Month: February 2019

Ray Liotta, who played Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese’s classic mobster movie Goodfellas, is joining another gangster film. Liotta will play an unspecified role in the Sopranos prequel film The Many Saints of Newark, joining other cast members such as Alessandro Nivola, Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, and Billy Magnussen, according to Deadline. Michael Gandolfini will play Tony Soprano, a role his late father portrayed in the HBO show.

The Many Saints of Newark is set in the ’60s during the Newark race riots. Sopranos TV show creator David Chase co-wrote the script with another Sopranos veteran, Lawrence Konner. Game of Thrones and Thor: The Dark World director Alan Taylor is directing.

Liotta grew up in Newark in the ’60s, and according to Deadline, the actor has a “personal connection to the story.”

“David’s talent is unmatched and the directing of Alan Taylor makes this even more exciting. I respect them both immensely and look forward to making this special project with New Line,” Liotta told Deadline.

Nivola plays Dickie Moltisanti in The Many Saints of Newark. He is the father of Christopher Moltisanti, who was played by Michael Imperioli in the TV series.

In other mobster movie news, the eerie first teaser for Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman starring Robert de Niro and Al Pacino has arrived–watch it here.

The upcoming Suicide Squad sequel has lost one of its biggest stars. Sources told Variety that Smith, who played Deadshot in the 2016 Oscar winning film, is not expected to return for the follow-up reportedly due in part to scheduling issues.

Smith and Warner Bros. reportedly parted ways amicably. It’s also worth nothing that Smith was never even officially confirmed to return as Deadshot in Suicide Squad 2. According to the report, producers wanted Smith and Margot Robbie, who played Harley Quinn, to return for the sequel. No official casting announcements about Suicide Squad 2 have been made as of yet, however.

Suicide Squad might not have been a critical hit, but it made $746 million at the global box office, which basically guaranteed a sequel. As mentioned, it won an Oscar–for Makeup and Hairstyling.

The sequel is to be written and directed by James Gunn, who directed the Guardians of the Galaxy movies before Disney fired him. Production on Suicide Squad 2 is expected to begin this fall, and the movie has a release date of August 6, 2021.

In a recent interview, 343 Industries boss Bonnie Ross said Halo Infinite‘s sandbox multiplayer is potentially capable of delivering a battle royale experience as one of its modes. Nothing is confirmed at this stage, and that remains the case, according to Halo franchise manager Frank O’Connor.

He responded to someone on Twitter who said Ross’s comments equated to a confirmation that Halo Infinite will have a battle royale mode. That’s not the case.

“I don’t know how you get from ‘Sandbox is capable of’ to ‘basically confirmed,'” O’Connor said. “The sandbox is also capable of 1:1 Big Team Invisible Low G SWAT Vehicle Fiesta and I can tell you that’s not happening because I’ve pitched it for five games straight now.”

So there you have it, again.

It’s also worth noting that Halo 5 already has numerous battle royale modes made by fans through Forge and published as Custom Games that you can play right now. Presumably Halo Infinite will bring back Forge mode, and players will be able to make whatever they want, including battle royale, if Microsoft doesn’t make it an official game type as franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield have.

343 already poured some cold water on the idea of a battle royale mode in Halo Infinite. In 2017, a Halo developer said, “I’ll tell you right now, the only BR we’re really interested in is Battle Rifle.”

What’s particularly interesting now is how Ross specifically mentioned Apex Legends in her comments about battle royale. People would generally agree that Fortnite and Halo are not much alike, but Apex Legends is more of a core shooter like Halo. It makes sense that 343 would constantly evaluate industry trends. It would be surprising if they didn’t.

Halo Infinite is in development for Xbox One and PC. No release date has been announced, but more details about the game are coming at E3 2019. It’s rumoured that Microsoft will also talk about its next console at E3; Halo Infinite is said to be to be a launch title for the new Xbox.

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It’s not a big surprise, but now one research firm has put out a report about how much money Avengers: Endgame is predicted to make for its opening in April–and it is a lot.

Numbers from Research Exhibitor via Collider state that Endgame is lined up to make $282 million in the United States and Canada for its opening weekend to set a new opening-weekend record. For comparison, 2018’s Infinity War made $258 million domestically on its opening weekend.

A massive opening weekend for Endgame is expected. Infinity War ended on an epic cliffhanger thanks to Thanos’ snap, and the film itself is said to mark a conclusion of sorts to the overarching storyline that began 10 years ago.

One factor that could hurt Endgame’s box office take is its length. The movie is currently sitting at around three hours, which makes it the longest MCU movie ever. That long of a runtime means theatres will be limited, to a degree, in the number of daily screenings they can accomodate.

The next Marvel movie is Captain Marvel, which hits theatres in March and is also expected to make lots and lots of money for its opening weekend. The film introduces Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel to the MCU, and she’ll play the role again in April’s Endgame.

For more on Endgame, you can check out GamerSpot’s recent feature on why Tony Stark, not Captain America, should die in the film.