After winning the Best Picture Oscar for Green Book, director Peter Farrelly is setting up his next film for Apple Studios with Zac Efron and Russell Crowe potentially to star in a wild story about delivering beer to friends in the Vietnam War. Deadline reports that this movie, The Greatest Beer Run Ever, could also feature Bill Murray in a supporting role.
The movie is based on the book The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty and War, which tells the story of a man named Chick Donohue who left New York in 1967 to bring beer to his childhood friends who were serving in the Army during the Vietnam War. It’s a wild story involving transporting beer through the jungle, getting a free ride on a Marine ship, and getting mistaken for a CIA agent. You can watch an interview with Donohue below where he re-tells the story of this epic beer run.
Efron is lined up to play Donohue, but it’s not immediately clear who Crowe and Murray will play, if they do close deals to appear in the movie. Deadline said filming could start in August, potentially in New Zealand or Australia.
Farrelly is coming off Green Book, which took home three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali.
The Greatest Beer Run Ever would be just the latest big-name get for Apple Studios, which already has deals in place for Martin Scorsese’s new movie, Killers of the Flower Moon with Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as the film Emancipation starring Will Smith.
The first trailer for the upcoming space survival drama Stowaway has been released. The movie hits Netflix on April 22.
Stowaway features Wynonna Earp star Shamier Anderson as an engineer who accidentally ends on board a spaceship on its way to Mars. To his horror, he discovers that this is a two-year mission, and things go from bad to worse when the ship’s life support systems are damaged, leaving only enough oxygen for three of the now four-person crew. It’s looks like a tense mix of Gravity-style survival thrills and more introspective drama–check it out below:
Stowaway also stars Anna Kendrick (A Simple Favor), Daniel Dae Kim (Hellboy), and Toni Collette (Hereditary) as the other crew members. It’s directed by Joe Penna, who previously helmed the 2018 action movie Polar, which starred Mads Mikkelsen.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kendrick spoke about shooting the movie as part of a small cast in a very confined setting. “There wasn’t any physical training, boot camp or anything like that, because there isn’t a lot of running around in the film, it’s more of a chamber play,” she said. “Most of it was enduring the discomfort of the spacesuit and the harnesses for hours on end. There aren’t any special classes you can do to build up the flesh around your hips.”
Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World movie is coming back to theaters in North America with sound and picture updates to celebrate the film’s 10th anniversary. Wright himself announced the re-release on Twitter, saying it’s been in the works for a long time.
The new version will debut in cinemas starting April 30. Wright said the film will look and sound better than ever thanks to advancements from Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. You can check out the 10th anniversary trailer below and follow this link to buy tickets.
In a follow-up tweet, Wright clarified that the new Dolby updates for Scott Pilgrim were supervised by the original sound mixer, Julian Slater, while the original colorist Stephen Nakamura, DP Bill Pope, and editor Paul Machliss all contributed to the re-release as well, along with Wright himself. The director also re-confirmed that a 4K Blu-ray version of Scott Pilgrim is still in the works, but it doesn’t have a release date yet.
This new #DolbyVision & #DolbyAtmos version was supervised by the original team of sound mixer Julian Slater, colorist Stephen Nakamura, DP Bill Pope, myself and editor Paul Machliss. And yes, a 4K Ultra HD Blu Ray is coming soon too (street date TBA).
Scott Pilgrim is based on the Bryan Lee O’Malley graphic comic. The film stars Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona. The rest of the ensemble cast includes Anna Kendrick, Jason Schwartzman, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, and Aubrey Plaza.
It was Wright’s first movie after Hot Fuzz. He went on to direct The World’s End and Baby Driver. Wright was originally attached to direct Ant-Man before being replaced by Peyton Reed.
Spring has firmly sprung as we head into April, and on HBO Max, that means an exciting new month with exciting new content. As vaccines continue to roll out and the outside world begins to hopefully safely beckon, the streaming service provides tons of compelling reasons to stay inside, kick back, and get even further acquainted with your couch and TV.
A little earlier, on April 10, The New Mutants hits HBO Max. The horror-superhero film was one of the few 2020 superhero movies, and it endured many delays even before COVID, and on the streaming service, the price is right to at least give it a look if only to contrast against the upcoming and heating up MCU slate. The story is kind of a mash-up of ’80s coming-of-age dramas like The Breakfast Club and horror classics of the era like Nightmare on Elm Street, but about teenage mutants who are trapped against their will in a mostly abandoned mental institute run by a mutant who’s also a doctor. Nothing else, you can at least say this of The New Mutants–it is different.
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In between, on April 11, The Nevers will land on the streaming service. It’s a sci-fi series set in Victorian London after a “supernatural event which gives certain people–mostly women–abnormal abilities,” which further marginalizes those women in that society. As the synopsis explains, “it falls to mysterious, quick-fisted widow Amalia True and brilliant younger inventor Penance Adair to protect and shelter these gifted ‘orphans.'”
You can also check out what Disney+, Hulu, and Shudder have in store next month.
New to HBO Max in April 2021
April 1:
A Shock To The System, 1990 (HBO)
Abandon, 2002 (HBO)
Adam’s Rib, 1949
All Is Lost, 2013 (HBO)
Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl
Barbarosa, 1982 (HBO)
Black Dynamite, 2009
Blindness, 2008 (HBO)
The Bodyguard, 1992
Boogie Nights, 1997
Bringing Up Baby, 1938
The Butcher’s Wife, 1991 (HBO)
Caddyshack, 1980
The Collection, 2012 (HBO)
The Color Purple, 1985
Dante’s Peak, 1997 (HBO)
Dark Shadows, 2012 (HBO)
Dead Silence, 2007 (HBO)
Dirty Harry, 1971
The Eagle Has Landed, 1977 (HBO)
Early Man, 2018 (HBO)
Easy Rider, 1969
Ella Enchanted, 2004 (HBO)
The Evil That Men Do, 1984 (HBO)
Eye For An Eye, 1996 (HBO)
Fear, 1996 (HBO)
genera+ion, Season 1 Part One Finale
Ghost Rider, 2007
Goodfellas, 1990
The Great Pottery Throwdown, Max Original Season 4 Premiere
Green Lantern, 2011
Hardball, 2001 (HBO)
Happy Endings
Haywire, 2012 (HBO)
In & Out, 1997 (HBO)
Kicking & Screaming, 2005 (HBO)
King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, 2017 (HBO)
Lassiter, 1984 (HBO)
Leatherface Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, 1990 (HBO)
Let’s Go To Prison, 2006 (HBO)
The Longest Yard, 1974 (HBO)
Made For Love, Max Original Series Premiere
Man Up, 2015 (HBO)
The Mask of Zorro, 1998
The Man With The Iron Fists, 2012 (Unrated Version) (HBO)
Missing In Action 2 – The Beginning, 1985 (HBO)
Missing In Action, 1984 (HBO)
My Super Ex-Girlfriend, 2006 (HBO)
The Nanny
The Natural, 1984
Now, Voyager, 1942
One Day, 2011 (HBO)
Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, 1985 (HBO)
Police Academy 3: Back In Training, 1986 (HBO)
Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol, 1987 (HBO)
Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach, 1988 (HBO)
Police Academy 6: City Under Siege, 1989 (HBO)
Police Academy: Mission To Moscow, 1994 (HBO)
Primal Fear, 1996 (HBO)
Reasonable Doubt, 2014 (HBO)
Red Dawn, 1984 (HBO)
The Return, 2006 (HBO)
Risky Business, 1983 (HBO)
Roger & Me, 1989
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939
Sneakers, 1992 (HBO)
Space Jam, 1996
Speed 2 Cruise Control, 1997 (HBO)
Spellbound, 2003 (HBO)
Stuart Little, 1999
The Shack, 2017 (HBO)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, 2006 (Extended Version) (HBO)
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family, 2011
Wanderlust, 2012 (HBO)
The Warriors, 1979 (Director’s Cut) (HBO)
The Watch, 2012 (HBO)
White Noise, 2005 (HBO)
The Wild Life, 2016 (HBO)
Within, 2016 (HBO)
Wolves At The Door, 2017 (HBO)
April 2:
On the Spectrum
April 3:
Ted, 2012 (Unrated Version) (HBO)
April 4:
Q: Into The Storm, Documentary Series Finale (HBO)
April 5:
Hard, Season 2 Finale (HBO)
April 6:
Genndy Tartokovksy’s Primal, Season 1B
April 7:
Exterminate All The Brutes, Documentary Series Premiere (HBO)
South Side, Season 1
April 9:
Intemperie (Aka Out In The Open), 2019 (HBO)
The Other Two, Season 1
A Tiny Audience, Season 2 Finale (HBO)
April 10:
The New Mutants, 2020 (HBO)
April 11:
The Nevers, Drama Series Premiere (HBO)
April 13:
Our Towns, Documentary Premiere (HBO)
April 15:
Infinity Train, Max Original Season 4 Premiere
April 16:
Mortal Kombat, Warner Bros. Film Premiere, 2021
April 17:
The Dark Knight Rises, 2012 (HBO)
April 18:
Mare of Easttown, Limited Series Premiere (HBO)
April 20:
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)
April 22:
1,2,3 All Eyes On Me, 2020(HBO)
First Ladies, 2020
Princess Cut, 2020 (HBO)
Rizo, 2020 (HBO)
April 23:
A Black Lady Sketch Show, Season 2 Premiere (HBO)
El Robo Del Siglo (Aka Heist Of The Century) (HBO)
Video games have had us infiltrating Nazi bases for decades now, but Paradise Lost takes a decidedly more tempered approach than the all-guns blazing action of Wolfenstein or Sniper Elite. Its underground bunker setting is almost completely desolate from the outset of the story, so the closest you’ll ever come to having a rifle is when you’re having a rifle through filing cabinets for clues to determine exactly what fate befell its inhabitants. Yet while I explored the often disturbing depths of Paradise Lost’s Swastika-adorned subterranea with a sustained sense of morbid fascination, its frustratingly sparse approach to storytelling meant that my emotional investment in the plight of its characters remained permanently stranded on the surface.
In Paradise Lost’s alternate history setting, World War II continued through to 1960, allowing enough time for the Nazis to develop powerful atomic weapons in subterranean bunker facilities. Eventually, under pressure from the US and Soviets, the Nazis unleashed a nuclear holocaust and retreated underground, reducing the entire European continent to an uninhabitable wasteland. Paradise Lost’s story picks up twenty years later, when a 12-year-old Polish survivor named Szymon enters one of these bunkers in search of a mysterious man who knew his late mother, and I felt an immediate pull to find out exactly who or what was lurking below.
Third Reich Rapture
The eerie descent into Paradise Lost’s cavernous expanse initially gives the impression that you’re in for some kind of bunker-bound BioShock, and this feeling is reinforced when Szymon soon strikes up a two-way radio relationship with Ewa, who plays an Atlas-style role in helping Szymon navigate through each area while keeping her true motivations unclear. But there are no Splicers or Big Daddies to fight as you pick through the remains of Paradise Lost’s deserted dystopia, and for the most part your actions are fairly basic and limited to reading letters, listening to audio logs, and pulling levers to power up any dormant mechanisms that impede your path forward.
Outside of your interactions with Ewa, which are reasonably engaging but generally restricted to the intercom microphones you come upon every once in a while, you’re effectively left alone to try and piece together the narrative by scouring each office and hallway for as much information as you can. By far the most stimulating way to absorb a bit of the bunker’s backstory is the handful of times you get access to an archaic E-V-E computer terminal, which provides you with black box-style recordings of the last moments of activity in any given area. E-V-E is the AI that controls the bunker’s security and agricultural systems, among other things, and it’s oddly fascinating to watch a critical moment in this place’s history unfold on the terminal screen in a flurry of human-tracking heat maps and crisis management probability calculations.
Curiously, these memory sequences are interactive, giving you control over where troops are deployed during a conflict between the Nazis and members of the Poland Underground State, for example. These choices helped to keep me engaged in the E-V-E interactions and they do have slight implications for Szymon’s story, but I could never really understand exactly how I was able to manipulate events that had already taken place. I guess I must have missed that memo, and believe me when I say I read absolutely every memo I could get my hands on.
In fact I sought out and pored over every scrap of information I could find in Paradise Lost, and yet I still don’t feel like I ever knew enough about the individuals on either side of its central conflict to really care about its outcome. At one point Ewa insists that Szymon explores the cells where Polish women were held for heinous experiments in eugenics, in order to pay respect to their individual stories. But there’s only so much you can learn when the sole interactive object in one cell is a used up punch card and another has nothing but a half-finished crossword puzzle, leaving it hard to connect with their struggle.
Bunker down
Such stingy storytelling is sadly consistent throughout Paradise Lost. Although the environments are extremely well crafted, from artificial beachsides beneath looming rock ceilings to the dishevelled dwellings of the living quarters, it’s mostly all look but don’t touch with very little available for up-close examination. Paradise Lost is like a bag of Doritos, it looks dense from the outside but once you actually open it up and reach around inside, it’s surprising just how much of the space is unused. It’s especially maddening just how often interactable drawers are completely empty when only one out of every ten or so can even be opened in the first place, particularly given the sluggish speed at which Szymon lumbers around each room in search of story morsels.
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=Paradise%20Lost%20is%20like%20a%20bag%20of%20Doritos%2C%20it%20looks%20dense%20from%20the%20outside%20but%20once%20you%20actually%20open%20it%20up%20and%20reach%20around%20inside%2C%20it%E2%80%99s%20surprising%20just%20how%20much%20of%20the%20space%20is%20unused.”]I was also frustrated by Paradise Lost’s tendency to deliberately prevent you from fully exploring its environments. Some of the larger areas have two paths you can take through them, but opting for one means permanently forgoing the other and any possible exposition it may be housing. Towards the story’s end you come upon three locked doors, each containing potentially vital clues, yet you’re only given the means to open two of them. Why do this? If the sole point of your game is to tell a story, why intentionally cordon off chunks of it from the player? If it’s purely a decision to encourage repeat playthroughs, then it’s not one with much payoff – I played through Paradise Lost’s four-hour story a second time, choosing different paths and E-V-E choices the whole way through, and the only slightly altered outcome left me feeling equally indifferent.
It certainly didn’t help that the intermittent nature of Szymon and Ewa’s radio chats meant I never bought into their bond, which becomes the primary focus towards the story’s climax. With their sparse conversations not providing enough substance to grab onto it all seemed a bit forced, and their fates just didn’t feel as important to me as Paradise Lost seemed to expect they would.
There were also some technical flaws present in the PC version that I played for review. Dialogue lines would often repeat, and on a couple of occasions I fell through the map, forcing a checkpoint restart. Since I opted to play with a controller with the Y-axis inverted for look controls, I was disappointed to find that it also reversed my inputs when I was interacting with objects – meaning I had to counterintuitively push the thumbstick forward to pull down on a lever, or pull it back to push through a door. That’s not how inverted camera controls should work.
Major news for Payday 3 recently broke when developer Starbreeze announced a €50 million deal with Koch Media to fully fund the upcoming heist game, and to support it for more than a year after release through its games-as-a-service model. Starbreeze also confirmed a 2023 release date for Payday 3 on next-gen consoles and PC as part of the news.
Payday as a franchise is crucial to Starbreeze’s business, so this was a major deal that could have lasting implications going forward. GameSpot caught up with Starbreeze acting CEO Tobias Sjögren to discuss this new deal and what it means for Starbreeze and the Payday series. In our conversation, Sjögren talks about how the deal came together in the first place, the benefits of having Payday 3 now be fully funded, what Starbreeze has in mind for Payday 3’s games-as-a-service approach, and how involved Koch is in the day-to-day.
Also in the interview, Sjögren talks about the possibility of expanding the Payday series to new media and more. You can check out GameSpot’s full interview below.
Can you walk us through how this deal with Koch Media came together?
Sjögren: We had several discussions ongoing simultaneously. In the end we believed Koch Media to be the perfect publishing partner for Payday 3; they share our passion for the IP and the games-as-a-service model. They were open to a co-publishing partnership and understand the value of what Starbreeze contributes with the IP, our community and the games-as-a-service model.
What does the injection of capital mean for Payday 3 and the team at Starbreeze overall? What does this allow you to do that you couldn’t before?
It means a lot for Starbreeze of course. With this deal, Payday 3 is fully financed to launch and beyond release. For the team it means ease of mind, and not having to be in ‘pitch-mode’ while developing at the same time–meaning we can focus on making the best game possible.
We estimate that the total investment up to 18 months after the release can be as much as 50 Million Euro or more–we have the resources needed to create the game we want. The deal-length is also significant–it cements a commitment to post-release development, something Payday 2 has done so well. We are still releasing content eight years after its launch that our community loves.
Beyond that, Payday 3’s development allows for a great exploration of how we can expand and innovate on the games-as-a-service model. We believe that making Payday 3 will give us great experiences that we can use to deliver Starbreeze’s unique take on games-as-a-service to other titles in the future.
Starbreeze acting CEO Tobias Sjögren
What does it mean for Starbeeze and Payday 3 to have Koch Media as a co-publisher? How are you both working together? I understand Starbreeze owns the IP, but how involved is Koch Media on the day-to-day of the game?
To be fair, we just started working together, but the key thing for us going with Koch Media is their focus on expanding their publishing portfolio into the Games as a Service model. While we have a clear idea of where we want to take the Payday IP further, we know we can lean on a broad international organization for testing our ideas and getting great input. And the key here will be the on-going development of content beyond the release, where the publishing and development team will work close to each other in short iterations.
In the end, we each bring decades of experience to the table–we’ve been working on the Payday experience for ten years, and Koch Media has been publishing successful games for more than 20.
Payday 3 is now fully financed–in layman’s terms, can you talk about what this means for the game and its future?
I guess the short answer is that thanks to this deal, we will not need any additional capital to deliver Payday 3, and can focus on making Payday 3 the best game it can be.
When we started the development back in October 2019 we knew Payday 3 would be a big game, and we realized we would be better off focusing on development rather than trying to self-publish. We knew this: Payday 3 deserves to be a game that has the best possible financing and organization behind it. And to complete that plan we knew we needed additional financing. With the co-publishing agreement with Koch Media we have that secured.
You’ve said there will be a long-term tail for Payday 3 with the games-as-a-service model and ongoing monetization. I know you’re holding back specifics for now, but at a high level, what can fans expect in terms of ongoing support for Payday 3, and how will microtransactions play into the formula?
Payday fans are familiar with what we call games-as-a-service already, since this is the current model for Payday 2. We want to continue to provide a full game experience that can evolve with more content over time. Based on the experience we have together with the community, we have seen this model work well both from a player perspective and our development cycle. So while we’re still working out specifics for Payday 3, we’re going to look at a number of options, including the potential for premium content released as DLC and other transaction models, suitable for the games-as-a-service model.
Payday is obviously a massively successful series with 28M installed units. As you look to grow the franchise further, do you have plans for transmedia efforts like a TV show or a movie or some kind of further extension?
Storytelling has always been an important pillar in our vision for Payday–you can see this in the various co-operations we’ve done with IPs like John Wick, Scarface, and Point Break. If you look around the industry, I think most people would agree that the world is more open to that kind of IP exploration now than ever before.
We want to continue exploring new opportunities to engage both our existing community as well as new fans–and with a franchise like Payday that’s built from the ground up to suit a Hollywood-style heist fantasy, we think there could be awesome opportunities to push this further. Overall, we think a franchise like Payday deserves multiple different entry points, and we’ll work to create these while always keeping our player community front and center.
I understand development on Payday 3 is still relatively early, but what can you share about the game, what it will offer and how it will be more expansive and innovative than the earlier games?
Yes, it’s still a bit early to dive into specific features, but we can safely say that we are going to push the envelope and make sure that Payday 3 delivers on the high-octane, co-op first person shooter gameplay that our fans know and love. We’re aiming really high with this title, and want our players to live out the Hollywood fantasy of a world-class career criminal.
One item I can share is how excited I am that Payday 3 will be developed on the Unreal Engine. This will allow us to develop more quickly, be available on more platforms and to add new features that continue expanding the Payday 3 universe long after Payday 3 launches.
IO Interactive has announced Seven Deadly Sins, a multi-part paid-for expansion for Hitman 3.
As the title implies, Seven Deadly Sins will be made up of seven new content packs that are themed around the capital vices of greed, lust, gluttony, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Each one will include a “visually distinct” contract, sin-themed unlockable suit, and at least one sin-themed object that can be used both in the new contract and across all missions in the Hitman trilogy.
Delivered episodically, Seven Deadly Sins will start with Act 1: Greed, which launches on March 30. This pack features a new Escalation called The Greed Enumeration. Set in Dubai, it’s new notable feature is that it will allow players to carry certain special items over from stage to stage of the Escalation. Additionally, players will be able to unlock the golden Rapacious Suit, and make use of the Greedy Little Coin and Devil’s Cane items.
Pricing has not been announced, but when Seven Deadly Sins launches, players will have two options: to buy each new Season of Sin as it arrives, or buy all seven as part of a season pass for a discounted price.
IO Interactive notes that the monthly Hitman roadmap, which delivers free content such as Escalations, Featured Contracts, and Elusive Targets, will largely remain in tact. However, the monthly set-up will be adjusted to the new ‘Season of Sin’ format, which can last anywhere between four and six weeks. When the season concludes, a new Season of Sin will start and the next premium Seven Deadly Sin pack will be launched, along with the expected new dose of free content. IO promises a full content roadmap for Season of Greed will be released in week beginning April 5.
PUBG Mobile has just surpassed a frankly enormous 1 billion downloads worldwide.
The news was revealed by the official PUBG Mobile account on Twitter. A commemorative video has been released alongside the news, thanking players for their continuous support.
Players, it’s our turn to level up! PUBG MOBILE just hit 1 billion downloads worldwide! Stay tuned for an awesome new update #pubgm1Billionpic.twitter.com/0XotZfblqM
Krafton and PUBG Studio CEO C.H. Kim delivered a special message to fans to mark the occasion, which also happens to be the third anniversary of the game’s launch in March of 2018. Kim told fans to “stay tuned as PUBG Mobile continues to evolve.”
It’s not clear how the game will coexist with PUBG: New State, the sequel to PUBG Mobile set in 2051, with futuristic equipment to utilise. The new game will add in-game weapon customization, drones, a combat roll ability, destructible windows, interactable objects, futuristic ballistic shields, and new environments to explore, including a defunct shopping mall.
Dave Bautista is a former six-time world champion in WWE and was supposed to be inducted into their Hall of Fame last year, but that was inevitably post-posed. This year, the ceremony was to combine the 2021 class with the 2020 class in a mega celebration, but Big Dave has taken himself out for this year.
Due to previous obligations, Batista will be unable to attend and will be inducted at a later date to properly “thank the fans and people who made my career possible.” He was supposed to be inducted alongside greats like The Bella Twins, The nWo, JBL, “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith, and cruiserweight icon, Jushin “Thunder” Liger.
To the @WWEUniverse Unfortunately due to previous obligations I am unable to be a part of the @WWE#HOF this year. By my request they have agreed to induct me at a future ceremony where I’ll be able to properly thank the fans and people who made my career possible🙏🏼 #DreamChaser
— The Artist Formerly Known as Super Duper Dave (@DaveBautista) March 23, 2021
While he got his big push as a founding member of Evolution with Triple H, Ric Flair, and Randy Orton, Bautista–who simplified his ring name to Batista–became a standalone star in 2005 after winning the Royal Rumble and winning the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 21 that same year. He previously won the tag team titles with Ric Flair, John Cena, and Rey Mysterio. He had originally retired and came back to the company to win his second Rumble in 2014. Batista had his retirement match against Triple H at Wrestlemania 35 in 2019.
The 2021 class will so far include former Women’s Champion, Molly Holly, and Eric Bischoff, whose vision for WCW made it a serious rival for WWE during the Monday Night Wars. The ceremony will stream Tuesday, April 6 exclusively on Peacock for US fans, but on WWE Network everywhere else.
