Author: Trafficblast

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Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds are making a new version of the classic Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol. Ferrell and Reynolds will star in the movie, which is to be a “musical reimagining” of the iconic story, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Daddy’s Home veterans Sean Anders and John Morris are writing and directing the untitled movie. There is no word yet on the characters Ferrell and Reynolds will play, but presumably one of them will play Ebenezer Scrooge.

THR states that the film is being pitched around Hollywood right now. “Multiple studios” are said to be in the bidding process, but none were named in the report.

The classic story sees the miserly Scrooge visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future to help Scrooge finally see the light and change his ways. Given Ferrell and Reynolds are known for subverting norms, you can bet the new movie will deviate in some silly ways.

This will be just the latest adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Bill Murray starred in 1988’s Scrooged, which offered a silly take on the story; Jim Carrey voiced Scrooge in the 2009 animated film A Christmas Carol from Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis. Kelsey Grammer, meanwhile, starred as Scrooge in the Hallmark TV movie A Christmas Carol in 2004.

It sounds like it’s still relatively early days for the new Christmas Carol movie with Ferrell and Reynolds, so there are no hard details on the script yet or other cast. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.

The final season of Game of Thrones was its most-watched ever and the fantasy drama took home the Outstanding Drama Series award at the Emmys and set other records. At the same time, the reaction to the final season was mixed to say the least. Actress Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys on the HBO show, has now responded to the controversy surrounding Season 8.

At the Emmys, she told Variety that the mixed response to Season 8 was “flattering.” People passionately sharing their thoughts and opinions about Game of Thrones–whatever they might be–shows that people care, and that’s a good thing, Clarke says.

“It was profoundly flattering,” she said of the response to Season 8. “Because when someone cares that much, that they’re ready to make such a noise about how they believe how the characters should have been finished, and how the story should have gone, that’s just enormously flattering. That just shows how much everybody loved it.”

SPOILERS FOR GAME OF THRONES SEASON 8 FOLLOW:

In the final season of Game of Thrones, Daenerys becomes the Mad Queen, attacking King’s Landing and killing thousands of innocent people. Jon Snow then kills her.

When Clarke initially read the script and learned the fate of Daenerys, she was taken aback. “What, what, what, WHAT!?” she told Entertainment Weekly about her thoughts upon learning the story. “Because it comes out of f**king nowhere. I’m flabbergasted. Absolutely never saw that coming.”

Kit Harington, meanwhile, said at the Emmys that he hasn’t seen any of Season 8. However, he said he’s proud of the show’s final season, which was incredibly ambitious. He also spoke about how he believed in the final season’s story arc and what happened to the characters.

“I know what it took to shoot it, and it was hard; everyone put all of their love and effort into it,” he said. “Controversy, I think for us, we knew what we were doing was right story-wise. And we knew it was right for the characters because we lived with them for 10 years. Controversy didn’t really affect us.”

Game of Thrones won a record-tying 12 Emmy Awards this year, including Outstanding Drama Series. Tyrion Lannister actor Peter Dinklage won his fourth Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor, surpassing Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul for a new record.

The NPD Group has released its projections for the best-selling games of 2019, and the predicted top-seller should be no surprise. NPD Group analyst Mat Piscatella said he expects Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to be the best-selling game of 2019 in the US.

If that happens, it would mark the 9th time in 11 years that a Call of Duty game was the year’s top-seller. The only two times in the past 11 years that a Call of Duty game was not No. 1 for the year in the US was 2013 when it was Grand Theft Auto V and 2018 when it was Red Dead Redemption 2.

The NPD report goes on to predict that NBA 2K20 will be No. 2 in 2019, improving the franchise’s No. 3 place from 2018. Madden NFL 20 will finish as the No. 3 best-seller for 2019, according to Piscatella. Borderlands 3 and Mortal Kombat 11 will round out the top five, according to the prediction.

The full Top 10 list of predictions for 2019 best-sellers can be seen below.

In terms of consoles, Piscatella says he thinks the Nintendo Switch will end 2019 as the year’s best-selling console. The Switch was the first half of 2019’s best-selling console. Not only that, but it’s the only system in the US that’s growing in sales year over year. With the recent launch of the Switch Lite and the forthcoming release of Pokemon Sword and Shield, the Switch is expected to reach the highest annual unit sales number in the US since the Xbox 360 in 2011.

Across games and consoles, total spending on video games in the US for 2019 is expected to reach $44.6 billion in 2019; that would be up modestly from $42.2 billion in 2018.

2019 Best-Selling Video Game Predictions (US Only)

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
2. NBA 2K20
3. Madden NFL 20
4. Borderlands 3
5. Mortal Kombat 11
6. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
7. Ghost Recon: Breakpoint
8. Kingdom Hearts III
9. The Division 2
10. Pokemon Sword (digital sales not included)