During Disney’s latest earnings report, Disney announced that it will pulling all of their movies from Netflix eventually in order to start its own direct to consumer streaming service.
From CNBC:
The company announced during its latest earnings report on Tuesday it intends to pull all its movies from Netflix.
Instead, Disney plans to launch a branded direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019.
The company will also launch its own ESPN video streaming service in early 2018. The platform, which will feature about 10,000 sporting events each year, will have content from the MLB, NHL, MLS, collegiate sports and tennis’ Grand Slam events.
To power the services, Disney is buying a majority ownership of BAM Tech for $1.58 billion. Disney bought a 33 percent stake in the company, which was spun off from digital media company MLB Advanced Media, in August 2016.
“This represents a big strategic shift for the company,” CEO Bob Iger told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin. “We felt that having control of a platform we’ve been very impressed with after buying 33 percent of it a year ago would give us control of our destiny.”
Netflix stock dropped more than 5 percent upon announcement of the news.
This week’s Entertainment Weekly will focus on the up and coming movies coming out this fall but will go deep behind the scenes and the story of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”. It sounds like a fascinating read and will be available on newsstands this Friday. Both Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Luke Shywalker (Mark Hamil) grace their own individual covers for Entertainment Weekly’s Fall Movie Preview Issue.
Luke Skywalker on the cover of EW
Brand new images from “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” found in this week’s Entertainment Weekly:
The hero theme of The Last Jedi is also a part of the Finn storyline, with John Boyega’s ex-stormtrooper seriously considering becoming an ex-good-guy, too. EW will explore how Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico, a Resistance mechanic, helps pull him back from the brink.
Daisy Ridley as Rey at the ruins of the first Jedi temple.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Rey (Daisy Ridley)
As Rey already knows, you have to search for a bit to find Luke Skywalker. We’ve got new details and images from their encounter in The Last Jedi to launch our cover story rollout …
Writer-director Rian Johnson says one theme of The Last Jedi is the peril of meeting your heroes. EW will dive into the meeting between Luke Skywalker and Rey — and their unexpected clash.
Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, retreating to Supreme Leader Snoke.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Kylo Ren (Adam Driver)
EW is set to showcase the first images of some fearsome new protectors for the enigmatic ruler of the First Order.
EW has a story about the bond between the Resistance’s best fighter pilot and Carrie Fisher’s General Leia Organa.
John Boyega’s Finn, learning to fly.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Finn (John Boyega) in a Ski Speeder on Crait
The ex-stormtrooper was not a pilot in The Force Awakens, but he picks up new skills in The Last Jedi. This morning, look for new photos in EW’s feature on his covert mission with a new character: Kelly Marie Tran’s Resistance mechanic Rose Tico.
Kylo Ren’s new starfighter
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Kylo Ren’s TIE Silencer
The TIE Silencer is a new ship, modeled on Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced X1 from the original 1977 Star Wars and the TIE Interceptors from Return of the Jedi. This image features the ship in battle, flanked by the more expendable TIE Fighters.
The Casino at Canto Bight
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Canto Bight
Finn and Rose’s mission takes them to this glamorous galactic getaway — a city of light and games, where fortunes are won and lost. EW will have more information soon about the spike-winged little ships on the landing pad.
(From left): Producer Ram Bergman, who worked with writer-director Rian Johnson on all of his films, including Brick and Looper, in discussion with Lucasfilm president and The Last Jedi producer Kathleen Kennedy.
Rian Johnson directing Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa
The Last Jedi will mark a farewell to the actress, who died unexpectedly in December. EW will shed new light on what we can expect to see in this last film featuring the princess who became a general.
Chewbacca and the porgs
Star Wars: The Last Jedi L to R: Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) and a Porg
These puffin-like creatures from the island of the first Jedi temple are cute, cuddly, and vexing to Wookiees.
The Caretakers of Ahch-To
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Caretakers on Ach-to Island
These amphibious creatures are what writer-director Rian Johnson describes as alien nuns — a religious order, faithful to the Force, who tend to the ancient Jedi structures on Ahch-To.
The Praetorian Guard
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Praetorian Guards
Modeled on the Emperor’s ceremonial watchmen from Return of the Jedi, these crimson-armored bodyguards are more like samurai.
Woo-oo! Disney has uploaded the first full episode of the new DuckTales show to YouTube.
If you missed the premier date, or just haven’t had the chance yet, now you do!
The hour long premier episode features Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie as they venture to Scrooge McDuck’s mansion and, together, discover the Lost City of Atlantis.
DuckTales will now go on break until September 23, when it will return with two new episodes. Until then, you can just watch the first episode repeatedly.
Telltale announced the release date of the next episode in the Telltale Guardians of the Galaxy series. More Than a Feeling, episode three of five, will be available on August 22.
The announcement was made during the Marvel Games panel at San Diego Comic-Con, where Marvel confirmed that the latest episode would focus its story on Gamora.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series started in April with the release of Tangled Up in Blue, which featured Star Lord’s story. In June Under Pressure released, telling the story of Rocket Raccoon. With More Than a Feeling on the way, the Telltale Guardians of the Galaxy series is already more than halfway over.
Guardians of the Galaxy is available on pretty much every platform, and episode three will probably cost the usual $5 per episode, or be included in the season pass.
A new trailer for “Thor: Raganarok” was released at San Diego Comic Con and it contains a lot of new footage and Hulk seems to have a lot to say in this one.
Marvel also has released a new poster for “Thor: Raganarok”:
The Heroes Assemble To Face Thanos In “Avengers: Infinity War”
Marvel made it’s presence know this year at San Diego Comic Con. And similar to this year’s D23, some trailers and images were made public, and some were not.
The same trailer that was shown at D23 for “Avengers: Infinity War”, was shown to participants at the Infinity War panel resulting in thunderous applause. Unfortunately, this amazing trailer was for participants of the panel only, and we still will have to wait until November before we get our first look at Infinity War. But, do a search on YouTube and you may be luck enough to find a leaked version floating around. Disney has been vigilant taking them down as quickly as they pop up but it hasn’t stopped those who were able to record the first leak to post it under different accounts.
Marvel did release three beautiful hand drawn posters for “Avengers: Infinity War” and when you put the three posters together they form one huge and amazing image.
Our heroes assemble to take on Thanos and The Infinity Gauntlet!
Rocket, Teenage Groot, Thor, Loki, Starlord, Drax, Falcon, a bearded Captain America (Nomad?), Vision, Scarlet Witch and a blonde Black Widow.
Thanos in possession of a fully assembled Infinity Gauntlet with his minions The Black Order consisting of The Black Dwarf, The Ebony Man, Proxima Midnight and Super Giant.
Hulk, Hawkeye, The Winter Soldier, War Machine, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Mantis, Black Panther, Gamora, Iron Man and Nebula.
“Avengers: Infinity War” opens May 4, 2018.
New Poster Released For “Black Panther”
Marvel debuted a brand new poster for Black Panther where King T’Chala watches over his kingdom of Wakanda.
Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” follows T’Challa who, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king. But when a powerful old enemy reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king—and Black Panther—is tested when he is drawn into a formidable conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people and their way of life.
“Black Panther” stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, with Angela Bassett, with Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis.
Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” hits U.S. theaters on February 16, 2018.
First Concept Art Shown For “Captain Marvel”; Samuel L Jackson Joins The Cast
Some information regarding Captain Marvel was announced. One thing that we learned is that the movie will take place in the 90’s, meaning that Captain Marvel existed before most of the characters in the MCU. She may not appear on The Infinity War poster shown in the first article, but Captain Marvel will make her debut in “Avengers: Infinity War:. It was also announced that Samuel L Jackson will portray Nick Fury and have an impact on Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). And to make matters even more interesting, Captain Marvel will introduce The Skrulls to the MCU.
“Ant Man And The Wasp” Adds Michelle Pfeiffer, Lawrence Fishburne and Hannah John-Kamen To The Cast; New Poster Released
Here is another situation where Marvel showed a trailer to those present at the “Ant-Man And The Wasp” panel, but we wont be getting it for a long time. Marvel did announce that Michelle Pfeiffer will be playing Janet Van Dyne, Lawerence Fishburne will be playing Dr. Bill Foster (Goliath) and Hannah John-Kamen will be playing Ghost.
“Ant-Man And The Wasp” opens July 6, 2018.
Stan Lee Introduces Us To Netflix’s “The Defenders”
Stan Lee introduces The Defenders as only he can in this teaser for Netflix’s “The Defenders”.
Also check out the official trailer that debuted at SDCC for Netflix’s “The Defenders”.
Check out this awesome video of some amazing figures from Hot Toys that were shown at this year’s SDCC! Some Marvel, Star Wars, Disney, DC, Aliens, Back To The Future and much more!
Junction Point was shut down by Disney after the commercial failure of Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, but the studio had many other concepts in development that never saw the light of day.
Project Goliath was one of those concepts. It was an ambitious project conceived from a group of eager college students. The game would have been one of Junction Points’ next projects had it not been for the company’s demise.
Following the release of the first Epic Mickey, games industry legend Warren Spector wanted to give the Epic Mickey series another go, due to his frustration with the game’s critical reception missing his personal expectations. Given the commercial success of the first game, Disney gave the team the green light to develop a sequel.
Meanwhile, a fresh team of college students was working on a new passion project, codenamed Project Goliath. The game was set to tell the story of a biogenetically enhanced gorilla named Tarek, and his human friend Ky. Project Goliath took inspiration from popular platformers like Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, and Banjo-Kazooie. Junction Point also aimed to bring an open scope to the game akin to Shadow of the Colossus, which at the time was uncommon, especially for platform adventure games.
After Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two released in 2012, Disney abruptly shuttered Junction Point due to the disappointing sales of the sequel, and the fact that Avalanche Software was already hard at work on the Disney Infinity series. Junction Point attempted to salvage the company by pitching ideas like an Epic Mickey-esqe Donald Duck game, and a Disney kart racer, but it was too late, and Project Goliath never got its chance to be pitched to Disney.
Not only that, but the team at Junction Point was later forced to remove themselves from the concept art created for the game, after it was discovered that one of the key artists had plagiarized some of the artwork for the game. For fear of being blacklisted, the team behind Project Goliath had to disassociate with the concept altogether.
For a more in-depth look behind the tragic story of Project Goliath, take a look at Unseen64‘s latest video below.
MARVEL STUDIOS BEGINS PRODUCTION ON“ANT-MAN AND THE WASP”
Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña and Michael Douglas return for the highly anticipated “Ant-Man” sequel
Marvel Studios announced today that production has begun on “Ant-Man and The Wasp,” starring Paul Rudd (“Captain America: Civil War,” “The Fundamentals of Caring”), Evangeline Lilly (“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” “Lost”), Michael Peña (“The Martian,” “Fury”) and Academy Award® winner Michael Douglas (“Behind the Candelabra,” “Wall Street”), who all return to the roles they originated in the 2015 box office hit “Ant-Man.” Bobby Cannavale (“Vinyl,” “Chef”), Judy Greer (“War for the Planet of the Apes,” “Wilson”), Abby Ryder Fortson (“Togetherness,” “Transparent”), Tip “T.I.” Harris (“Sleepless,” “Get Hard”) and David Dastmalchian (“Twin Peaks,” “The Belko Experiment”) also reprise their supporting roles.
The highly-anticipated follow-up welcomes Academy Award® nominees Michelle Pfeiffer (“The Wizard of Lies,” upcoming “Murder on the Orient Express”) and Laurence Fishburne (“John Wick: Chapter 2,” “The Matrix”), along with Hannah John-Kamen (“Black Mirror,” “Ready Player One”), Walton Goggins (“Vice Principals,” “Six”) and Randall Park (“Veep,” “Fresh Off the Boat”) to the ensemble cast.
“Ant-Man” director Peyton Reed (“Yes Man,” “The Break-Up”) returns to helm Marvel Studios’ action-adventure from a screenplay byChris McKenna & Erik Sommers, Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari, and Paul Rudd. The film, which opens in U.S. theaters on July 6, 2018, will be filmed in Atlanta and San Francisco.
From the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes a new chapter featuring heroes with the astonishing ability to shrink: “Ant-Man and The Wasp.” In the aftermath of “Captain America: Civil War,” Scott Lang (Rudd) grapples with the consequences of his choices as both a Super Hero and a father. As he struggles to rebalance his home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne (Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas) with an urgent new mission. Scott must once again put on the suit and learn to fight alongside The Wasp as the team works together to uncover secrets from their past.
Marvel Studios’’ “Ant-Man and The Wasp” is produced by Kevin Feige with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Stephen Broussard, Charles Newirth and Stan Lee serving as executive producers.
The director’s creative brain trust includes Academy Award®-nominated director of photography Dante Spinotti (“L.A. Confidential”), production designer Shepherd Frankel (“Ant-Man”), costume designer Louise Frogley (“Spider-Man: Homecoming”), visuals effects supervisor Stephane Ceretti (“Doctor Strange”) and seven-time Academy Award® nominee, special effects supervisor Dan Sudick (“Captain America: Civil War”).
Marvel Studios continued its unprecedented success with the release of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” on May 5, which topped the opening weekend box office with a domestic take of over $146 million and has gone on to garner over $860 million at the worldwide box office to date.
On July 7, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” opened at #1 with an opening weekend box office of $117 million and has earned a worldwide box office of over $633 million to date.
In 2016, Marvel Studios released “Captain America: Civil War,” which opened on May 6 with the fifth largest opening weekend of all time and has since garnered box office receipts of over $1.15 billion worldwide.
The juggernaut studio ended last year with its newest Super Hero “Doctor Strange,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Rachel McAdams. The film opened #1 at the box office on November 4 and went on to gross more than $677 million worldwide to date. The two films propelled Marvel Studios’ #1 domestic box-office opening streak to a record-breaking 14 consecutive films.
Marvel Studios’ other epic big-screen adventures include “Iron Man,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Iron Man 2,” “Thor,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Iron Man 3,” “Thor: The Dark World,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Ant-Man” and the upcoming “Thor: Ragnarok” (November 3, 2017), “Black Panther” (February 16, 2018) and “Avengers: Infinity War” (May 4, 2018).
EA has announced that the Star Wars: Battlefront II beta is coming this October for everyone to partake in, and those that pre-order the game will receive access to the beta a few days earlier.
The beta will offer two modes, Galactic Assault and Starfighter Assault. In Galactic Assault, players will get to chose from four distinct trooper classes and fight in massive 40 player battles. The playable map for this mode in the beta will be Theed, the map from Naboo that we saw during E3 last month.
In Starfighter Assault players will control various air vehicles from the original Star War movies and partake in mission-based, progressive battles. Unfortunately, that’s all we know for now, but EA promises to share more details on this mode in August during Gamescom in Germany.
The beta will run from October 6-9 for everyone, but if you pre-order the game, you’ll gain early access and get to play from October 4-9. If you’re interested in pre-ordering the game, here is a pre-order trailer (because those exist now) that offers a glimpse of what incentives pre-oderers can looks forward to.
Disney’s popular strategy mobile game, Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War just received a major update that brings the Flying Dutchman and much more to the game.
A new story mission, “Return of the Flying Dutchman,” has been added to the game and features new ships, characters, and events that pull from the iconic film franchise. Like the Black Pearl, players can use the Flying Dutchman for plundering, pillaging, and all other things pirates are known for. After completing the new story mission, players will gain full access to the new ship and be able to journey alongside famous pirates like Davy Jones, Will Turner, and Elizabeth Swann.
The update also brings higher tier common ships, pirates, and new max level caps. Crafting XP will now be awarded for each accessory or piece of armor that is crafted.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War is free-to-doanload and available now on iOS and Android.
