“Sometimes I feel like this has been my whole life – running, killing.” Screen Gems has debuted the second full-length for the sixth Resident Evil movie, and apparently the final one, as it’s called Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. This has arrived online after premiering at the New York Comic-Con. Milla Jovovich is back, again, as Alice, who must return to Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corp is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse. The full cast includes Ruby Rose, Ali Larter, Iain Glen, Shawn Roberts, William Levy, Eoin Macken, Rola and Lee Joon-Gi. This looks better than expected, but it does look like they’re trying to connect to the first movie – right down to the laser room. I do appreciate the epic scope and scale, I just hope it’s actually better than the last few movies. ›››
“Tell your Marius – I’m coming for him.” Screen Gems has released the second trailer for Underworld: Blood Wars, the fifth movie in the Underworld series first started in 2003 with the vampire action movie starring Kate Beckinsale. This has arrived online after premiering at the New York Comic-Con. Beckinsale is back, again, to play vampire death dealer Selene fighting to finally, hopefully, end the eternal war between the Lycan clan and Vampire faction. Also starring Lara Pulver, Theo James, Charles Dance, Tobias Menzies & Trent Garrett. Selene was the star of the first two films, then disappeared until Underworld: Awakening. I wasn’t excited for this when the first trailer hit, and I’m not more interested now. Have fun. ›››
“There’s a stranger who comes to this village from the sea…” Whoa! Zack Snyder has posted a badass video after wrapping production on Justice League in the UK, with tons of behind-the-scenes footage. They’re not holding back at all! This movie is the continuation of the Batman v Superman series in the DC universe bringing together six superheroes: Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and Ray Fisher as Cyborg. There may be a few others, and the extensive cast includes Willem Dafoe, Jeremy Irons, Amber Heard, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, and J.K. Simmons as Gordon. There’s a lot of great stuff in this video, and it’s exciting to see so much behind-the-scenes revealed way before release next year. Fire this up below & enjoy. ›››
“I’m going to tell you everything I wasn’t able to tell you.” Sony Pictures Classics has debuted an official US trailer for Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film, titled Julieta, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Julieta stars Emma Suárez as a mother living with her daughter, played by Blanca Parés. After a casual encounter, she decides to confront the pains in her life and the most important events about her stranded daughter. Also starring Adriana Ugarte, Daniel Grao, Inma Cuesta, Darío Grandinetti, Michelle Jenner and Rossy de Palma. This received mostly positive reviews out of Cannes, and looks like it’s another colorful and energetic journey into the life of a vibrant woman. Check out the trailer below. ›››
Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker will appear in Marvel’s Black Panther movie, the film studio has announced. In a statement, Marvel confirmed Whitaker’s involvement, explaining that he will play the character Zuri, described as an “elder statesman in Wakanda.”
In the same announcement, Marvel also confirmed that Daniel Kaluuya (Sicario), Winston Duke (Person of Interest), and Florence Kasumba (Captain America: Civil War) have joined the cast as well.
Black Panther is directed by Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) and also stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, Michael B. Jordan as Erik Killmonger. Lupita Nyong’o (Star Wars) plays Nakia and Danai Guira (The Walking Dead) will play Okoye. Both are members of the Dora Milaje, a team of all-female bodyguards.
Kasumba’s character, Ayo, is also a member of the Dora Milaje; you might remember that she played the same role in Captain America: Civil War. Kaluuya plays W’Kbai, who is described by Marvel as a “confidant” of T’Challa. For his part, Duke plays M’Baku, a leader of a rival Wakanda tribe.
Black Panther comes to theaters on February 16, 2018.
In a recent interview, Boseman explained that Black Panther was a different hero to the fast-talking, quip-laden likes of Iron Man or Ant-Man, and this would influence the film. “For me, most of the time the darker superhero movies are the ones that I gravitate towards, that I love the most,” he said. “I’m glad that the tone of [Black Panther] may be a little grittier.
A new trailer for Resident Evil: The Final Chapter was released this week at New York Comic-Con, showing off some intense zombie-action and teasing out story elements. Director Paul W.S. Anderson said during a panel that he expects The Final Chapter to be the scarier than any other entry in the series or any film he’s ever made. Now, he’s spoken to Collider to share more details on the film’s scare factor.
He told the site that his 1997 sci-fi/horror movie Event Horizon so far has been the scariest movie he’s made, “and this movie is scarier than that,” he said about The Final Chapter.
“It’s deliberately a return to I think the first Resident Evil movie was probably the most intense and the scariest of the franchise because it was all in the hive so it had a kind of claustrophobic intensity to it, it very much like a haunted house movie like inspired by The Shining orThe Haunting you know it had that kind of feel that you were trapped in this space with bad things that were gonna happen to you,” Anderson explained.
“This movie the last fifty percent of it is all in that same environment with that same intensity and that same scariness but even the stuff earlier in Washington D.C. there are some great… I mean there are some of the best scares that I’ve ever directed,” he added.
Anderson recalled watching Event Horizon with an audience and seeing some people turn away and scream because they could not handle the scares. It was a movie that was so harrowing and intense that “people just couldn’t bear to watch,” and The Final Chapter has a similar spirit, he said.
The Final Chapter hits theaters on January 27, 2017. Milla Jovovich stars as Alice, alongside Ali Larter as Claire Redfield and Ruby Rose in the role of Abigail. Anderson made all of the previous Resident Evil movies with Jovovich, his wife, in the lead role.
The next Resident Evil video game, Resident Evil 7, is scheduled to come three days before The Final Chapter arrives in theaters, on January 24, 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Welcome to the weekend. Here’s a recap of some of the week’s biggest stories and others you might have missed.
The Big Stuff:
Microsoft officially announced this week that it’s making a Gears of War movie–or at least trying to. A Hollywood take on the gritty shooter series has been in the works for years now; the late Tony Scott apparently wanted to direct it. Now, it’s been confirmed that Jurassic World studio Universal is working with Microsoft to finally make it happen (maybe). No word on a director or cast yet. [Full story]
If you preordered one of the premium versions of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare on PlayStation 4, you can start playing Modern Warfare Remastered’s campaign right this second. It’s the full campaign you have access to, and your progress carries forward to when the game officially comes out in November. The early access period is only available on PS4, not Xbox One or PC. [Full story]
Grand Theft Auto V’s Bikers DLC for GTA Online came out this week. The free expansion is themed around biker gangs, letting you make your own. There are new bikes, weapons, and clothing, as well as a new Adversary mode. To celebrate the launch, Rockstar has kicked off its newest weekly event, featuring discounts, a new Premium race, and more. [Full story]
The Other Stuff:
BioWare has announced new Dragon Age and Mass Effect books. Like diving deep into the lore? These sound like they could be just what you’re looking for. Go to IGN to get the full story and all the details.
Demonstrating the appeal of virtual reality is tough, since a person usually needs to physically wear the device to understand appreciate its appeal. Owlchemy Labs thinks it has a solution.
This week at New York Comic-Con, Warner Bros. announced DC Legends, a new fee-to-play strategy RPG for mobile devices. The game, which features famous super heroes and villains from the DC roster, launched in November for iOS and Android devices. Check out a trailer below. Also, evereryone who preregisters at the game’s website and downloads the game at launch will receive a free Wonder Woman in-game character.
A giant FAQ about Sony’s soon-to-launch PlayStation VR device was published this week. The FAQ covers just about everything you might want to know. Take a look.
Game Informer’s newest issue is out and it has a great, in-depth feature on South Park: The Stick of Truth. If you have a subscription, kick back and enjoy this great read.
Here is some new footage from Battlefield 1’s single-player–it looks great.
Blizzard is taking a page out of its other games, and others in the industry, by adding announcers to StarCraft II. Get all the details here.
Are World of Warcraft subscribers back on the rise? It seems that way, according to this translated report that claims subscriber numbers are back above 10 million. Note that this is not confirmed by Blizzard.
This awesome new Dishonored 2 trailer shows how Bethesda brought the world of Carnacka to life.
It’s been a long, long time coming for The Last Guardian. To celebrate the forthcoming release, Sony has now published an in-depth retrospective feature, featuring insight and commentary from a number of Sony developers who talk about the impact Team Ico’s games had on them.
At a New York Comic-Con panel today,actor Andy Serkis mentioned that War of the Planet of the Apes will be accompanied by a video game, for which he’s performing motion capture. The game is coming to consoles and releases around the same time as the movie.
Not much information was shared at the panel, and Andy Serkis remained tight-lipped in a post-panel interview with GameSpot. He did, however, divulge some information about the game to us, including that it’s coming to consoles.
“I don’t think it’s ever been done before,” Serkis said. “We created it at the Imaginarium, which is my studio. Without giving too much away about it, it’s not like a first-person shooter. It feels like an interactive movie. And that’s all I can say other than that it will be coming out around the same time as the movie.”
“It’s a companion piece, it’s not based on the characters from this movie,” Serkis added.
War of the Planet of the Apes’ First Teaser Trailer
War of the Planet of the Apes opens in theaters on July 14, 2017. It stars Serkis, alongside Judy Greer (Ant-Man), Woody Harrelson (Zombieland), and Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club). The film is helmed by Matt Reeves, who previously directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Cloverfield. You can watch War of the Planet of the Apes’ teaser trailer here.
On the Vita, Piece of Cake’s online features will be discontinued next year on January 1 at 1 AM PT. The Android and iPhone versions are shutting down one month earlier on December 1 at 12 AM PT.
In-game purchases are now disabled. Additionally, players can no longer spend any earned or purchased gold on in-game items, earn a voucher for Fat Princess on PS3 for finishing level 15, or download the game from “My apps.” Players will, however, be able to play Piece of Cake in offline mode for as long as they have it on their device.
We’ve contacted Sony for more information on Piece of Cake’s closure and whether you’ll be able to download the game after its online services are shut down. We’ll update this article as we hear back.
The latest game in the series was Fat Princess Adventures. It received a score of 5/10 in GameSpot’s review, which said, “Fat Princess Adventures’ impactless combat, boring side quests, and confusing user interface all add up into something that isn’t exciting or satisfying to play.”
The Justice League trailer released back in July, and it showed a much lighter side than what was seen in the serious, dark Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Now, director Zack Snyder has shared a behind-the-scenes video that features the superhero team goofing around.
Although it’s not an indicator of Justice League‘s tone, it’s nice to see the cast and crew of the superhero movie having some fun while shooting. The video has action shots, but moments like when Aquaman drops his trident and steals Wonder Woman’s sword are worth a smile or two. You can watch it for yourself below.
At one point, we even get to see a brief shot of Henry Cavill as Superman, which is noteworthy since he was missing from the trailer. It’s worth noting that he appears in his regular red-and-blue outfit in the above video, as opposed to the black one featured in an image revealed this past August. Speaking of costumes, we also get to see a short snippet of Batman’s new suit in action and Cyborg’s robotic body before post-production effects are applied–the latter of which looks very silly standing next to Batman and the rest of the gang.
Justice League hits theaters on November 17, 2017. It stars Ben Affleck (Gone Girl) as Batman, Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious 6) as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) as Aquaman, Ezra Miller (Trainwreck) as The Flash, Ray Fisher (The Astronaut Wives Club) as Cyborg, and Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) as Superman.
In GameSpot’s review, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was criticized for its dark and serious tone. Critic Randolph Ramsay said, “Joy isn’t a prerequisite for a superhero film, but a smidgen of hope can help elevate the most serious of situations. Hope is what makes all the struggles, all of the sacrifices of its characters seem worthwhile. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is determined not to let you feel any.”
