Here are the quick hits from the world of movies, TV, games, K-Mart locations, laserdisc collections, whatever catches our fancy.
Movies
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige says we can look forward to Hawkeye and Hulk having larger roles in the sequel. This pleases me.
“Part of the fun of Age of Ultron was saying, you’ve seen another Iron Man adventure before, you see another Thor adventure and another Cap adventure, but we haven’t seen the Green Goliath again. So that was important in the characters you haven’t seen – Hulk being one of them and Hawkeye being one of them – Ultron will make up for it. They have very big parts in Age of Ultron.”
Pan
In the long, successful tradition of actors playing characters of different ethnicity, like Johnny Depp in The Lone Ranger or Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer, Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) has been cast as Tiger Lily in 2015’s Pan. This movie sounds like a scene out of Dragon Tattoo…very uncomfortable to sit through.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Sebastian Stan has revealed that he has a nine picture deal with Marvel Studios. Get ready for Winter Soldier to be around for a long time.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Watching Arnold crush things with a tank is somehow deeply satisfying. He is doing it for charity as well, so no shame in helping out.
Games
Titanfall
Amazon raised Prime prices this week and now they have been caught deleting low scores for Titanfall by NeoGAF. Ruh Roh, Shaggy.
Valve
Check out the redesigned Steam controller which still looks weird as hell, but now with A,B,X and Y buttons.
Street Fighter
Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, an original web series, will debut on Machinima. It can’t be any worse than the last two movies…can it? At least the video has no Van Damme or Kristin Kreuk although it looks like the grand master is wearing one hell of an anal bead necklace.
http://youtu.be/GYjIT-HALrY
Books
Harry Potter
JK Rowling has released a new 2,400 word piece called History of the Quidditch World Cup. It is free and can be read on Pottermore.
JK Rowling is coming back to the Harry Potter universe although “the boy who lived” will not have anything to do with it. She will adapt Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a Hogwarts textbook, into a feature film about the book’s author, Newt Scamander. It will take place around 70 years before Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Rowling gave a statement about her first screenplay and returning to the world of wizardry:
“Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, 70 years before Harry’s gets underway.”
Warner bringing in Rowling to work on anything in the Potter universe is going to mean big business even if Potter himself is not involved. As studios keep trying to find the next Harry Potter type franchise, Warner just went right back to the source.
In case this is still hard to believe, here is Warner Bros. official statement on the team-up of Rowling and the studio.
Warner Bros. Entertainment today announced an expanded creative partnership with world-renowned, best-selling author J.K. Rowling. At the center of the partnership is a new film series from Rowling’s world of witches and wizards, inspired by Harry Potter’s Hogwarts textbook “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and the adventures of the book’s fictitious author, Newt Scamander. The announcement was made by Kevin Tsujihara, Chief Executive Officer, Warner Bros. Entertainment.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” will be an original story and will mark Rowling’s screenwriting debut. It is planned as the first picture in a new film series. Set in the wizarding world, the story will feature magical creatures and characters, some of which will be familiar to devoted Harry Potter fans.
“Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world,” said Rowling. “The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.”
“We are incredibly honored that Jo has chosen to partner with Warner Bros. on this exciting new exploration of the world of wizardry which has been tremendously successful across all of our businesses,” said Tsujihara. “She is an extraordinary writer, who ignited a reading revolution around the world, which then became an unprecedented film phenomenon. We know that audiences will be as excited as we are to see what her brilliant and boundless imagination conjures up for us.”
In addition to the film series, “Fantastic Beasts” will also be developed across the Studio’s video game, consumer products and digital initiatives businesses, including enhanced links with Pottermore.com, Rowling’s digital online experience built around the Harry Potter stories.
The Studio’s expanded partnership with Rowling also covers the continued expansion of its Harry Potter activities, including the wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme parks in conjunction with partner Universal Parks and Resorts (currently in Orlando, FL; opening in Hollywood, CA and Osaka, Japan), digital initiatives (including Pottermore), video games, consumer products and visitor attractions.
In addition, Warner Bros. will serve as the worldwide TV distributor (excluding the U.K.) of J.K. Rowling’s upcoming television adaptation for the BBC of “The Casual Vacancy,” her best-selling first novel aimed at adult audiences. This miniseries begins production in 2014.
The relationship will be managed in London by Neil Blair of The Blair Partnership, Rowling’s literary agency, and Josh Berger, President & Managing Director, Warner Bros. UK, Ireland and Spain, who will serve as Warner Bros.’ chief business contact for all J.K. Rowling initiatives going forward.
Yesterday was Harry Potter’s 33rd birthday. We were born only a month a part and while he is a fictional character who defeated a dark lord and is world famous and banging Ginny Weasley, I am writing pithy comments about Playstations and X-Men.
Jimmy Fallon celebrated Harry’s name day by having his good friend Ron Weasley, who oddly looks like Sgt. Nicholas Angel, wish him the very best of birthdays.
Fans of the Pottermore social site that expands on the Harry Potter universe and lets users read the book in new ways and is the social hub for everything Harry Potter is now available on the Playstation Home service. All you have to do is link your Pottermore account and you are ready to go.
This is not just a direct move to Playstation. There are many new things users can entertain themselves with like new trivia, riding on the Hogwarts Express and new mini-games. Check out the trailer below and be happy that you can actually put your Playstation Home to good use instead of wondering why the hell it is just sitting there taking up hard drive space.
Apparently Disney has taken the patented “Harry Potter poster route” and plans to release twenty-three separate posters before the movie hits. This one has Tony and Pepper in an embrace. Tony better be careful because holding Pepper that close might become embarrassing.
DING
Yeah, I went there. An erection joke. You try writing a different post everyday for another Iron Man 3 poster.
