Richard Donner, the director of such films as the original Superman film starring Christopher Reeve, Lethal Weapon, and The Goonies, has died at the age of 91.

As reported by Variety, Donner’s production company confirmed the news of his death on Monday, July 5, although no cause was been disclosed.

His first directing credit on IMDB is listed as the episode of Zane Grey Theatre called “So Young the Savage Land.” One of his breakout hits was 1976’s The Omen, and that was followed up two years later with Superman.

He left Superman II after a litigious dispute with the film’s producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind. Richard Lester took over directing duties, but Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut was released in 2006, the same day as Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns debuted on home video.

He would continue on to direct Lethal Weapon 1-4, and his final directing credit was 2006’s 16 Blocks starring Bruce Willis.

Donner did much more than just direct, as he started a production company with his wife Lauren Shuler Donner that would produce X-Men movies like 2000’s X-Men and the prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

While he may not have directed a film in some time, his influence on those creating some of the biggest movies in the world can’t be overstated. One of the interns at his production company was Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Had Donner chosen a different intern, the MCU as we know it may not have ever happened.

In a statement, Feige shared a few words that expressed how much Donner meant to him.

“Richard Donner not only made me believe a man could fly, he made me believe that comic characters could be brought to life on the big screen with heart, humor, humanity, and verisimilitude,” Feige wrote. “Above all he taught me that it can and must be done with respect, caring and kindness to everyone in front of and behind the camera.

“Dick and Lauren became mentors during my early career, and key supporters throughout the birth of the MCU. I owe my career to the way they took the time to nurture and teach a kid from New Jersey who didn’t know how to use a fax machine or make coffee very well. I always thought Dick was immortal. I still do. My thoughts are with Lauren and the entire family.”

Richard Donald Schwartzberg was born on April 24, 1939, in the Bronx. He attended Parker Junior College and went on to study at NYU where he majored in business and theater. He would begin his career as an actor, but ended up finding great success behind the camera.

Alongside the previously mentioned films, Donner also directed multiple episodes of The Twilight Zone, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart, Perry Mason, Route 66, The Fugitive, The Six Million Dollar Man, Kojak, and much more. He even worked for Hanna-Barbera for a time, where he directed episodes of Danger Island.

Richard Donner is survived by his wife Lauren Shuler Donner, who he married in 1986.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.https://variety.com/2021/film/news/richard-donner-dead-dies-superman-the-goonies-lethal-weapon-1235012025/

The 4th of July may be behind us, but the deals are still coming in hot. GameStop in particular has a nice selection of deals, as they’ve extended their original weekend sale, now having it last all week. This includes a great discount on Mario Odyssey, a must have for all Switch owners. There’s a bunch of Robotic Vacuums on sale today too, a nice discount on an elliptical bike and topping things off, a couple RTX 3000 equipped PCs.

Daily Deals for July 5th 2021

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Why buy a standard edition when you can wait a bit and score the whole kit and caboodle for chicken feed? In the spirit of that wisdom, we’ve found you some mad deals on Project Cars GOTY, Chivalry 2 Day One Edition, Just Cause 4 Reloaded and more! Better yet, we’ve located some bargain priced headsets and controllers to boot!

Purchase Cheaply for PC

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Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch

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Nintendo has confirmed that Chris Meledandri, CEO of American animation studio Illumination, has officially joined its board of directors.

The company addressed the new appointment during its 81st Annual General Meeting of Shareholders at the end of June. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, together with director Shigeru Miyamoto, commented on Meledandri’s election and what it means for the company, particularly in regards to “the field of visual content” and its possible expansion.

“[Chris Meledandri] has gained broad experience and insight as a corporate manager and in the field of entertainment, so we anticipate he will appropriately supervise our management from an objective perspective while providing valuable advice to our leadership,” Furukawa said, outlining the expectations surrounding an outside board member.

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“Mr. Meledandri has been appointed as an independent and non-executive outside director, so he will not be directly involved in execution of operation,” Furukawa added. “However, we believe that his extensive experience and knowledge in the field of entertainment will have a beneficial effect on the decision-making of our board of directors.”

Furukawa acknowledged that Nintendo’s core business is the integrated hardware-software dedicated video game platform, but also noted that visual content is an “important” factor in growing the business further. Miyamoto said he had been working with Meledandri on the Super Mario movie for over five years, but it had no direct tie with the new appointment.

“Through that relationship, I think [Meledandri] really came to understand the Nintendo point of view,” Miyamoto revealed. “I don’t think it’s easy for those overseas involved in media creation to understand Nintendo’s way of thinking, but Chris truly comprehends why Nintendo creates characters and visual content.”

Miyamoto further stressed the importance of visual content in helping Nintendo to expand “further throughout the world and become stronger as a company,” however, he also recognized that it wasn’t necessarily an easy field to master. He identified Meledandri as a valuable voice on the board of directors, especially given his expertise in this particular area.

“The processes of making visual content and developing games share some of the same ways of thinking, but there are also differences. The movie business, including distribution, is in a period of transformation,” he explained. “We think that asking for Chris’ input, as an expert with many years of experience in Hollywood, will be of great help to us in the future.”

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Meledandri was originally nominated for the role at the beginning of May, but his position on Nintendo’s board of directors was only made official this past week. Nintendo currently has three other outside directors, however, Meledandri is the first American citizen to hold the position.

Nintendo is looking into more animated features beyond Mario, so it sounds like Meledandri’s knowledge of film and animation will be an asset in regards to that expansion. But first, everyone’s favorite platforming plumber will be jumping down the warp pipe and onto the big screen for Illumination’s Super Mario: The Movie, which is scheduled to hit theaters in 2022.

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Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Blade star Stephen Dorff has revealed his thoughts on Marvel’s upcoming Black Widow film, saying that it “looks like a bad video game” and that he is embarrassed for Scarlett Johansson.

Speaking to Independent, Dorff shared his unfiltered feelings on Black Widow and how, even though he’s “sure she got paid five, seven million bucks,” he is still embarrassed for her and wants no part of these MCU movies.

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“I still hunt out the good s**t because I don’t want to be in Black Widow,” he says. “It looks like garbage to me. It looks like a bad video game. I’m embarrassed for those people. I’m embarrassed for Scarlett! I’m sure she got paid five, seven million bucks, but I’m embarrassed for her. I don’t want to be in those movies. I really don’t. I’ll find that kid director that’s gonna be the next Kubrick and I’ll act for him instead.”

Dorff also took a shot at the Oscars, saying it was “the most embarrassing thing” he’s ever seen.

“This year’s Oscars were the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever seen,” he cracks, through puffs of an e-cigarette. “My business is becoming a big game show. You have actors that don’t have a clue what they’re doing. You have filmmakers that don’t have a clue what they’re doing. We’re all in these little boxes on these streamers. TV, film – it’s all one big clusterf**k of content now.”

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These comments by Dorff follow similar frustrations with the MCU by those like The Hulk’s Lou Ferrigno, who was disappointed in the level of CG used in films like Avengers: Endgame.

You will soon be able to make your own judgment on Black Widow, as it is set to debut in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access on July 9. For more, check out our Black Widow review and secrets from the set of the newest Marvel movie.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Sony has announced that Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War, Nioh 2, Judgment, Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Moving Out, and Nascar Heat 5 will all be joining PlayStation Now in July 2021.

Revealed on PlayStation.Blog, all seven of these games will be available tomorrow, July 6, and they are all new games to the service besides God of War, which was previously available.

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Red Dead Redemption 2 will stay on PlayStation Now until November 1, 2021, and it will only be available via a PS4/PS5 download. This means you will not be able to stream Red Dead Redemption 2 like you can with many other games on the service.

Judgment will be available until October 4, 2021, and will give fans a chance to try out this original title before its sequel – Lost Judgment – is released on September 24, 2021.

The other games on the list have no end date and will stay on PlayStation Now indefinitely.

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July is another strong month for PlayStation Now and follows June’s additions of The Witcher 3 and Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown and May’s additions of Nioh, Streets of Rage 4, and Jump Force.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

A fan-designed Seinfeld LEGO set has become a reality, and will be released on August 1.

Following the footsteps of 2019’s Friends Central Perk set, the Seinfeld set is designed to look like the TV set for Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment, including lighting and cameras surrounding a location familiar to any fans of the show (with added extras like a stage for Seinfeld’s stand-up, and a Festivus pole). You also get Minifigs of Jerry Seinfeld, George Costanza, Cosmo Kramer, Elaine Benes and Newman.

Check out a gallery of images below:

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Created by Seinfeld fan Brent Waller using the LEGO Ideas platform. “I loved Seinfeld in the 90s and recently re-watched them all,” he explained in a press release. “I thought it was a travesty that a LEGO Seinfeld set didn’t exist so I made an effort to resolve that and make the best rendition of Jerry’s Apartment and the gang that I could. The biggest challenge was trying to cram as much detail from the show into the kitchen, all the cupboards, items in the cupboard and on the bench-tops. But I am very proud of how it turned out.”

The set will be available to LEGO VIP members on July 21, and everyone else on August 1. It will sell for $79.99 USD / £69.99 (Australian pricing not available at time of writing).

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F9, the latest movie in the Fast & furious series, held onto the top slot in the July 4 box office chart. Despite competition from two high profile new releases, F9 made $24 million in its second week of release, bringing its US total to $117 million. Worldwide, the movie has now made more than $500 million, by far the biggest gross of the pandemic era.

The animated sequel The Boss Baby: Family Business was the week’s highest new entry at No.2, making $17.3 million in its first three days. While this is below the $50 million opening gross of 2017’s The Boss Baby, it’s a solid result given the new movie also premiered simultaneously on NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock.

Another sequel, The Forever Purge, entered the chart at No.3 with a $12.8 million gross. This is the lowest opening of any movie in the Purge series to date, but as Box Office Mojo notes, the modest production costs of the horror franchise means that the films don’t need to be massive hits to be considered successful.

With the exception of the acclaimed black comedy Zola, which debuted at No.10, the rest of the box chart featured titles that have been released over the past few weeks. These include A Quiet Place: Part II at No.4, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard at No.5, and Cruella at No.6. Next week will potentially see a new No.1 movie, as Marvel’s Black Widow hits theaters. However, it will also be available as a Premium Access title on Disney+, and it will be interesting to see if Disney’s new release strategy affects the traditionally huge theatrical audience of a Marvel movie.

US Box Office July 2-5

(via Box Office Mojo)

1. F9: The Fast Saga $24.0 million
2. The Boss Baby: Family Business $17.3 million
3. The Forever Purge $12.7 million
4. A Quiet Place Part II $4.2 million
5. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard $3.0 million
6. Cruella $2.5 million
7. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway $2.2 million
8. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It $1.2 million
9. In the Heights $1.2 million
10. Zola $1.2 million

Xbox Game Pass in July is set up to be another incredible month of gaming. With Microsoft Flight Simulator already confirmed to be hitting Xbox Series X on July 27, alongside The Ascent on July 29, this month is shaping up very nicely already.

A few games already hit Game Pass in July, including Limbo and Gang Beasts, but we’re expecting more to be announced later into the month. For now, here’s what to expect from Game Pass in July, alongside the very best deal on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate right now.

Best Xbox Game Pass Deals: 3-Months of Ultimate for $30

There are a couple of excellent Xbox Game Pass discounts to check out at the moment. Our absolute favorite deal $15 off 3-Months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, bringing it down to just $30. Game Pass Ultimate includes Game Pass for consoles, PC, EA Play, Cloud Gaming, and your Xbox Live Gold membership.

This promotion stacks as well, so you could buy two or three codes to sort your membership out for the rest of year (or longer) to ensuring you don’t miss out on any new games like Halo Infinite, Back 4 Blood, Forza Horizon 5, Age of Empires 4, and more.

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New to Xbox Game Pass in June

• Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts – Live
• Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling – Live
• Gang Beasts – Live
• Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars – Live
• Limbo – Live

• Microsoft Flight Simulator – July 27
• The Ascent – July 29

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Xbox Cloud Gaming: Now Running on Xbox Series X

In more Game Pass news this month, Xbox Cloud Gaming is now running on Xbox Series X, which means faster load times, and an overall better experience when streaming games on the go. Xbox Cloud Gaming is now available to all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members with Windows 10 PCs and Apple phones and tablets, via browser, across 22 different countries.

Everything Coming to Xbox Game Pass in 2021

Microsoft’s E3 2021 presentation included some incredible upcoming additions to Game Pass in 2021, including the likes of Back 4 Blood, Age of Empires 4, Psychonauts 2, Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite and so much more. Here’s everything that we can expect for Game Pass in 2021.

• Yakuza: Like a Dragon – Now Live
• Dungeons & Dragons Dark Alliance – June 22
• Microsoft Flight Simulator – July 27
• The Ascent – July 29
• Hades – August 13
• Twelve Minutes – August 19
• Psychonauts 2 – August 25
• Aragami 2 – September 17
• Sable – September 23
• Back 4 Blood – October 12
• Age of Empires 4 – October 28
• Forza Horizon 5 – November 9
• Shredders – December
• Halo Infinite – Fall 2021

Among Us, Hello Neighbor 2, and The Gunk are also listed as 2021 Game Pass titles, but of course we’ve also got some 2022 (and beyond) games to look forward to as well. Starfield, Redfall, Contraband, Party Animals, Atomic Heart, Somerville, Slime Rancher 2, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, and Replaced are all coming to Game Pass on day one.

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Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. Send him awesome gaming screenshots @robertliam21 on Twitter.

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Multiple sources suggest that Grand Theft Auto 6 is currently aiming for a release in 2024 or 2025.

IGN reported that GTA 6 was in development last year, but it was in early development. Last week, industry insider Tom Henderson put a 2024 or 2025 release date on the project – a timeline which has subsequently been corroborated by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier and VGC’s Andy Robinson.

Henderson added that the game would take place in a modern take on the series’ Miami-inspired Vice City, and that the game’s map will be altered over time in the same manner as live service games like Fortnite – details VGC also said it had heard. Of course, as with all rumours – particularly those out of early projects – these details should be taken with a grain of salt, and could change over time.

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If the game did arrive in 2024, that would create a potential 6 year gap in mainline Rockstar releases, following 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2 (although Red Dead Online was released in 2019). It remains to be seen if Rockstar will have any other new games to fill that gap, but we do know that GTA Online and GTA 5 will be coming as “expanded and enhanced” new-gen console versions on November 11 this year.

Rockstar has also been promising “surprises” related to the 20th anniversary of the release of GTA 3 – including some related to GTA Online. That anniversary arrives on October 22, but Rockstar hasn’t made clear what the anniversary content might be.

Whatever it turns out to be, GTA 6 will be the first in the series’ history as 3D games not to include Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser or GTA’s unseen mastermind Leslie Benzies as part of the development team. Both executives have now seemingly set up new studios, with Houser’s Absurd Ventures in Games appearing last week, and Benzies’ Build a Rocket Boy hard at work on its deeply mysterious debut game, Everywhere.

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