Author: Trafficblast

A little boy who rescued his little sister recently received a special message and gift from Captain America actor Chris Evans. In the spirit of the team, other Avengers have followed Cap’s lead and sent their own regards.

The boy, 9-year-old Bridger Walker of Wyoming, stepped in to protect his 4-year-old sister from a dog attack, but he was injured himself. He required a two-hour surgery with 90 stitches, and his aunt made an Instagram post tagging several Avengers actors asking for words of encouragement. Evans sent a message praising the boy as a hero and promised to send him an authentic Captain America shield.

Variety reports that Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) and Tom Holland (Spider-Man) have now joined in, sending their own messages with promises of special gifts on the way in the future. True to his character, Downey Jr. looked to one-up Cap’s gesture.

“Bridger, you’re a rockstar,” Downey Jr. said in a video message. “I hear [Captain America] sent a shield your way. I’m going to do one better, you call me on your next birthday. I’ve got something special for you.”

Holland got on a video call with the boy, and invited him to visit the set of his next Spider-Man movie.

“I want to say you are so brave, mate,” Holland said. “We are all so proud of you, and your little sister is so lucky to have someone like you.”

Other superheroic actors have joined in as well, including a few from the televised DC universe. Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), Robbie Amell (Firestorm) and Grant Gustin (The Flash) also left comments on the post.

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Paul Thomas Anderson, the auteur director behind Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Phantom Thread, is moving to MGM for his next film. Deadline is reporting that the director’s next feature is currently having its deal ironed out, with production not yet starting after a COVID-19 related delay.

Anderson’s previous film, Phantom Thread, was distributed by Focus Features on a budget of $35 million. It was nominated for multiple Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won for Best Costume Design. The plan was for Focus Features to release the director’s next film, too, but this will no longer be the case.

Deadline reports that the move to MGM is not contentious. Universal, the parent company of Focus Features, will likely still be involved, as they have previously helped with distribution on MGM titles (including upcoming Bond title No Time To Die).

Anderson’s next film does not have a title set yet. It will be set in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s, and will be about a child actor. Casting has not been announced, and details are pretty vague right now.

Anderson is famous for his collaborations with actors–Daniel Day-Lewis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Joaquin Phoenix have all been acclaimed for the work they’ve done with the director in leading roles. Until 2019’s Uncut Gems, Adam Sandler’s most famously “good” performance was in Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love, a movie that taps into the comedian’s boiling inner turmoil.

One of the most memorable parts of Disney’s 2013 animated movie Frozen is the song, “Do You Want To Build A Snowman?” which would go on to become a bonafide earworm. As it turns out, the song was not originally in the film. Actor Josh Gad, who plays Olaf the snowman in the movie, told PeopleTV that the song was only added after the first test screenings for Frozen came back ice cold.

As Gad tells it, songwriter Robert Lopez told Gad that the movie was a “mess” with its first screenings. Lopez’s idea was to address the problem by adding a new sequence that showcased a “moment where we really see the girls’ affection for each other early on.”

Lopez, who co-wrote “Do You Want To Build A Snowman?” with his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, came to the producers with the song, and six months later, it was in a new cut of Frozen that was much more well-received.

The “Do You Want To Build A Snowman?” sequence in the movie, is, as Lopez alluded to, very impactful in helping the audience understand the relationship between Anna and Elsa. The scene shows Anna–over the course of many years–trying to bond with her sister by building a snowman.

After years of waiting, Disney released Frozen 2 in theatres in November 2019. It was a gigantic success, bringing in more than $1.4 billion at the global box office, though you could argue it did not spawn any songs that were as popular and prolific as “Do You Want To Build A Snowman?” except for maybe “In the Unknown.”

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The next Nintendo Direct event has been announced, but this one is a little different. The first-ever Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase is slated for Monday, July 20, at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET.

The Partner Showcase is a new series “focused on titles from our development and publishing partners.” In the debut episode, Nintendo will share “a few updates” on Nintendo Switch games that have already been announced, so do not expect any new game reveals at this show.

The broadcast will be streamed on YouTube, and you can watch it right here at GameSpot. It will be about 10 minutes long, according to Nintendo Japan.

According to a report, Nintendo delayed its usual June summer presentation due to development complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This event, which is not the Partner Showcase, is now expected to air “late in the summer.”

Rogue Company, the team-based shooter, teased on Twitter that it may be involved with the Nintendo Direct event on Monday.

Check back on Monday for all the big news from the Partner Showcase event. This new event follows the Treehouse Live July 2020 stream that provided new details on Paper Mario: The Origami King and the new game Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a new Location Incentive program, with $280 million in cash grants intended to attract big international productions to film down under, Variety reports. The new program has been added in addition to Australia’s Location Offset program, which provides tax rebates for productions and post-work carried out in the country.

The new program follows $175 million that was announced for Australian arts and entertainment industries last month, as both struggle to recover from the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Around $34 million of that will go towards insurance guarantees for the TV and film industries, enabling productions to restart after COVID-19.

The Australian government is no doubt hoping to capitalise on Australia’s low rates of coronavirus, while other production hubs in the US and UK are still virus hotspots. However a recent outbreak in Melbourne resulting in extended lockdowns and closed borders proves the threat is still very much present.

Australia was a production hotspot in the late 90s and early 2000s, with big-name films such as the Matrix trilogy and parts of the Star Wars prequel trilogy filmed in Sydney. Now, the government is hoping to attract that industry back with similar tax incentives. Hollywood films including Aquaman, Thor: Ragnarok and Alien: Covenant have filmed in Australia in recent years, with upcoming productions Thor: Love and Thunder and Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings also set to film in Sydney this year.

First announced back in 2018, Amazon’s Invincible animated series has announced another round of additions to an already star-studded cast, THR reports. The series is based on Image Comics’ Invincible series by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman. Like his famous zombie franchise, Invincible will be targeted at adults, with the animated show taking on a dramatic tone borrowed from the comics.

The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun will lead the voice cast as the titular hero, also known as teenager Mark Grayson. Yeun will now been joined by his fellow Walking Dead alum Khary Payton, who will play Black Samson, a member of the Guardians of the Globe–Invincible’s answer to the Avengers-esque supergroup. Zachary Quinto has also signed on to play Robot, one of the lead character’s allies.

Already announced cast members include J.K. Simmons as Invincible’s father Nolan Grayson, Sandra Oh as mother Debbie Grayson, and Zazie Beetz as love interest Amber Bennett. Other voice actors include Mark Hamill, Gillian Jacobs, Grey Griffin, Jason Mantzoukas, and Seth Rogen, who is also on board to write, direct and produce together with Evan Goldberg. Creator Robert Kirkman is on board with the adaptation as executive producer.

The series is kicking off with eight hour-long episodes, and though Amazon hasn’t yet announced a release date, it’s expected to drop on Amazon Prime Video sometime in 2020.