Author: Trafficblast

The latest North American weekend box office numbers are in, and Disney’s newest live-action remake, Aladdin, won the weekend with $86.1 million. The figure is expected to grow to around $105 million when Monday’s Memorial Day numbers come in.

Aladdin also opened in overseas markets this weekend, it made $121 million for the three-day period from international screens to push the movie’s total global box office haul to $207.1 million after just one weekend.

Aladdin didn’t get the strongest reviews from professional critics, but actual audiences loved it. The movie picked up a near-perfect A CinemaScore rating. CinemaScore is a poll of audiences who saw a movie, and it is not unusual for the average critic score to vary from what audiences thought of a film, and this also appears to be the case for Aladdin. A strong CinemaScore rating also suggests that Aladdin will continue to perform well in Week 2 and beyond because of positive word-of-mouth.

Aladdin stars Mena Massoud as Aladdin and Naomi Scott as Jasmine, with Will Smith playing the Genie.

With more than $200 million worldwide for its opening weekend, Aladdin is director Guy Ritchie’s biggest start ever. His next closest was 2009’s Sherlock Holmes ($62.3 million opening). Aladdin also represents Smith’s second-biggest opening-weekend box office ever, only behind Suicide Squad.

As for the rest of the weekend box office, John Wick 3 made $24.4 million in the US and Canada over the first three days of the weekend; it’s expected to climb to $30.5 million when Monday’s numbers come in to finish No. 2 behind Aladdin. It’s also notable that John Wick 3 has now made $181.5 million worldwide after just two weeks, which is ahead of the $171.5 million that John Wick 2 made across its entire theatrical run.

Avengers: Endgame made $16.8 million for the Friday-Sunday period to finish No. 3; that number expected to climb to $21.9 million for the holiday weekend in the US and Canada. Endgame has now made $2.67 billion worldwide, meaning it still trails Avatar ($2.78 billion) as the biggest movie in history.

Rounding out the top five movies at the US and Canadian box office this weekend were Pokemon: Detective Pikachu ($13.3 million) and the new James Gunn-produced superhero horror movie Brightburn ($7.5 million).

May 24-26 North American Box Office

Via Entertainment Weekly

1. Aladdin — $86.1 million
2. John Wick: Chapter Three Parabellum — $24.4 million
3. Avengers: Endgame — $16.8 million
4. Pokemon Detective Pikachu — $13.3 million
5. Brightburn — $7.5 million
6. Booksmart — $6.5 million
7. A Dog’s Journey — $4.1 million
8. The Hustle — $3.8 million
9. The Intruder — $2.3 million
10. Long Shot — $1.7 million

Hideo Kojima has posted a new teaser video for his mysterious upcoming project, Death Stranding. Released on Twitter, the video shows the outline of a hand and the words “Create the rope.” Some eerie music plays in the background, while flashes of mysterious objects appear as well.

It’s hard to make sense of, which is par for the course with Death Stranding. Check out the video for yourself in the embed below and let us know in the comments what you’ve spotted.

Death Stranding is Kojima’s first new game since his split with Konami. Very little is known about the game, and that appears to be intentional, with Kojima weaving secrets into its new trailers and teasers like the one he released today.

The game features a number of celebrities, including The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus in the lead role, as well as Mads Mikkelsen, Lea Seydoux, Lindsay Wagner, Guillermo del Toro, and Troy Baker.

Speaking to Metro, Reedus said he’s never seen anything like what Kojima is doing with the game.

“The concept is so far out into the future. Instead of eliminating everyone around you, it’s bringing everyone together,” he explained. “It’s a very positive video game, but scary and depressing at the same time. It’s kind of a new movie. I’ve never seen anything like what we’re doing.”

At the Tribeca Film Festival in April, Kojima talked about how Death Stranding will make you cry.

No release date has been set as of yet for Death Stranding. The game was announced for PlayStation 4 and PC, and it’ll be released on console through a partnership between Kojima’s new studio, Kojima Productions, and Sony. A recent report said Death Stranding might also release on PS5.

The Overwatch League has lost its commissioner. Nate Nanzer, the OWL’s first-ever commissioner who led the eSports organisation from the ground up, has left Blizzard.

He left Blizzard to join Epic Games where he will head up the developer’s eSports and competitive gaming efforts for the massively popular battle royale game Fortnite. Needless to say, he is a huge get for Epic, as Nanzer was instrumental in the creation of the OWL.

In a Twitter thread, Nanzer said leaving Blizzard was the “toughest decision” of his entire life “because it means I won’t get to work with the best staff, players, teams, owners, partners, and fans in eSports anymore.” Nanzer said he is proud of what the OWL has achieved in its early days.

While he was the public face of the OWL, Nanzer stressed that the league’s success wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of so many other people, and fans. “It isn’t about me; it’s never been. It’s about all of you,” Nanzer said.

He said he leaves Blizzard with the OWL “in great hands.”

“I can’t wait to see where the team takes the Overwatch League in 2020 — and beyond. And I’ll be cheering right there alongside you, every step of the way,” he said.

Activision Blizzard hired former Fox Sports boss Pete Vlastelica to take over for Nanzer as the OWL’s commissioner, according to ESPN.

As for Nanzer’s new job at Epic, the company said it’s “excited to welcome Nate to the Epic Games team, where he’ll be working with us on competitive Fortnite.”

In addition to Fortnite, Epic’s other big eSports game is Rocket League. Epic acquired Rocket League and developer Psyonix earlier this year.

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Capcom has a long and storied history of creating some of gaming’s most beloved franchises, from Mega Man and Monster Hunter to Street Fighter and Strider. Undoubtedly one of its most iconic is Devil May Cry, a Resident Evil offshoot that gave rise to its own genre of stylish action game. Capcom’s developers are masters of their craft, whether that’s in designing finely-tuned fighting games or thrilling action games.

Devil May Cry gave rise to games such as God of War, Bayonetta, Darksiders, and many more. And while these games certainly have unique, interesting qualities of their own, there’s something distinctly unique to Devil May Cry that makes it quintessentially Capcom. It’s a kind of gameplay and design magic that you can feel when playing Devil May Cry–whether it’s the first one released in 2001 or 2019’s Devil May Cry 5.

Hideaki Itsuno has served as director of multiple Devil May Cry titles, including the latest in the series. He is intimately familiar with what makes a Devil May Cry game a Devil May Cry game, and it’s not as simple as outlandish characters, bombastic set-pieces, and over-the-top storytelling. Itsuno and his team draw from a long lineage of Capcom titles; they pull design from fighting games, platformers, and more.

In this episode of Audio Logs, Itsuno and producer Matt Walker discuss the design and development of Devil May Cry 5, providing some insight into what it takes to create a memorable action game. The pair specifically talk about how they approached making the game fun for people playing the game a second time, while also delving into some of the inspirations behind the world, and ideas that they pulled from previous games in the series.

Audio Logs is a weekly show where the people behind the games we love tell us the stories of how they’re made. You can watch more episodes of Audio Logs on YouTube. We’ve got God of War director Cory Barlog breaking down one of the game’s most impactful scenes; Cuphead’s lead game designer, Jared Moldenhauer, talking about the inspirations for King Dice’s Dice Palace; Dead Cells’ game designer Sebastian Benard revealing the amazing design tricks they used to make the game super satisfying to play; and Overwatch designer Geoff Goodman exploring how Baptiste was created. Legendary Japanese developer Goichi “Suda51” Suda also joined us to recount pivotal moments from his illustrious career.

Be sure to subscribe to GameSpot on YouTube to see more episodes as they’re released. You won’t want to miss it!

Jericho wins by pin at 26:32

Mat: Chris Jericho is the only wrestler I’ve made a sign for at a live event, ever. Back in the WCW days, I had one referring to conspiracies. As a teenager and young adult, he’s the first wrestler I really gravitated towards and saw as the “total package”–sorry, Lex Luger. Jericho’s antics were in full effect, early on. He beat up a Cracker Barrel barrel, rang the bell himself during the match, and filmed Omega writhing on the ground.

I just want to point out that while this match is fantastic, there has been some really sloppy officiating here–and throughout a bunch of matches tonight. The counts aren’t at the same rhythm, and things feel off during pinfalls.

Anyway, I loved the match. It wasn’t as great as their Wrestle Kingdom battle, but that’s fine. Jericho’s “Judas Effect” finisher is hot garbage compared to all his previous finishers in his arsenal, and that’s really my only real problem with the match. The finish just feels weak, and the Judas Effect finisher doesn’t have the same impact as the Code Breaker, etc. Regardless, this was a classic, and a great match to close out AEW’s PPV.

I had a good feeling Jon Moxley was going to show up tonight, and I’m glad it was saved for the very end, where he came to the ring and beat everyone up. I’m actually really excited for an Omega/Moxley match now. That’s something I thought I’d never say, as who would have thought Dean Ambrose would have left WWE?

Rating: 8.5

Original Prediction: Jericho

Predictions: 3/9 (33%)

Chris: I was looking forward to this more than anything else, and it delivered more than I possibly could have asked. So much so that I didn’t keep detailed notes. That said, I love a good V Trigger, and they were used expertly here. Meanwhile, Jericho’s old finishing moves not working out–Codebreaker, Lionsault–were a nice touch leading into his new Judas Effect elbow thing (which I’m not a fan of). Like Mat, the only real nitpick I have here is the officiating. It’s not to the quality we’ve seen elsewhere on the card. Chris Jericho won with that new elbow of his and will face Hangman for the AEW Championship. That should be fantastic, but it won’t top this.

Holy cow, though. The end of the show including the arrival of John Moxley adds the perfect special moment to end Double or Nothing. I badly want to see Moxley vs. Omega.

Rating: 9/10

Original Prediction: Chris Jericho

Predictions: 4/9 (44%)

Chris E. Hayner is king of AEW Double or Nothing Predictions. All hail King Chris.

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