Ron Burgundy returned after nine years but his party was spoiled by a hobbit. Anchorman 2 opened to $26.7 million and $40 million since its release last Wednesday. That is not the huge opening expected but it will be a big hit with a budget of only $50 million.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug stayed in the top spot after dropping almost 60% with $31.4 million. After what some thought was a soft opening, Peter Jackson’s second film in The Hobbit trilogy is sitting on a worldwide gross of $403 million.
American Hustle opened nationwide with a lot of talk about Oscar nominations for Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Amy Adams to $19.1 million while Thor: The Dark World crossed $200 million domestically.
1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug- $31.4 million/ $127.5 million
No more speculation. No more rumors. Paul Rudd is Ant-Man. Marvel released the official statement confirming that Brian Fantana himself will be the next superhero in the Marvel universe.
“Marvel’s “Ant-Man” has found its hero in Paul Rudd, who will star in the new film from director Edgar Wright hitting theaters July 31, 2015!“
The casting had come down to Rudd and Joseph Gordon-Levitt but JGL seemed to go in a different direction when it was announced that he and Dark Knight screenwriter David Goyer were working on a Sandman adaptation. Personally, I think this is another casting home run by Marvel.
Kevin Feige, Marvel’s movie godfather, had this to say about Rudd:
“When Edgar Wright came to us with the idea of Paul Rudd, we felt a huge sense of relief because the first step in creating any Marvel Studios film is finding the right star. We knew early on that we had found the right person in Paul. When he not only agreed to do it but became as enthusiastic as any actor we’d ever met with about doing the work, we knew we’d found the right guy. We couldn’t be more excited for our audiences to see what he’s going to do to bring Ant-Man to life.”
Director Edgar Wright threw some fuel on the fire saying that Rudd was indeed Ant-Man, but we did not know which Ant-Man giving pause to whether he will play Hank Pym or Scott Lang. I think this is Wright having fun with the comic fans and it will end up being Pym.
Hiccup and Toothless are back in How To Train Your Dragon 2. Five years have passed and dragons and Vikings are patrolling the skies when Hiccup meets a new Dragon Rider with a huge secret (which is given away in the preview for some reason). They must use all their abilities to save the dragon world from a new threat.
The huge battle has a Lord of the Rings feel to it. I can not wait to see it biggified.
How To Train Your Dragon 2 releases on June 13, 2014.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes was one of the big surprises of 2011. It hit big at the box office and rebooted the nearly 50 year old franchise. Next year we will get to witness the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes which takes place 15 years after the events of the first movie. Humanity has survived the plague and are at odds with the genetically created apes led by Caesar.
Andy Serkis reprises his role as Caesar and Gary Oldman is the voice of the human opposition. Keri Russell and new John Conner Jason Clarke also star.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes releases on July 18, 2014.
This new trailer for Mario Kart 8 reveals a new track based at an airport that goes inside, to a runway, then inside of a plane. Then we see more tracks that show off the F-Zero style tracks that defy gravity. Get ready for shouting matches, knocking controllers out of people’s hands and koopa shells up the ass.
Do you like your hack-n-slash games with an Asian feel? Have you played any of the 38 (safe estimate) Dynasty Warriors games? Nintendo is giving you the ability to take your skills to Hyrule. Tecmo Koei is making Hyrule Warriors for the Wii U and will see Link Master Sword his way through thousands of enemies. It will release in 2014.
Say what you will about the Dead Island games, they may be buggy as hell but I love to play them. The more I see of Techland’s next zombie game, Dying Light, the more I am ready to get my Mirror’s Edge skills back in shape for the zombie apocalypse.
Watch the new video with nine minutes of gameplay that shows how to use your parkour ability and traps to navigate the undead hordes. Then when the sun goes down, all bets are off.
Bioshock Infinite is still in the running for my Game of the Year and the wait for Burial at Sea has been a long one. Infinite released in March and Burial at Sea did not see release until mid-November. Even for a piece of single-player DLC that is a long wait and there is no telling when we will see Part 2 surface.
Irrational has given us an interesting premise to start with sending us back to Rapture with an alternate version of Booker and a more mature femme fatale Elizabeth. The first twenty minutes of Burial at Sea does feel like something new and wonderful for the series and not one gun shot is fired. We get to see Rapture in all its glory. The Rapture we have only heard about in audio logs. Shops are open for business, residents walk up and down the passageways and Big Daddy’s are swimming the deep working to keep Rapture in pristine condition.
Once Booker and Elizabeth are sent down to the sunken Fontaine’s department store is when Burial at Sea becomes more familiar to Bioshock fans. This is not a bad thing but it certainly feels like territory we have been over before. Twice, actually. There are dark corridors with water leaking through, splicers running around and even a creepy baby carriage connecting us to the original game. Don’t get me wrong, it is an enjoyable experience, it just quickly becomes a case of been there, done that. They could have kept me in the brightly lit wonders of the city the entire time for what it is worth.
The gunplay you know is back with very few changes. Guns are mapped to your right hand and plasmids are back (not vigors, this is Rapture) including Shock Jockey, Possession and the new (yet not) Old Man Winter. With the shortened length of the DLC it feels like we are quickly forced to find the plasmids instead of relishing in them after plenty of time searching. I think it would have worked better to start you out with two of them and find the Old Man Winter. While in combat using the mix of weapons and plasmids are as fun as any other Bioshock title.
A little piece of Columbia makes its way to Rapture with Booker’s ability to use skyhooks (called air grabbers) to maneuver around, reach new areas and give you the upper ground in firefights. Elizabeth is in her giving mood again as well tossing you eve, health and ammo when you get yourself in a pinch. She can also use her tear ability to create weapon barrels, gun turrets and even a samurai warrior to slice up splicers. The mix of Rapture and Columbia works very well.
The long wait for Burial at Sea makes the story’s length a disappointment. You can finish in one sitting of about 90 minutes. I took around two hours taking my time to walk around and enjoy the sights of a living Rapture in the beginning. Knowing all you know from finishing Infinite takes away a little of the mystery in Booker’s reasoning and his relationship with Elizabeth. They do a good job throwing a wrench into it at the very end that does get you interested in what Part 2 has to offer when they give you control of Elizabeth for the first time.
Where do you go after you know the story of Infinite? It seemed definitive and perfect so returning to Rapture seems a bit anti-climatic. As I said I wished we could have seen more of the Rapture we are offered at the start of Burial at Sea. We have seen the beaten down and dilapidated underwater city before. Let’s get more of a look at it during its apex. Maybe with Part 2 we can get some more of that. With Part 1 there is not a whole lot of different ideas, just a mixture of previous games into a short Bioshock cocktail.
Schmidt and Jenko are back and have been moved across the street. They have a new location and a new case where they head back to college and grow apart as they accept their new undercover roles a bit too much.
Don’t forget this is a red-band trailer. So if you have young children around…earmuffs.
More Lego goodness is always a good thing. Lego The Hobbit is making its way to consoles next year and will be based on the first two films in the trilogy. Why? Hell if I know. I will still buy it because I loved Lego Lord of the Rings.
