On Tuesday, Netflix dropped a clip from The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep at the company’s Geeked Week 2024 event. The clip for the upcoming animated film leans on the familiar dulcet growls of Doug Cockle, who voiced Geralt of Rivia in the games.
Cockle introduces the clip with an enthusiastic tease of the merpeople Geralt will battle in the film. “That’s right — he’s gonna cross swords with merpeople of all things!” Cockle exclaims in the clip. “Amazing stuff, it’s gonna be so cool.” Hey, can’t blame a voice actor for hyping their project.
The scene shows Geralt and Jaskier (voiced by Joey Batey, who also plays him in the live-action series) sitting by a campfire. Jaskier, after complaining about the town’s “small-minded fools,” picks up on Geralt’s apparent interest in Essi and tries to play Cupid for the brooding white-haired monster slayer.
Netflix
The clip also reveals The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep’s official release date. The film will begin streaming on Netflix on February 11, 2025, after initially being announced for late 2024.
The film is based on A Little Sacrifice, a short story written by Witcher universe creator Andrzej Sapkowski. Set between episodes five and six of the Netflix series’ first season, the film has Geralt “hired to investigate a series of attacks in a seaside village and finds himself drawn into a centuries-old conflict between humans and merpeople.” It’s from the South Korean animation studio Studio MIR, which also animated the 2021 prequel film The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf.
Below, you can watch the Geeked Week clip, including the delightfully growly-voiced Cockle’s introduction.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/geralt-broods-by-the-campfire-in-the-first-clip-from-netflixs-the-witcher-sirens-of-the-deep-203810425.html?src=rss
The Sims has been one of the biggest success stories in gaming over the last quarter century, with more than 500 million players trying to understand Simish, learning what WooHoo-ing is and using the classic Rosebud cheat to gain more money. All of that could be coming to a big screen near you, as Electronic Arts has revealed that Amazon MGM Studios is working on a movie adaptation of the games.
Kate Herron (Loki, The Last of Us) will direct the film and co-write the screenplay with Briony Redman (Doctor Who). One of the production companies that's on board is Margot Robbie's LuckyChap, which seems appropriate given that EA is looking "to make an impact the size of something like a Barbie movie," EA vice president and Sims general manager Kate Gorman said. (For the tape, Barbie is the 14th-highest-grossing film of all time.)
EA wants the movie to be an authentic experience for fans, particularly given that many people have "love and nostalgia" for the series. To that end, you can expect a lot of Sims lore and Easter eggs in the film.
“There will be Freezer Bunnies,” Gorman told Variety. “I’m sure a pool without a ladder is somewhere in there, but we haven’t finalized any of those details. But that’s the idea, is to say that it lives within this space. It’s a nod to all of the amazing play and creation and fun that people have had over the last 25 years within The Sims.”
Meanwhile, EA provided updates on The Sims franchise as a whole. The company doesn't currently plan to release The Sims 5, instead opting to focus on updating The Sims 4 and releasing paid expansions for the 10-year-old game. The publisher is also spinning up a creator program and some players who create custom in-game items will be able to sell them as Creator Kits.
While The Sims 4 will remain the core of the series, EA is looking at expanding the franchise in other ways, including with Project Rene, a cross-platform multiplayer experience that the publisher has been talking up for a couple of years. An invite-only playtest is scheduled for this fall.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-sims-movie-from-amazon-mgm-studios-is-on-the-way-161159048.html?src=rss
It took a decade, but we finally have a teaser for the live-action A Minecraft Movie. The first look comes courtesy of a video released by Warner Bros. today that clocks in at just over one minute — but, hey, we'll take it. The film studio has confirmed its previous target, April 4, 2025, is moving forward with a theater-only release. Yes, once upon a time, it had release dates for May 2019 and March 2022, but the existence of a teaser makes us feel a little more hopeful (gullible?) this time.
After a series of directors joined and left the project, A Minecraft Movie is led by filmmaker Jared Hess. The Nacho Libre director is joined by his former lead, Jack Black, who plays Minecraft Steve. Rounding out the cast are Jason Momoa, Emma Meyers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Eugene Hansen, and Jennifer Coolidge. Check out the teaser to get your first look at the world where, as Black says, "Anything you can dream about here, you can make." It appears as though a lot of people dream about cartoony animals with unnervingly realistic teeth. Did we learn nothing from Sonic?
For the uninitiated, Minecraft is literally the best-selling video game of all time, with sales of over 350 million. Originally released by independent developer Mojang Studios, Microsoft purchased the studio and the game's intellectual property back in 2014 for a stunning $2.5 billion. It's an open-world sandbox will no real defined goals, letting players build anything they can dream up. Of course, there have been a number of spin-off games that have more focused gameplay. As for the movie, it's been stuck in development hell for a long time — it was first announced way back in 2014, the same year Mojang was purchased by Microsoft.
Update, September 4, 2024, 5:30PM ET: This story was updated with additional historic details on Minecraft and A Minecraft Movie, and a link to a tweet about some creepy teeth.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/a-minecraft-movie-trailer-gives-us-our-first-look-at-jason-momoa-and-jack-black-ahead-of-its-2025-release-143741392.html?src=rss
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim has been in the works for about three years now, but with its release date fast approaching we now have our first trailer. It's one of the more unusual and intriguing projects under the Lord of the Rings franchise, an anime-style standalone movie that covers events in the kingdom of Rohan some 200-ish years before the War of the Ring.
The trailer starts with some iconic footage from the '00s Lord of the Rings films focused on Rohan before diving into the animation. It's immediately obvious that this project is connected to Peter Jackson's films, as the designs for key areas like Edoras and Helm's Deep clearly reference those earlier movies despite the distinctly different style. As for characters, we're introduced to King Helm Hammerhand and his daughter Hera who, judging by the trailer, will likely be our main protagonist. It looks like an attempt to marry her off goes south, angering the family of suitor Wulf — things get decidedly more tense after that, with plenty of action and Oliphaunts and, naturally, some teases of ring-related events to come.
The film is directed by Kenji Kamiyama, who has been a writer and director on various anime including Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Eden of the East. He's also directed episodes of Star Wars: Visions and Ultraman. Most of the cast is still under wraps, but we know Brian Cox is voicing King Hammerhand, while Gaia Wise is voicing his daughter Hera. Miranda Otto is also reprising her role from the Lord of the Rings films as Eowyn, who will serve as the narrator for the story.
The movie is set to be released on December 13, and it's the first of several Lord of the Rings films in development — Andy Serkis, perhaps best known for his performance as Gollum in Jackson's Middle-earth films, is directing a new film tentatively entitled The Hunt for Gollum. While that movie is years away, fans can also catch Middle-earth on-screen in a week when season two of Amazon's Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/first-trailer-for-lord-of-the-rings-the-war-of-the-rohirrim-shows-an-anime-styled-middle-earth-202139240.html?src=rss
There’s also a “Hot” badge for content with a Verified Audience Score of 60 percent to 90 percent. Finally, the dregs will be slapped with a “Stale” badge, which is for any show or movie that falls beneath 60 percent.
Rotten Tomatoes is trying to get around review bombing here by mandating that user reviews be from people who actually saw the movie in question. There are a couple of little problems with this. It verifies that a consumer saw the movie via the ticketing firm Fandango, and there are plenty of other ticketing firms out there, including, you know, the theater cashier.
Also, Comcast owns both Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango, so this seems more like synergistic advertising than an actual way to beat review bombers. Finally, this whole verification thing is only for movies. There’s no way to verify whether someone watched a TV show or not, so this wouldn’t have helped all of those trolls descending upon the recently-canceled Star Wars show The Acolyte.
From a cynic’s perspective, this move only works to further dilute the utility of the entire site. There will be more uncertainty and plenty of more badges floating around, making the whole thing, well, messy. Will an average user be able to instantly know the difference between Hot and Fresh?
The critic score average was already problematic, as reputable reviewers are weighted the exact same as purveyors of internet garbage. However, Rotten Tomatoes is addressing that by updating the minimum number of critic reviews required before a Tomatometer score will appear. For smaller films, the site mandates at least ten reviews for a score. Blockbusters will require 40 reviews.
The Hot badge has already been issued to current barn-burners Deadpool & Wolverine, Twisters, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Fly Me to the Moon and It Ends With Us. The company says it has also retroactively awarded over 200 films.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/rotten-tomatoes-further-dilutes-its-utility-with-verified-hot-badge-163415420.html?src=rss
Once upon a time in the tail-end of the last century, there was something called the Y2K bug. This bit of computer code was supposed to herald a global robot apocalypse at the stroke of midnight when 1999 became the year 2000 because of, uh, clock dates or something. Anyways, nothing happened. Or did it?
That’s the premise behind A24’s new horror comedy, the appropriately-named Y2K. The film imagines a New Year’s Eve of 1999 in which the computers really did turn on humanity. It’s written and directed by SNL alum Kyle Mooney, who made the fantastic and underrated Brigsby Bear.
As you can see from the trailer, it’s a 1990s teen party comedy, like Can’t Hardly Wait, but also an apocalyptic horror film. This particular hodgepodge brings to mind This is the End, in which Seth Rogen and other celebrities fight off a demonic horde.
However, instead of a demonic horde, these teens will be fighting for their lives against VCRs, old-school computers and, of course, murderous Tamagotchis. Also, Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst is somehow involved. The cast is composed primarily of unknown teenagers, but the adults are played by Tim Heidecker, Alicia Silverstone and Mooney himself. The movie hits theaters on December 6.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a24s-y2k-has-teens-battling-old-school-computers-and-bloodthirsty-tamagotchis-164537560.html?src=rss
The next entry in the Pacific Rim franchise could be an origin story for the universe, set before the events of the 2013 film by Guillermo del Toro. According to Variety, the franchise's producer Legendary Entertainment has signed a first-look TV deal with Eric Heisserer. One of the first projects he's developing with Carmen Lewis, his co-founder for his production company called Chronology, is a prequel series for Pacific Rim. Heisserer won several awards for his screenplay for Arrival, the Denis Villeneuve-directed sci-fi movie starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. He also wrote the script for the Netflix post-apocalyptic movie Bird Box, which starred Sandra Bullock.
It sounds like the project is still in its very early stages, so we'll have to wait for its storyline and projected release date if it does get the green light. Seeing as it's supposed to be the Pacific Rim origin story, though, we may get to see the first kaijus emerging from the interdimensional portal at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. We may also get to see how the first Jaegers, or the gigantic mechas controlled by human pilots to fight the alien monsters, were designed and created.
The original Pacific Rim movie was followed by Pacific Rim Uprising, its 2018 sequel film that starred John Boyega and was directed by Steven S. DeKnight. If the series pushes through, it'll follow Pacific Rim: The Black, an anime series that streamed on Netflix in 2021 and 2021, which serves as the continuation of the two films.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a-pacific-rim-prequel-series-is-being-developed-by-the-scriptwriter-of-bird-box-110043597.html?src=rss
The first VR Games Showcase has delivered a deluge of new VR titles like the Arizona Sunshine Remake and Trombone Champ: Unflattened, but two new (and very similar) titles caught my eye: Action Hero and Vendetta Forever. They both appear to be slow motion action games like the brilliant Superhot VR that will let you live out your John Wick firefight fantasies without risking serious bodily injury or your health insurance premiums.
In Fast Travel Games’ Action Hero, you’re an action movie hero starring in a series of five fictional movies including an Indiana Jones-esque Nazi killing adventure, a high tech heist thriller and a Jurassic Park ripoff. Each movie has four different film sequences and you supply all the hot, gun flinging, boulder dodging, raptor punching (yes, you get to punch velociraptors in the face) action. The action moves slow so you can add some style to the scene like firing two high-caliber machine guns at once, pulling off some sweet hand to hand combat and not flinching during powerful explosions.
Vendetta Forever from Meta Space Interactive also puts you in the middle of slow moving action sequences against waves of anonymous enemies. It claims to have an “all-new lo-kill motion mechanic” so you can sidle up to the bad guys or dodge incoming fire like an Olympic gymnast. The style is a little closer to Superhot’s blank canvas scenes but with slightly more detail.
Vendetta Forever proclaims itself to be an homage to “cult action” movies that are highly stylized and full of heart pumping music and moves like a virtual remake of the PC action sandbox Maximum Action. A demo of the game is available now on Meta’s game store for the Quest 2 and Quest 3.
Action Hero will be available sometime later this year on the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest Pro. Vendetta Forever will be available in October on the PS VR2 as well as the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest Pro.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/two-action-movie-simulators-action-hero-and-vendetta-forever-are-headed-to-vr-214608480.html?src=rss
If you weren’t sated by last year’s dramatic retelling of the BlackBerry story, you’ll have another chance to witness the rise and fall of the once-iconic smartphone. Filmmaker Eddie Schmidt, one of the directors behind Netflix’s Ugly Delicious, is prepping a documentary about the handset, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The documentary is currently in production and is being made by Unrealistic Ideas, which is a production company founded by Mark Wahlberg aka the guy from Fear. This team was behind HBO’s McMillions, a documentary miniseries about the infamous McDonald's Monopoly promotion scam.
The project is currently untitled and there’s no release date, but we do know that the filmmakers have been given exclusive access to the Research In Motion Alumni Association. So there will be plenty of interviews with former executives who were involved in the BlackBerry story in one way or another. The film will also include “an array of never-before-seen archival footage.”
Director Schmidt shared a statement and said that he is excited to “explore this unpredictable real-life saga at the intersection of technology and popular culture.” One thing the documentary won’t have, however, is actor Glenn Howerton absolutely crushing it as former Research In Motion CEO Jim Balsillie.
BlackBerry was a legitimately good movie. We highly recommend it, particularly for the scene embedded above. I mean, come on!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/theres-another-blackberry-movie-coming-out-and-this-ones-a-documentary-173618810.html?src=rss
On paper, Eli Roth's Borderlands adaptation sounds like a recipe for a solid sci-fi romp: Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett as the wise-cracking gunslinger Lilith; Jack Black, fresh off of voicing Bowser, as the quippy/annoying Claptrap; and freaking Jamie Lee Curtis back in the genre fray after Everything Everywhere, All At Once. And yet the film is a lifeless slog better suited to an episode of Mystery Science Theater, completely squandering the potential of those elements.
Like the original game, Borderlands is mostly set on the wild alien planet of Pandora — a name that clearly should have been changed since audiences now associate it mostly with the Avatar films. Roth's adaptation makes significant changes to the game's plot and characters: It begins with Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) being rescued from a space prison by the former soldier Roland (Kevin Hart [?!]). Inexplicably, they run into the former Psycho, Kriege (Florian Munteanu), and together they all escape to find a legendary vault on Pandora, which holds untold alien treasures.
Meanwhile, in a nondescript city on another planet, Lilith gets recruited by the head of the Atlas Corporation (a scenery-chewing Edgar Ramirez) to rescue Tina, who he claims is her daughter. Like a maze hastily created for a kids menu, you can easily predict the path the film will take. Lilith reluctantly heads back to Pandora, she teams up with the other characters, and plot points are checked off with the excitement of a DMV visit
There are obligatory action scenes, as you'd expect, but it all feels routine — CG explosions, half-hearted choreography and minimal stakes.
Blanchett is an actress who has proven herself to have an enormous amount of range. She can play an awesome/terrifying Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings, and a pompous conductor in Tár. But while there are some base pleasures in seeing her rolling around with futuristic guns, she just never feels comfortable in the skin of an action heroine. There's none of the ferocity of Charlize Theron's most physical roles, or even Angelina Jolie in a middling thriller like Salt (a movie that, I assure you, is far more fun than Borderlands). Blanchett just seems too cool for this shit.
Photo by Lionsgate
And unlike other films featuring a rag-tag group of heroes, like Guardians of the Galaxy or the excellent Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, there’s little time spent building up relationships in Borderlands. Roland seems noble, but we never really learn who he is and what’s driving him to save Tina. (I also question the wisdom of casting a comedian like Hart in a mostly straight role.) Krieg is a shell of a character who gets only a few lines of stunted dialog and no actual development. Jamie Lee Curtis’s role as the “xenoarcheologist” Tannis makes no sense at all.
What you have, ultimately, is a boring film filled with empty characters and actors who would be better off being in literally anything else. If Cate Blanchett sold out for a corny commercial campaign — if she reenacted Pacino’s Dunkaccino song for real — it would still be less embarrassing than starring in this failure. In an era where many game adaptations have been surprisingly watchable, like the Sonic and Super Mario Bros. movies, and a masterpiece of a show like The Last of Us exists, Borderlands feels like a unforced error.
Photo by Lionsgate
Instead of being a big-budget film, it could have been better off as a streaming series like Fallout. Perhaps it didn’t need two Oscar winnersand a well-known comedian like Kevin Hart. They probably should have stuck with the screenplay from the Chernobyl and Last of Us showrunnner Craig Mazin, instead of bringing in more writers. (One of the listed screenwriters is "Joe Crombie," a pseudonym for someone who didn’t want their name attached to this film.)
As it is, though, Borderlands is pure wasted potential. Go replay the games — hell, go watch some of the Borderlands fan films — instead of sitting through this atrocity.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-borderlands-movie-is-an-astounding-waste-of-potential-160032875.html?src=rss