Month: October 2020

The upcoming Monster Hunter movie divided fans when its first trailer focused on a group of US Army soldiers, showing more machine guns than giant swords. However, in a new interview with Polygon, director Paul W.S. Anderson talks about being a long-time fan of the game, and promises his film will do it justice.

“I’ve long been a fan of the video game. I discovered it in Japan 12 years ago when it was pretty much a Japanese-only phenomena, before the rest of the world discovered what Monster Hunter was,” Anderson explained. “I started talking to Capcom 10 years ago about adapting it into a movie. This really is a long-term passion project of mine and I’m approaching it not just as a filmmaker but also as a kind of long-term player and fan of it.”

Anderson has worked extensively with Capcom in the past, as the director of six Resident Evil movies. He also directed the 1995 Mortal Kombat film–with Monster Hunter, this past experience allowed him to get ahead of the game.

Anderson says that the success of Monster Hunter World sent much of Hollywood scrambling to secure rights to a Monster Hunter film–only to find that he had done it years back. “Every Hollywood studio in the world was chasing Monster Hunter because suddenly they’re like, ‘Oh, big sales! Lets go grab it!'” he said. “And they were all very disappointed to discover that I already had the rights to it.”

People who are concerned about whether the movie will feel more like Monster Hunter than the clips we’ve seen so far can rest assured that the team behind the game at Capcom have had plenty of input on the film. “We talked through the script and what that would contain, what creatures would be in the movie, which landscapes would be in the movie,” Anderson explained. “When we were designing the costumes, we’d send photographs of all of the costumes to Japan and they’d say ‘Well, you know, the, the hunter’s collar should be little smaller.’ ‘You know, the Admirals axe could be a bit bigger.’

He confirmed that both Ron Perlman and Tony Jaa’s characters will wield suitably giant weapons–Perlman an axe and Jaa a greatsword and bow–while Milla Jovovich’s character will have dual blades that the actress favors using in the game. Anderson also mentioned that the movie would feature the Palico character Meowscular Chef, who first appeared in Monster Hunter: World.

Anderson also explained why he inserted characters from the modern world, rather than just sticking to the Monster Hunter universe. “Milla is the avatar for the audience. She’s the newbie going into this world,” he explained. “She’s the person from our world that knows nothing about the Monster Hunter world that’s going in for the first time. And what’s nice for the game players about that is it kind of recreates your first experience when you first played Monster Hunter.”

After a number of delays, Monster Hunter’s release date has been moved foward into 2020. It’ll be coming to cinemas on December 30 this year.

Monster Hunter fans who aren’t sure about the movie still have plenty to look forward to in the franchise, with both Monster Hunter Rise and Monster Hunter Stories 2 planned to release on the Nintendo Switch in 2021.

Disney’s live action Mulan remake caused controversy, both in China and around the world, when fans discovered notes in the film’s credits thanking several government entities that have been linked to the cultural genocide of the Uighur Muslim population. Now, the company has defended the decision, calling it part of a “standard practice across the film industry worldwide,” Variety reports.

Parts of Disney’s new Mulan film were filmed in the region of Xinjiang, where internment camps have been located since at least 2017. A new statement from Disney has downplayed the extent of filming done in the region, as well as palming off responsibility for acknowledgements made in the films credits–including thanks to the Turpan Bureau of Public Security, which has been sanctioned by the US Bureau of Industry and Security for “human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups.”

The statement by Disney’s Sean Bailey was sent to British politician Iain Duncan Smith–who was not all that impressed by the response.

In short, the letter downplays the filming that was done in the Xinjiang region, saying that only four days of shooting was done there, comprising just 78 seconds of the finished film. The letter also passes responsibility for the film’s controversial credits to Beijing Shadow Times, the Chinese production company Disney partnered with for its shoots in China. “The production company Beijing Shadow Times provided our production team with the list of acknowledgements to be included in the credits for Mulan,” the statement reads.

Despite its clear attempts to keep everyone happy, Disney has struggled to have its cake and eat it too with Mulan. The film hasn’t been as successful in China as Disney might have expected, with China declaring a media blackout around the film in response to the controversy.

While Disney hasn’t released numbers for purchases made through Disney Plus, the film has seen a generally lukewarm reception from critics.

Tenet’s run at the top of the US box office, where it has sat for six weeks almost unopposed, has ended. The film to finally topple Christopher Nolan’s palindromic action spectacle is War with Grandpa, which earned $3.6 million in the US during its opening weekend.

Deadline is reporting that War with Grandpa has overtaken Tenet this weekend, and that 90% of cinema-goers were satisfied that they’d had a safe experience. The film, which is unrelated to DeNiro’s earlier grandpa movie Dirty Grandpa, sees a grandfather (DeNiro) and his grandson (Oakes Fegley) break into an escalating prank war after the old man moves in with his daughter (Uma Thurman) and her family. It also stars Rob Riggle, Cheech Marin, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Walken.

Tenet earned $2.1 million, meaning that the box office take of the weekend was still, on the whole, extremely low–and that War with Grandpa opened well below Tenet’s $20.2 million opening. Tenet has enjoyed six weeks at number 1, earning $48.3 million at the domestic box office so far. The film’s drop off means that it has been viewed as a disappointment; if it had performed better, we might not have seen movies like Dune, No Time To Die, and Black Widow get delayed into 2021.

There’s really no precedent outside of COVID-19 pandemic times to compare these numbers to. Tenet’s numbers have been viewed as disappointing, but internationally it’s done better, bringing it a total of $323 million worldwide. This makes it the third highest-grossing film of the year. For the first time ever, the year’s highest grossing film is not an English-language picture–the Chinese film The Eight Hundred has earned over $441 million.

Here’s the US box office top 5 for the weekend, via Box Office Mojo.

US Box Office, October 9-11, 2020

1. War with Grandpa ($3.6 million)
2. Tenet ($2.1 million)
3. Hocus Pocus ($1.2 million)
4. The New Mutants ($685k)
5. Unhinged ($660k)

While there aren’t too many new games being released for the PS4 as we move closer to the PS5 release, Sony’s most downloaded games of September show some old favorites going strong. Although Rocket League only switched to a free-to-play model on September 23, it quickly rocketed to number one for the month.

As far as paid downloads, NBA 2K21 dominated the US PlayStation Store in September, joined by Marvel’s Avengers, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, Madden 21, and Fall Guys. You can also check out the stats for the EU market here, which are slightly different.

However the free-to-play ranking is where it gets interesting–Rocket League sits at the top of the list, over newcomers Spellbreak and Genshin Impact, after only one week of being free. With Rocket League’s Endo Starter Pack sitting in the top ten DLC purchases for the week, it looks like going free-to-play may have paid off for the quirky sports game.

In PS VR games, Vader Immortal was going strong for its first full month of release, after coming out on PlayStation on August 25. The Star Wars VR game occupied the top spot, followed by the Star Wars-inspired rhythm game Beat Saber.

With the PS5 launching on November 12 it’s an awkward period for new releases–with new games like NBA 2K21 also coming to next-gen consoles. Some games, like Cyberpunk 2077, are offering a free upgrade to next gen for players who purchase the game on the PS4 or Xbox One.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

New Releases highlights some of the hottest video games launching each week, and this episode as a double-dose of trilogies: Torchlight 3 and Cook Serve Delicious 3 both launch soon. You can also drive a mini RC car in Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit or pilot a hover car in Cloudpunk. Finally, hockey fans can get their fix with NHL 21.

Torchlight 3 — October 13

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC

Once called Torchlight Frontiers, Torchlight 3 is leaving early access for its full release. You can choose from four different classes and explore randomly generated dungeons, where you’ll battle bad guys and collect all sorts of loot. Look for a Switch version later this year, too.

More Torchlight 3:

Cook! Serve! Delicious! 3?! — October 14

Available on: Xbox One, PC, Switch

The third game in the cooking series sees you driving all around the US as you serve hungry customers from your food truck. It’s a war-torn version of the country during the year 2042, however, so expect some tough moments in between food orders. You can cook up all sorts of food and drink with a friend in co-op as well.

Cloudpunk — October 15

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, Switch

Cloudpunk is already out on PC–check out our full review here–but this week it’s getting its console launch. The delivery game sees you exploring the futuristic city of Nivalis both on foot and behind the wheel of your hover car. The deeper you look, the more characters you’ll meet, and the more stories you’ll uncover.

More Cloudpunk Coverage:

NHL 21 — October 16

Available on: PS4, Xbox One

This year’s game is making big changes to career mode, with a custom pro you can guide through the American, Canadian, or European league. The multiplayer component, World of Chel, is getting a new progression system, letting you rank up separately for each of its four modes. World of Chel will operate seasonally, so you’ll rank up from square one with each new series.

More NHL 21 Coverage:

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit — October 16

Available on: Switch

This ain’t your typical Mario Kart game: it turns your living room into a race track. By placing down a series of gates, you’ll create custom courses for the mini karts to race through. Expect the usual dose of blue shells and banana peels as you go.

More Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit Coverage:

October still has plenty more video games to come. Next week, New Releases will take a look at the horrifying Amnesia: Rebirth and the Alaskan adventure The Red Lantern.

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Amazon’s big-budget Lord of the Rings TV has resumed production in New Zealand, and the team is making good progress, it seems. Director JA Bayona posted to his Instagram story recently, sharing a photo of himself and various emojis pertaining to a fantasy show like Lord of the Rings. The news here is Bayona has now completed “more than half” of the weeks of shooting on the show.

“This is my face of having completed more than half the weeks of shooting. More tomorrow!” he said.

Bayona, who previously directed Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, was announced as the director of the first two episodes in the series, but whether or not his role has expanded due to COVID-19 is unclear. Whatever the case, the production is surely behind schedule given the impact of the virus. That being said, New Zealand just recently lifted all restrictions for Auckland, which is one of the sites where the Lord of the Rings show is being filmed.

The timing of Bayona’s message is curious, given that it came within a day of the 21st anniversary of the start of filming on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy back on October 11, 1999.

There is still no word on when Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV show will premiere, but when it does, it will be exclusive to Amazon Prime. Amazon reportedly paid $250 million for the rights alone, and the negotiations included none other than Amazon founder and fantasy fan Jeff Bezos.

In addition to the TV show, one of Amazon’s game studios is developing a new Lord of the Rings MMO, though it’s not connected to TV show.

More recently, it was announced that Jackson’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies are getting new 4K UHD releases in December, just in time for the holidays.