Author: Trafficblast

Yet another classic board game is being turned into a movie, as Hunger Games studio Lionsgate is making a Monopoly film, and now we’ve learned who will star in it.

Actor and comedian Kevin Hart, who has made headlines recently for his past tweets that got him fired as the newest Oscars host, will star in a live-action version of the board game that destroys relationships and family bonds.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film has been in the works for more than a decade already, and it’s been through what’s described as a “hellish development process.” The latest script is said to involve a woman and her young son who go back in time to thwart a corrupt businessman. Whether or not that’s still the story for this newest version with Hart is unclear.

When the movie was officially announced in 2015, Lionsgate released a synopsis that is either the best or the worst depending on your attitude. Here it is:

“The story centers on a boy from Baltic Avenue who uses both Chance and Community in a quest to make his fortune, taking him on a fun, adventure-filled journey. It’s about making your own luck, what makes you truly rich and, of course, avoiding Jail time!”

It was previously announced that Andrew Niccol, who picked up an Academy Award nomination for The Truman Show, would write the screenplay for the Monopoly movie, but it’s not clear if he remains attached. According to a press release, the movie will be a “big, crowd-pleasing event film.”

Lionsgate goes on to say that the Monopoly movie will be “a film for all ages, visually sumptuous, heartwarming, and full of action and adventure.”

Monopoly is just the latest board game to be spun into a movie. The Peter Berg-directed Battleship movie starring Alexander Skarsgard, Rihanna, Liam Neeson, and Taylor Kitsch, was released in 2012. Before that, there were films based on Dungeons & Dragons, Ouija, and Clue. Looking ahead, movies based on Tetris and Catan are in the works.

As for Hart, one of his next big movies is the sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which is also based on a board game.

Typically, Netflix doesn’t release viewership figures, but as part of the company’s earnings report today, the streamer revealed key datapoints for some of its biggest TV shows and movies. The network announced that the drama You, starring Penn Badgley and Elizabeth Lail, is tracking to be watched in 40 million households over its first four weeks.

Meanwhile, the British comedy/drama Sex Education, starring Gillian Anderson and released on January 11, is expected to reach the same viewership figure within its first month. Netflix also announced that the Spanish show Elite was seen in more than 20 million homes globally after its first four weeks.

One of Netflix’s biggest hits recently, meanwhile, was the Sandra Bullock horror film Bird Box. It was astonishingly popular, tracking to be watched by 80 million users over time, according to Deadline. All of these figures are likely well below the number of people who end up watching the programs, as people often watch movies and TV shows on Netflix together.

Anyone who watches at least 70 percent of a single episode of a series or a movie is counted as a “viewer” according to Netflix, which is surely inflating these figures.

Netflix had another strong quarter for the three final months of 2018, as the network announced revenue of $4.19 billion for the period; that’s up 27 percent year-over-year. Additionally, Netflix added 8.84 million subscribers during the period, increasing the total number of paying members to 139 million globally.

In recent news, Netflix announced yet another subscription fee price hike for all tiers. For more on Netflix, here’s everything coming to and leaving the service in January (US only).

The expanded universe of Blizzard’s classic sci-fi strategy franchise StarCraft is about to get a bit bigger next week with the release of StarCraft: Soldiers #1, the latest comic to enter the alien-fighting canon by writers Jody Houser (Stranger Things, Star Wars) and Andrew R. Robinson (Blizzard Entertainment, Overwatch) with artist Miguel Sepulveda. GameSpot has an exclusive preview of the first six pages for you, right here, right now.

Soldiers will follow the newly graduated Lieutenant Shivani Singh as she early fights to prove herself on the Dominion’s front lines–all while learning some hard (and potentially fatal) lessons about the realities of zerg space that her time at the academy didn’t quite prepare her for.

This will be Dark Horse Comics’ second entry into the StarCraft pantheon following the StarCraft: Scavengers, a four-issue series released last year following a group of terrans attempting to–surprise!–scavenge supplies out of a derelict Protoss starship. Soldiers will be independent from Scavengers’ in terms of plot, so no need to worry about prerequisite reading before you pick up issue #1 next week. If, however, you’re a StarCraft fan looking for even more expanded universe lore, working your way back through Scavengers certainly wouldn’t hurt.

StarCraft: Soldiers #1 hits shelves on January 23rd everywhere comics are sold.

NetherRealm gave fans a much closer look at its upcoming fighting game, Mortal Kombat 11, during its big livestream event. The developer showed off a load of brutal gameplay footage and revealed a handful of familiar characters who’ll be returning in the game, as well as one entirely new one: Geras.

Described as the “powerful and loyal servant” of Kronika, the Keeper of Time and the first female boss in the Mortal Kombat series, Geras looks like a powerhouse of a character. As you can see in his character trailer above, Geras is able to conjure up objects made of sand, such as a bed of spikes that he can slam his foes onto. He also has the ability to manipulate time, which he can use to freeze foes in place.

Geras is one of eight fighters who have been confirmed for Mortal Kombat 11 thus far. In addition to Scorpion and Raiden, who were both revealed during The Game Awards this past December, we got our first look at Baraka, Sub-Zero, and Sonya Blade, who this time is being voiced by Ronda Rousey. NetherRealm also confirmed that Skarlet, the DLC character from Mortal Kombat 9, is set to return.

In addition to the characters, NetherRealm shared some details about Mortal Kombat 11’s story, which takes place after the events of 2015’s Mortal Kombat X. The developer also demonstrated some of the gruesome new fatalities in the game.

Mortal Kombat 11 is in development for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. The game is slated to launch on April 23, and those who pre-order it will get a bonus character: Shao Kahn. Reserving the game for either PS4 and Xbox One will also get you access to an upcoming beta, which is scheduled to take place on March 28.

The long-awaited gameplay reveal of Mortal Kombat 11 revealed all sorts of new details about the upcoming fighting game from NetherRealm. As expected, one such aspect is customization options similar to Injustice 2, the studio’s other hit fighting series.

In a video, director Ed Boon walks us through some of the customization options using Scorpion. Each character has three pieces of customizable gear, and in Scorpion’s case that’s his mask, katana, and spear. Each of the options themselves changed his look pretty significantly, but further “Kosmetic” options change his look even more dramatically. Tabs for “Abilities” and “AI Behavior” can also be seen in the customization menu. Boon also mentioned you can set intros and victory celebrations.

After that, the closer look treated us to a scene of Scorpion vs Baraka, cycling through several costume changes for both. The customization looks to be pretty in-depth, even from just a brief look at some of the menus and options.

Other details from the Mortal Kombat 11 reveal event included a partial character roster, our first extended look at gameplay, a bunch of fatalities, and story details. A beta test is coming in March for PS4 and Xbox One, followed by the game on April 23 on those platforms plus PC and Nintendo Switch.

All Elite Wrestling may not be holding its first show until May, but that isn’t stopping the new company from making an impact wherever possible. Wrestling fans in Los Angeles found that out Wednesday night, January 16, when several members of the AEW roster invaded Bar Wrestling during the main event, creating one of the most memorable wrestling moments in quite a while.

During a match that saw AEW signees Scorpio Sky, Frankie Kazarian, and Christopher Daniels–known as So Cal Uncensored–take on the team of Eric Watts and the RockNES Monsters, some very special surprise guests made their way to the ring to help SCU fend off the heels. First out was Bar Wrestling founder Joey Ryan, who has been featured extensively on the Being the Elite YouTube series and appeared at All In. He was soon joined by Elite member Adam “Hangman” Page, as they performed a double YouPorn Plex–a move you have to see to believe–on Watts.

From there, The Elite’s Cody and Brandi Rhodes made their arrival to dispatch of the RockNES Monsters, before the Young Bucks joined in for one of their patented Superkick Parties. The entire thing was utterly ridiculous in the best possible way, and based on the video above, the audience couldn’t have loved it any more.

Once SCU secured the victory over the fallen villains, the show kept going as Cody officially signed everyone in the crowd to All Elite Wrestling and promptly crowd surfed over the audience. Of course, Brandi quickly fired them all because they simply can’t afford to employ that many people.

The only unfortunate part of the entire invasion is that AEW didn’t sign Joey Ryan on the spot, even though he seems tailor-made for the promotion. However, as Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks revealed to the audience, Ryan is currently under contract to El Rey’s Lucha Underground promotion until 2020. Who knows what could happen once that contract has run its course, though?

While there may not have been any major AEW news to come out of this event, the invasion makes it obvious that it’s business as usual for The Elite. While they may have partnered with the owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars to launch AEW, that’s not going to stop them from going to smaller shows and having fun. Now if they could just bring the rest of their group–Kenny Omega and “The Villain” Marty Scurll were absent from the invasion–along for the ride. At this point, though, both men are still under contract to other companies.

All Elite Wrestling’s first major event, Double or Nothing, will happen on May 25 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Make sure to check out our wishlist of wrestlers we’d like to see sign with AEW and be part of that show.