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Netflix’s Castlevania series will debut on July 7… and here’s the first teaser trailer
For quite a while now, all we’ve really known about Netflix’s Castlevania series is that it’s an animated adaptation of one of the franchise’s best games, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, and that it was penned by the award-winning Warren Ellis. But today, we finally got our first peak at a teaser trailer and confirmation that it’ll premiere on the streaming service on July 7.
After watching the teaser, we still don’t know much about Netflix’s Castlevania, but we did get this rather awesome exchange:
Woman: “Who are you?”
Alucard: “The man who’ll kill Dracula.”
The first season of Castlevania will include four 30-minute episodes, and a second season is said to be in production for release in 2018.
Posted in Etcetera, News, Retro
Tagged Castlevania
Spider-Man’s Tom Holland will star as a young Nathan Drake in the Uncharted movie
Brace yourself… the Uncharted film adaptation is undergoing yet another writer switch.
Joe Carnahan turned in a completed draft of an Uncharted film adaptation back in January, and filming was expected to begin this Summer with Shawn LevyAc in the director’s chair. While Levy is staying with the production, Carnahan’s script has been tossed out in favor of a “Young Nathan Drake” story that’ll feature Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s Tom Holland as a teenage version of the adventurer.
According to Deadline, Sony Pictures is currently searching for a new writer to pen the screenplay. The report also claims that Tom Rothman, the Chairman of Sony Pictures, instigated the change after viewing an early cut of Holland’s performance in Spider-Man: Homecoming and finding inspiration in a similar “Young Nathan Drake” level that Naughty Dog included in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.
Nathan Drake’s video game career came to an end last Spring with the release of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, but Naughty Dog plans to continue the series with a standalone spinoff, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, for the PS4 on August 22.
Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3, PS4
Tagged Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Constantin Film is officially rebooting the Resident Evil film franchise
Earlier this year, Director Paul W.S. Anderson and star Milla Jovovich brought the Resident Evil film franchise to an end with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. But the Chairman of Constantin Film revealed that the production company is already planning to create a new series of Resident Evil films in the future.
Zombie auteur George Romero was Capcom’s first choice to adapt the Resident Evil games for the big screen. But after that partnership fell apart in the late 90s, Anderson signed on to direct Resident Evil, a prequel to the game series, in 2002. Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which was inspired by Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, followed in 2004, but the remaining four films in the franchise veered off into a wild new direction devised by Anderson and focusing heavily on the burgeoning superpowers of Jovovich’s character, Alice.
Speaking to Variety at the Cannes Film Festival, Chairman Martin Moszkowicz confirmed that a reboot to the film franchise is already in development, though he didn’t say if Anderson or Jovovich would return.
At this point, that’s all we know. Though I’m sure fans would be very interested if a new film adaptation took its cues from Capcom’s latest addition to the Resident Evil saga, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.
Posted in Etcetera, News
Tagged Resident Evil
Contra is being adapted into a live-action movie in China
Konami gleefully ripped off Aliens and Predator when they were developing Contra back in 1987, but they also wound up creating one of the greatest side-scrolling shooters of all time. so I’d call it a wash. But 30 years later, it looks like Contra will finally be going the other way, as a group of Chinese filmmakers have stepped forward to create a live-action adaptation of the game.
According to China Film Insider, Contra: The Movie will shift the action to an island in the South China Sea, but it’ll otherwise stick to the same story beats:
In 1988, a huge meteorite lands on an uninhabited island in the South China Sea. Chen Qiang and Li Zhiyong investigate but come up empty handed. 29 years later, Chen sends commandos Bill and Lance into a combat mission there to neutralize the villainous Red Falcon Organization, but end up facing a different enemy altogether.
Contra: The Movie is being produced by Beijing Starlit Movie and TV Culture, and a short teaser video has been embedded above.
Can you smell the plot description The Rock is cooking up for the Rampage movie…
Rampage is the beloved arcade classic about giant monsters destroying city after city as they crisscross the globe, though we haven’t seen a new entry in the franchise since 2006’s Rampage: Total Destruction. That’ll all change in a year from now, when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson returns to the big screen as the star of a Rampage film adaptation.
Brad Peyton, who previously teamed with Johnson on San Andreas will direct Rampage, and filming began earlier this week in Georgia. But rather than issue a bland press release, Warner Bros. let Johnson deliver a plot description to fans through his Instagram account.
It sounds absolutely bonkers (just like the game) and it looks like the special effects will be handled by WETA (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong). Also, you don’t see the phrase “I will not lick them” in enough plot descriptions:
Goin’ primal.
Good to finally have boots on the ground here in Georgia for production of #RAMPAGE.
I head up an anti poaching unit out of Rwanda. My best friend is a rare albino gorilla named, George. Very bad people infect George, an alligator and a wolf with a serum. All three animals grow at an unprecedented rate. Their size, speed, agility and violent aggression is off the charts. They go on a deadly rampage and want to destroy the world.
George not happy. Me not happy. When animals like you, they lick you. When they don’t like you, they kill you. I will hunt down the bad people who did this to my best friend. And when I find them, I will not lick them.
We have the best VFX monster making team (WETA) on the planet. Our actors and crew have been working very hard to raise the monster genre bar.
As always, let’s have some fun. Let’s shoot. #PrimalDNA #George #Lizzy #Ralph #RAMPAGE
Rampage will open in theaters on April 20, 2018.
Shovel Knight: Official Design Works officially announced by Udon Entertainment
It looks like the rumors are true… Udon Entertainment will release a Shovel Knight artbook this August.
Shovel Knight: Official Design Works will include an in-depth look at the early concept art that allowed Shovel Knight to become a Kickstarter darling and indie sensation, as well an exclusive interview with the development team:
Udon has worked very closely with developer Yacht Club Games to ensure that Shovel Knight: Official Design Works is every bit the definitive Shovel Knight art book that fans deserve. Within its pages you’ll find character art, developer commentary, rough illustrations and concept art, background development images, comprehensive sprite sheets, full-page promotional illustrations, and more – including an exclusive interview with the game’s development team!
The 184-page book will also include content from the game’s first expansion, Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows.
If you can’t wait until August, you can view a selection of preview pages at the the publishing company’s official website right now.
Splatoon manga coming to North America in Fall 2017
CoroCoro Comics published a manga series based on Nintendo’s Splatoon in Japan after the game’s launch in 2015. Serialized in CoroCoro magazine, the series, which was written and illustrated by Sankichi Hinodeya, was eventually compiled in two volumes.
This weekend, Viz Media announced (via Twitter) that they’re translating it into English for a North American release this Fall.
We don’t currently have any more details than that, but fans will get the chance to dive back into the world of Splatoon this July when Splatoon 2 launches for the Nintendo Switch.
Activision is working on at least three movies in a connected Call of Duty Cinematic Universe
Activision first began discussing the possibility of a “Call of Duty Cinematic Universe” shortly after opening their film division, Activision Blizzard Studios, a few years ago. Earlier this week, a new profile in The Guardian has revealed that the studio is already working on three separate films:
“We have plotted out many years,” [Co-President Stacey] Sher tells the Guardian. “We put together this group of writers to talk about where we were going. There’ll be a film that feels more like Black Ops, the story behind the story. The Modern Warfare series looks at what it’s like to fight a war with the eyes of the world on you. And then maybe something that is more of a hybrid, where you are looking at private, covert operations, while a public operation is going on.”
According to The Guardian, Activision would like to start filming the first entry in the “Call of Duty Cinematic Universe” sometime next year, with a theatrical premiere planned for “a couple of years after” that.
Sher and her Co-President, Nick Van Dyk, also have ambitions beyond traditional motion pictures. The pair has already partnered with Netflix to produce Skylanders Academy, and they’re also envisioning a Call of Duty-branded series that focuses on historical conflicts such as World War II and the Vietnam War.
Sher also wants fans to know that, above all else, Activision Blizzard Studios wants to make good movies: “If you just chase the empty blockbuster, and have nothing to say in the genre, forget about it.”
Posted in Etcetera, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops