Month: October 2019

The new Breaking Bad movie, El Camino, premiered on Netflix earlier this month and it seems a lot of people tuned in. According research company Nielsen, the movie drew more than 6.5 million viewers over its first weekend alone.

The numbers, which were obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, state that El Camino had a 6.54 million “average minute audience” over its first three days. The numbers also state that about 2.65 million people watched on day one and that the largest percentage of viewers were people in the 18-34 age range (1.08 million on day one and 2.34 million over first three days).

Importantly, Nielsen’s numbers only cover the United States. Netflix has not yet released any official viewership data for El Camino, but Breaking Bad has a global appeal so the numbers are likely bigger than what Nielsen reported.

El Camino picks up immediately after the events of Breaking Bad, which ended its run on TV back in 2013. As THR mentions, the reported 6.54 million viewers for the first weekend is close to what Breaking Bad the TV show was getting during its final season.

GameSpot’s El Camino review scored the movie an 8/10.

“If you love Breaking Bad and Jesse Pinkman, El Camino is a beautifully crafted kindness, and a chance to spend another hour or so with a character you care about,” reviewer Meg Downey said. “If you don’t have strong feelings about either of those things, El Camino may feel like a really spectacularly shot screen saver. Either way, the fact that it exists at all, and that Sony TV and Netflix were willing to put money behind what is so obviously an extremely niche passion project, feels like a good omen for franchise TV.”

Read next: Breaking Bad Creator Reveals El Camino Alternate Endings, Breaking Bad Creator Reveals El Camino Alternate Endings

Just a week before its scheduled to premiere on October 25, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was refused for release in China. It is unclear what the issue is, but Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, is said to have campaigned China’s National Film Administration over apparent issues with her father’s portrayal in the film.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tarantino is refusing to re-cut his movie to please the regulators in China, however. As such, it appears Once Upon a Time in Hollywood may not be released in China.

“The decision to halt the release is speculated to be over Tarantino’s portrayal of the late martial arts hero Bruce Lee, who was of Chinese descent,” THR said. “Friends and family of the Hollywood action star have criticized Tarantino for his depiction of Lee, saying it doesn’t resemble the real-life man and is instead a caricature.”

According to the report, the regulators in China did not provide any explanation for why it refused the release of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in China. A source told THR that one of the issues could be related to the level of violence in the film.

China is among the world’s largest movie markets, so Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is leaving a lot of money on the table, it seems.

Tarantino is known as a director who is known to have “final cut” privilege, meaning he gets decide on the content for a theatrical release, not necessarily the studio.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is Tarantino’s ninth movie, and it would have been the first to be released in China, though it appears that is no longer happening.

A director refusing to edit their movie to please the Chinese regulators is not always the case. 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody was edited for China to remove all mention of Freddie Mercury’s sexual orientation.

The new Will Smith action movie Gemini Man is expected to lose many millions of dollars. According The Hollywood Reporter, Gemini Man could lose $75 million or more following a slow start at the box office.

Gemini Man only made $20.5 million million in the US and Canada over its October 11-13 opening weekend. Worldwide, it’s made $118.7 million thus far. That is a lot of money, but the film had a reported production budget of $138 million in addition to $100 million or more in marketing costs.

The good news, if it can be called that, is that Gemini Man’s expected losses will be spread throughout at least four different companies. The movie was financed by Skydance Media, Paramount Pictures, Fosun, and Alibaba. Paramount and Skydance funded 35 percent each, with the China-based Fosun and Alibaba making up the remaining 30 percent (25 percent from Fosun and 5 percent from Alibaba, according to THR’s sources).

As THR notes, Paramount’s losses on the project will be mitigated by the fee it gets as the movie’s distributor. Fosun is distributing Gemini Man in China.

Gemini Man didn’t score the highest reviews from critics, though it was praised by some for its technical work with the digital de-aging of Will Smith and its very high 120 FPS frame rate. In the movie, Smith plays a hitman whose younger clone is out to kill him.

The movie was directed by Oscar winner Ang Lee, who previously made Hulk (2003), Brokeback Mountain (2005), and Life of Pi (2012).

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A new trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will premiere very soon. The official Star Wars Twitter account has confirmed that the “final” trailer for the sci-fi epic will be released during Monday Night Football on ESPN on Monday, October 21.

ESPN is owned by Disney, which owns Star Wars, so that explains that.

Monday Night Football begins around 8:15 PM ET / 5:15 PM PT on October 21, but there is no word yet as to when during the broadcast the trailer will debut. Whatever the case, we’ll post it on GameSpot as soon as possible. October 21 would have been Carrie Fisher’s 63rd birthday.

This will apparently be the “final” trailer for The Rise of Skywalker before its December 20 premiere date. Given the trailer is posting two months before the movie comes to theatres, it’s expected there will be many more TV trailers and the like, though this may be the last “full” trailer.

The Rise of Skywalker is the final entry in the Skywalker Saga that began with the 1977 original. It’s directed by JJ Abrams, who also directed The Force Awakens.

The new movie stars Daisy Ridley as Rey, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, John Boyega as Finn, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata, Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, Mark Hamill as Luke, and Billy Dee Williams as Lando.

The Rise of Skywalker’s release in December will follow the live-action Star Wars TV show The Mandalorian that comes to Disney’s streaming platform Disney Plus in November. The first episode of the show will be available on November 12, which is the day the service launches. Watch the first Mandalorian trailer here, and check out everything we know about every upcoming Star Wars movie and TV show.

This week’s episode of New Releases is ready to throw down, whether it’s in the squared circle with WWE 2K20 or the Nintendo Switch port of Skullgirls: 2nd Encore. This week is also home to two highly anticipated AAA releases: The Outer Worlds and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. It’s also time to start getting spooky with the MediEvil remake.

WWE 2K20 — October 22

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC

This year’s wrestling game features Bayley, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch, the Four Horsewomen of the WWE. It’s also the first game to feature a female storyline, alongside the usual male-focused campaign. Last year’s fan-favorite 2K Towers mode is back too.

More Coverage:

Skullgirls: 2nd Encore — October 22

Available on: Switch

You can probably already tell from the screenshot above, but Skullgirls is known for its gorgeous hand-drawn animation. Each of the game’s 14 fighters have a unique look, personality, and moveset. The Switch version lets you battle others online of course, but you can also fight your friends locally using a single pair of Joy-Cons.

More Coverage:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare — October 25

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC

This isn’t a remaster of the 2007 classic–it’s a full-on reboot. You’ll see familiar characters like Captain Price, but they’re part of a totally new campaign that ties in more closely to the game’s other co-op and multiplayer modes. Speaking of multiplayer, there’s a big emphasis on tactics with this game, including a Realism Mode that shuts off your HUD.

More Coverage:

The Outer Worlds — October 25

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC

This week’s other big shooter is an RPG. The Outer Worlds comes from Obsidian, best known nowadays for Fallout: New Vegas, hence all the “Fallout in space” comparisons the game keeps getting. But The Outer Worlds sets itself apart from Fallout by letting you explore multiple planets, each one dominated by mega-corporations. There’s also a flaw system, which allows your character to actually develop special perks if they keep injuring themselves in various ways.

More Coverage:

MediEvil– October 25

Available on: PS4

Much like Sir Daniel Fortesque rising from his grave, this game has been rebuilt from the ground up. It might feel like the same PS1 platformer, but this remake sports a fancy coat of 4K paint if you’ve got a PS4 Pro and a capable TV.

More Coverage:

We’ve got one more batch of October games coming up. Next week, New Releases will take a look at Luigi’s Mansion 3 on Nintendo Switch. The handheld console is also getting its own ports of Resident Evil 5 and 6.