Tywin’s scheming may never have stopped if Tyrion hadn’t sent a quarrel through his gut, and the subsequent battles would have turned out much differently. When Khal Drogo gave Viserion his crown of molten gold back in Season 1, he cut short the would-be Targaryen king’s entire life work–conquering Westeros and regaining the Iron Throne for his family. Viserion believed he was the Last Dragon, which made his death somewhat tragic–even if it was also well deserved.
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These deaths hit fans hard because they rang true. In real life, very few people get the privilege of fulfilling their “character arcs” before they die. Unlike in stories, there’s never a good time to go. This is one of the many ways Game of Thrones has always adhered to a relative sense of realism, and it’s one of the things that has made the series so beloved and addictive. These deaths weren’t devastating gut punches simply because they were unexpected or shocking–it was because their victims left so many plot threads hanging, so much undone and unsaid.
This is one of the many failures of “The Long Night.” Look at most of the major deaths: Jorah, Theon, Beric, and Edd all had no possible role to play going forward. Yara has secured the Iron Islands and has no need for Theon, Jorah returned to his queen and died protecting her, Beric fulfilled his purpose of protecting Arya, and Edd doesn’t need to uphold the Night’s Watch anymore, because there is no Night’s Watch after this. They all died with their character arcs complete, their farewells given, their failings redeemed or forgiven, and their plot threads tied up into neat little narrative bows.
Certainly Lyanna Mormont, who Jorah recently reminded us was “the future of their House,” is an exception. But she was by any definition a minor character in the grand scheme of things, and the dooming of House Mormont is nothing compared with the tragedy for which fans had prepared in this episode. There are many more characters whose deaths would have been more shocking, emotional, and impactful, precisely because they would have left acts undone, things unsaid, and destinies unfulfilled: Daenerys or Jon, Bran, Arya, or Sansa, Tyrion or Jaime, Sandor, Varys, Sam, or even Gendry.
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Obviously, I want as badly as any Game of Thrones fan to see the Hound light his brother the Mountain’s stupid, giant head on fire, for Sansa to rule the North with Tyrion at her side, for Jaime to turn on Cersei and end her reign of terror once and for all, for Gendry to be legitimized and revive House Baratheon from the ashes, for Sam to write the Song of Ice and Fire, and a million other things. You know what else I wanted? For Ned Stark to expose Cersei’s lies, for Catelyn to hug her children again, for Robb to conquer the South, for Stannis to retake Winterfell from the treacherous Boltons, for Kahl Drogo to lead the Dothraki across the Narrow Sea with Daenerys at his side and conquer the Seven Kingdoms in her name–you get my point.
The shocks of those threads being left hanging in the wind made Game of Thrones a better story, and knowing there were real stakes in the show’s biggest battle ever would have too. This was literally the fight between life and death, the heroes’ last stand against a seemingly unstoppable force of nature itself. And the main characters all had so much plot armor that Sam was able to spend large swathes of the battle simply lying on the ground sobbing with a mob of hungry zombies piled on top of him, and come out fine on the other side.
It may make for a happier ending when the final three episodes have aired and all is said and done, but this is not the Game of Thrones I used to love.
Avengers: Endgame has been in theatres for less than a week, and it’s already one of biggest box office successes in the history of cinema. It’s now made an astonishing $1.342 billion worldwide, which makes it the 10th biggest movie ever.
It edged out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($1.341 billion) to take the No. 10 spot. Endgame will surely continue to make lots more money as its run in theatres continues, so it’ll be interesting to see where it lands when all is said and done.
The No. 1 biggest box office smash worldwide is Avatar, which made $2.78 billion. You can see the full Top 10 list below, as compiled by Box Office Mojo.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel has raised the bonus threshold for Avengers actors. Years ago, actors would receive bonuses when a Marvel movie passed $500 million; it was later raised to $700 million, and now bonuses aren’t paid until Avengers movies hit $1.5 billion. Endgame will surely reach that amount, which the actors should be happy about.
In one of the wilder and more unexpected pieces of film news in recent years, it was reported that legendary filmmaker Quentin Tarantino–who is known for his original scripts and creative control over projects–was attached to a new Star Trek movie that he would direct. With the future of the Star Trek series seemingly in question, it was believed that Tarantino may no longer be involved. But now, Tarantino says it could happen–but probably not soon.
Tarantino has been busy with his next movie, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, so he hasn’t caught up with Star Trek producers Paramount recently. However, he said the script for the new Star Trek has been written, and he expects to return to the project after he recovers from Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
“I haven’t been dealing with those guys for a while cause I’ve been making my movie,” he said of his discussions with Star Trek’s producers. “But we’ve talked about a story and a script. The script has been written and when I emerge my head like Punxsutawney Phil, post-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, we’ll pick up talking about it again.”
In 2016, Tarantino said he only plans to make two more movies before retiring, so if he does make Star Trek, that could be his last movie. His eight previous movies were Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is his ninth.
Tarantino won Best Writing Oscars for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is due in theatres on July 26. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie, along with other huge names like Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, James Marsden, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Timothy Olyphant, Lena Dunham, Emile Hirsch, and Dakota Fanning. Bruce Dern came aboard the movie last year to play a part meant for Burt Reynolds who died in September 2018. Luke Perry filmed scenes for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood before his death in March.
Xbox Game Pass titles for the first half of May have been announced. Coming to the Netflix-like service are Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, Wargroove, For the King, Surviving Mars, Tacoma, Black Desert, The Surge, and Lego Batman 3. Expect more titles to be announced later in the month.
Following a leak or two, Valve has now formally debuted its virtual reality hardware solution, named Valve Index. The official site promises high-fidelity VR with superior comfort and control. Pre-orders begin on May 1, and pricing has been announced for the full set along with the a la carte pieces of it.
The centerpiece of the VR kit is the headset, which boasts two 1440×1600 RGB LCDs, promising more pixels and less screen door effect than OLED displays. It also runs at 120Hz (with optional 90Hz and 144Hz modes) for higher framerates. Valve promises a greater field-of-view than other devices, and the headset itself sports two off-ear near-field speakers to balance comfort and sound quality. It also has an adjustable head band for head size, ear placement, and angle, and swappable face pads for sharing the kit. Finally, the headset has room for expansion and mods with cameras and a front expansion slot.
A pair of custom-built controllers strap onto your hand and respond to natural movements like throwing or dropping held objects. Valve boasts that each controller has 87 sensors to help determine your movements and intent. The grip input helps determine how you’re holding objects and finger tracking, and the controllers sport a full range of standard buttons along with a track button. A pair of base stations have a 160º x 115º field-of-view range, and are expandable to up to four stations.
The full Valve Index set costs $1,000, while the headset and controllers alone are $750. The headset is the most expensive single part at $500, and a pair of controllers are $280 by themselves. A single base station costs $150. Each of these are planned to ship by June 28, 2019.
This gives PC users another option for their VR support, as the race for headset dominance continues with other companies like Facebook and HTC having gained a following with their own devices. Consoles are looking to support VR as well, and Sony has hinted that its next console will continue to support PSVR.
