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Godzilla and King Kong will share one cinematic universe
Because everything needs a cinematic universe, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. have announced that Godzilla and King Kong will share one across three movies scheduled to follow the Godzilla flick released in 2014. There will be Kong: Skull Island in 2017, Godzilla 2 in 2018 and finally, Godzilla vs. Kong in 2020, while the press release dangles the possibility of other "famous creatures" joining in. While the idea of giant monsters and robots fighting is hardly new, the prospect of real-life robot combat plus an inevitable slew of spinoff toys, videogames and new effects for these movies has us more than ready. Perhaps it's even time for another Rampage -- does Warner Bros. still own those old Midway trademarks? [Image credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy]
Popcorn Time creator reveals himself (and why he left)
Up until the original Popcorn Time 'died' and became an open source project, its chief creator was only known as "Sebastian" -- not surprisingly, he wasn't keen on linking his real name to a pro-piracy initiative. At last, though, this mysterious man has revealed both his identity and his motivations. He's Federico Abad, an Argentinian designer who created Popcorn Time when he wanted a fast and simple way for people to watch any movie they wanted. Existing options took too long, or were confusing to a relative neophyte like Abad's mom. If she liked the technology, it was a good idea.
'Batman: Arkham Knight' for PC should be less broken now
Batman: Arkham Knight was supposed to be the perfect swansong for Rocksteady's Dark Knight trilogy. While the game was received positively on PS4 and Xbox One, the PC version was a mess -- so bad, in fact, that Warner Bros. eventually pulled it completely. That was in June and only now, 10 weeks later, are PC players getting a patch that should fix the most glaring issues. The new update claims to solve the game's fluctuating frame rate, while also improving its overall performance on all GPUs. Warner Bros. says it'll also remedy any low resolution textures and add a deeper set of in-game settings for you to play with. If you were hoping to buy the game now that's in a better state, bad news -- Arkham Knight is still unavailable to purchase on Steam. Perhaps that's an indication of where the game now stands -- better than before, but still a little way from what PC players deserve.
'Mortal Kombat X' won't be coming to last-gen consoles after all
I hope you weren't counting on playing Mortal Kombat X on your trusty previous-generation console -- you're about to be disappointed. Warner Bros. has cancelled both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the bloody brawler, claiming that neither version would meet the quality "expected of a Mortal Kombat game." It's not certain exactly what went wrong. However, it's clearer than ever that the transition to newer platforms is taking its toll on developers. Getting a game to run on more than two or three platforms isn't easy or cheap, and there isn't much incentive for studios to keep working on legacy support when you're increasingly likely to have a current system in your home.
JXE Streams: talking family with Batgirl in 'Arkham Knight'
Even if your only exposure to the Batman mythos is through the excellent Arkham series of games by developer Rocksteady, (especially the latest, Arkham Knight) you're pretty familiar with Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbara. She's one of the constant voices in The Dark Knight's ear, and with the recent release of Knight's first downloadable episode we finally get to step into her shoes as Batgirl as she goes up against The Joker. How's it all play out? Your guess is as good as mine because I'm going in totally blind on PlayStation 4 starting at 6 pm Eastern / 3 pm Pacific.
Sky UK and major US movie studios hit by EU antitrust probe
There's nothing the European Commission likes more than a good ol' antitrust case, and today it's set its sights on Sky UK and six of the broadcaster's US film studio partners: Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Sony, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. In a "Statement of Objections" sent to the parties, the commission has formally accused Sky and the studios of engaging in anti-competitive behavior, by drawing up contracts that prevent Europeans from accessing Sky's pay-TV services outside of the UK and Ireland. While it's implied Sky is partly to blame, the commission's main issue with the agreements is they stop Sky from coming to its own decision on whether to offer pay-TV access in other EU countries.
Check out Predator's gory moves in 'Mortal Kombat X'
Predator -- the Invisible Eviscerator; the Brutalizer in the Brush -- creeps into Mortal Kombat X tomorrow, July 7th, for anyone who owns the $30 Kombat Pack as well as the full game. For everyone else, the Dreadlocked Destroyer will be available to buy as a standalone character on July 14th. The Terror of the Trees enters Mortal Kombat X as part of the Predator Bundle, which includes three additional character skins: Commando Johnny, Infrared Scorpion and Carl Weathers as Jax. Predator joins fellow movie murderer Jason Voorhees as a DLC character in Mortal Kombat X -- and the two face off in the following trailer. Spoiler: It doesn't end well for Jason.
Batgirl joins 'Batman: Arkham Knight' on July 14th
Gotham, get ready. The first bit of DLC for Batman: Arkham Knight stars Batgirl, and it's due to hit PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on July 14th for $7 in North America (£5.80 in the UK). This is a story-based expansion called Batgirl: A Matter of Family, Gamespot reports, and it puts players in Batgirl's badass boots with new missions, side quests, a fresh hacking feature and Dual Play with Robin. A Matter of Family is the first installment in Arkham Knight's bulk-DLC season pass program, so anyone who purchased that will get the add-on at no additional charge.
'Mad Max' the game has crazy cars, murder and a story
The "Savage Road" story trailer suggests that there's a deeper tale behind all of the desert-drenched road rage and creative killing in the Mad Max video game. Apparently, that story is about a dude looking for a car, finding a car, kissing a lady and then destroying all of the evil men he can reach on four wheels. It's a slightly different narrative than the one in this year's film, Mad Max: Fury Road, and plot isn't the only way these two products diverge. We played a portion of Mad Max last week and found it to be fun as a car game but lacking in intrigue as a brawler: "In its translation to an open-world video game, Mad Max: Fury Road's unique charm's been traded in for monotony." Still, a video full of rampaging, spiky vehicles and bloodthirsty desert overlords gets our blood pumping every time. Watch the story trailer below. Mad Max is due on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on September 1st, with pre-orders open now.
'Vidity' 4K movies you can download are coming later this year
At CES the long-brewing alliance to push Hollywood movies you can legally download, store and play across different devices finally surfaced, and now its system has a brand name: Vidity. As we learned in January, this is the doing of the Secure Content Storage Association -- a team up behind movie studios (Fox, Warner Bros.) and storage manufacturers (Western Digital, Sandisk) to create a system where users can download movies in the highest possible quality like 4K Ultra HD and HDR. Samsung was the first to announce its Ultra HD TVs with the M-Go app will use the spec, but other big names like Vudu, Kaleidescape, LG, Universal, Comcast and Sprint are on board too. So far 4K movies have generally been all about streaming, but now between Ultra HD Blu-ray and Vidity there are a couple of new options coming.
See the 'Batman: Arkham Knight' Dual Play mode in action
And we do mean action. Dual Play in Batman: Arkham Knight allows one player to swap between Batman and a trusty sidekick during fights. For example, if you're battling a room full of nasty baddies as Batman, the AI will be in control of Nightwing -- until you switch characters, at which point the AI takes over Batman and you become Nightwing. There's also a special called the "super-combo takedown" that builds up as you fight and instantly KOs enemies in a Batman-sidekick one-two punch. "If you're building your combo with Batman and you see that there's an enemy over by Nightwing you want to take out, you can switch to Nightwing, you keep your combo, and if you've got your special charged up you can instantly use your super-combo takedown on that foe," Lead AI Programmer Tim Hanagan says in the Dual Play demo video embedded below.
'Seinfeld' will start streaming soon, but probably not on Netflix
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Sony Pictures has opened the bidding for streaming rights to Seinfeld. One party apparently not taking part is Netflix, leaving the show about nothing to Amazon, Hulu or Yahoo. While Netflix paid a reported $500k+ per episode for four years of Friends, the length of the agreement for Seinfeld is still in question. The streaming competition has heated up considerably over the last year or so, and if the usual people in a position to know are right, we'll find out who's willing to step up to the table on this one in the next few weeks.
'Mortal Kombat X' ups the fright factor with Jason Voorhees
Round 1, FRIGHT! Jason Voorhees, the hockey-masked murderer from the classic Friday the 13th horror films, will be a playable character in Mortal Kombat X. Jason joins the fight as part of the Kombat Pack DLC pass, which includes four playable characters (including Jason), plus the Samurai Pack with three character skins: Ronin Kenshi, Samurai Shinnok and Jingu Kitana. The Kombat Pack is $30, though in the Americas it comes packed in with more expensive, special editions of the game -- The Kollector's Edition is $150, the Limited Edition is $100 and Premium is $90. Mortal Kombat X launches on April 14 for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4; the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions have been delayed until summer. Sharpen your fighting skills (and your machete collection), and check out the Mortal Kombat X Jason teaser below.
'Mortal Kombat X' for mobile rewards your victories with konsole kred
After a lengthy hiatus, Mortal Kombat is coming back to the mobile world -- and it's giving you a few extra incentives to brutalize fighters while you're waiting for the bus. Mortal Kombat X will reach Android and iOS users on April 14th with not just the obligatory fatalities and other gory details, but a two-way reward system that encourages you to keep playing when you switch platforms. If you thrash enough suckers to unlock content on your phone, for example, you'll get some perks when you fire up your console at home. Something tells us the mobile MKX won't be as challenging as its full-size counterpart (swipe to finish someone off, really?), but look at it this way: it's not often that you get to break someone's jaw on your commute and feel good about it later.
Kodak and movie studios forge a deal to keep film alive
Good news, die-hard aficionados of movies on film: those reels will stick around for a while yet. Kodak has put the finishing touches on a deal with the six big Hollywood studios (Disney, Fox, NBC, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros.) that will maintain a steady supply of film for movie and TV directors that want to keep using the classic format. The exact terms aren't public, but it wouldn't be surprising if Kodak had the studios over a barrel. When high-profile directors like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino virtually insist on film, it's hard to say "no" -- you may as well be telling them to take a hike if you make them go digital. This pact won't stop the gradual death of film in theaters, of course, but creative types can take comfort in knowing that celluloid's hard-to-replicate qualities aren't going away any time soon. [Image credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images]
Dolby Vision imaging tech is coming to Warner Bros. movies
Dolby doesn't want to limit its Dolby Vision tech just to Netflix and other streaming services, so the outfits' partnering with film studios too. First up is Warner Bros., where flicks including Edge of Tomorrow, The Lego Movie and Into the Storm are getting the high-dynamic range treatment early this year -- just in time for the launch of TVs with the tech baked in, according to the company. Additional new release movies and catalog titles are en route this year, as well. For the tech to really take off, however, Dolby willl need to expand beyond one studio, but we'd imagine WB is a pretty decent place to start. If anything, the announcement means Edge of Tomorrow's bleak version of the future's going to get a little brighter sometime soon. [Image credit: Associated Press]
Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan want to save the future of movies on film
The movie industry has seen its share of struggles as we transition into a digital future, and likely no one has felt the pinch more than film company Kodak. The struggling outfit is getting a life-raft, though, in the form of several studios committing to buy a set amount of celluloid per year regardless of if any of their movies are even made using film. As The Wall Street Journal tells it, directors J.J. Abrams, Judd Apatow, Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino -- all who've professed their love for celluloid quite publicly -- were part of the lobbying council for the business deal. Why? Because they adore the look and feel of working with the physical format. Nolan's Interstellar and Abrams' upcoming Star Wars are both being shot on film, but for better or worse, though, these filmmakers are a dying breed.
Fox tried to buy Time Warner -- and HBO -- for $80 billion
Could Fox News and CNN have the same owner? No, but close. 21 Century Fox has confirmed reports (first published by the New York Times) that it made an $80 billion bid for fellow media conglomerate Time Warner -- and was turned down, for now. Curiously, this comes just as Comcast is trying to swallow Time Warner Cable, but those two similarly-named companies are no longer directly connected. Time Warner (also no longer related to AOL, which owns this website) recently ditched its Time Inc. magazine properties, and now consists of three parts: the highly-profitable HBO, Turner and Warner Bros. According to the reports, Fox would sell CNN as part of the buyout to avoid regulatory hurdles caused by owning both large news networks, but as analyst Porter Bibb pointed out on Bloomberg TV, this would give it access to HBO, which he called "the only Netflix fighter left." [Image credit: Helen Sloan/courtesy of HBO]
Amazon and Warner Bros. reach truce over movie pricing
Well, that didn't last long. A couple of weeks after Amazon stopped taking pre-orders for Warner Bros. Blu-ray and DVD movies to extract a better pricing arrangement, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the two sides have reached a truce. Swing by Amazon and you'll once again find pre-orders for disc-based versions of The Lego Movie, Transcendence and other upcoming releases. The exact nature of the deal is hush-hush, but it wouldn't be shocking if Amazon got the upper hand -- movies are just a small part of the online retail giant's business, while Warner Bros. would lose an important source of revenue. Whether or not you approve of Amazon's tactics, this is good news if you prefer hard copies of movies over downloads and streams. Now if Amazon and Hachette could only negotiate their own peace regarding books...
The next Batman game on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 just got delayed to 2015
Remember when we told you that the next big Batman game was arriving on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC in 2014? That was apparently a stone cold lie. Well, at the time it wasn't, but as of today, we're in the wrong -- Batman: Arkham Knight is now heading to the aforementioned game playing devices in 2015. When in 2015? That remains shrouded in darkness, like so much of The Dark Knight's life. But when it does arrive, it'll come with a tank-like virtual Batmobile (pictured above). And apparently the game has a tank mode? Find out whatever that means in the trailer below.
