Category: Games

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Disney’s next big movie is its live-action Mulan, which comes to select theatres alongside a paid-for release on Disney Plus this Friday, September 4. The movie features actress Liu Yifei in the lead role, and it’s a role she won amid a massive audition process.

Producer Jason Reed told Deadline that the search to cast Mulan was “unprecedented.” Reed estimated that “tens of thousands” of people tried out for the part before Disney choose Yifei for the role.

“We did this unprecedented global search for an actress to play the role. Tens of thousands, I believe, auditioned around the world. We had scouts going to martial arts schools, dance schools, and performance schools all throughout China,” Reed said. “We had casting offices open in all of the major cities that had significant Chinese populations of working artists, and ultimately Yifei was working on a project in China and she wasn’t initially available. We actually flew over to meet with her and we were smitten.”

Mulan director Niki Caro didn’t need any convincing to cast Yifei. “Niki was like, ‘She’s the one.’ It’s that simple, and fortunately, the studio loved her as well and immediately signed on,” Reed said.

Also in the interview, Reed spoke about why Disney elected to make the new Mulan an action movie instead of a musical like the 1998 animated film.

“Part of our thinking is that we thought that this material would be a great opportunity to do something new for the Disney label, to take this and convert it from a musical comedy, which the animated film was, which is great,” he said. “We still love it, and it’s one of my favorite Disney animated movies of all time. That movie still exists, but then to take that material and use it as the foundation on which to do a big epic adventure movie.”

Go to Deadline to read the full interview.

If you’re looking to watch Mulan on Disney Plus, you need to pay $30 USD for Premier Access. Alternatively, you could wait, as Mulan will eventually be released for all Disney Plus subscribers.

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The team helming Netflix‘s The Three-Body Problem adaptation has been announced, and some familiar names are attached to the project. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss of Game of Thrones fame, along with The Terror’s Alexander Woo, have been tapped to serve as the executive producers and writers.

The Three-Body Problem is an award-winning Chinese science fiction series of novels by Liu Cixin. Netflix’s adaptation will cover all three books in the trilogy, including The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End. The Three-Body problem starts in China’s Cultural Revolution period and grapples with humanity’s response to first contact by an alien civilization.

Benioff and Weiss are best known for their Game of Thrones work, including the final seasons that were not as well-received. The pair were set to work on Star Wars but are now instead lined up to work on multiple Netflix projects. Woo has written episodes for True Blood and was the showrunner/co-creator of The Terror’s second season.

The rest of the creative team includes executive producer Rian Johnson and producing partner Ram Bergman. Plan B Entertainment (Brad Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner, and Dede Gardner’s company) will serve as an executive producer. Authors Liu Cixin and Ken Liu, the latter of which wrote the English translation of the first and third novels, are on board as consulting producers.

Benioff and Weiss commented, “Liu Cixin’s trilogy is the most ambitious science-fiction series we’ve read, taking readers on a journey from the 1960s until the end of time, from life on our pale blue dot to the distant fringes of the universe. We look forward to spending the next years of our lives bringing this to life for audiences around the world.”

The Three-Body Problem’s premiere date has not been announced yet.

The Mulan live-action remake releases this Friday, September 4 on Disney+, but this isn’t a traditional release like we’ve seen with other movies on the service like Onward, Hamilton, and Frozen 2. Instead, simply having a Disney+ subscription won’t get you access–at least not immediately. If you’re interested in watching Mulan this weekend on the couch with your loved ones, here’s what you need to know.

Mulan has a $30 Premier Access price at release

The only way to watch Mulan at release is to pay $30 for “Premier Access” on Disney+. You can watch Mulan in UHD, HDR, and with Dolby Audio enabled. Mulan is the first movie to fall into this category on Disney+, and Disney has said that it doesn’t have plans to lock future movies behind a paywall at this time.

Of course, this price is on top of the price of your Disney+ subscription ($7 per month). Disney+ doesn’t currently have a free trial, so you will have to pay for at least a month to watch Mulan if you aren’t already a subscriber. This would essentially raise your cost to $37 if you’re only interested in Disney+ due to Mulan.

If you’re watching with a few family members, you could consider it as a more cost-efficient trip to the movies without actually going to the theater.

Keep watching as long as you have an active Disney+ subscription

After paying for Premier Access, you can watch Mulan as many times as you want provided you keep an active Disney+ subscription. Once your subscription lapses, you won’t be able to watch it again until you re-up your membership. This model is similar to PlayStation Plus and Xbox Games with Gold freebies, which you get to play as much as you want while your subscription is active.

That said, this model does make Mulan fall somewhere between a rental and a purchase-to-own digital release–and a very pricey one at that. Other movies that skipped theatrical releases in the US due to the current pandemic have been priced as high as $20 for digital rentals, but we’ve never seen $30. The fact that you also need a Disney+ subscription to watch makes it by far the priciest home digital release we’ve seen.

Mulan will eventually be available for all Disney+ subscribers

If you don’t mind waiting, Disney has confirmed that Mulan will eventually be available to stream for all Disney+ subscribers without Premier Access. It’s unclear at this time when Mulan will leave Premier Access, but we imagine it won’t be a matter of weeks.

Amazon has been a leading player in the e-commerce space for many years, but one of its biggest competitors is taking an even bigger step to gain the loyalty and patronage of online shoppers. On Monday, Walmart announced Walmart+, a new annual membership shoppers can sign up for to receive exclusive perks, such as unlimited free delivery and same-day shipping on select items. This is a rebranding and expansion of the existing Delivery Unlimited program, which launched last year and only focused on groceries. Walmart+ includes items across all of the retailer’s categories, from tech and gaming to toys and household essentials.

Walmart+ costs $98 a year or $12.95 a month, the same price as the previous Delivery Unlimited program. A 15-day free trial period is available. The primary benefits are unlimited free delivery from stores and same-day delivery on more than 160,000 items. This includes in-store prices and discounts, which could be a huge draw to gamers if this program includes brand-new games. Walmart regularly offers new AAA games for $49.94 instead of $60 on release day in stores, and it sounds like Walmart+ could allow you to take advantage of this discount online and receive same-day shipping as well, if new games are eligible. We’ve reached out to Walmart for clarification.

Non-members can already take advantage of free two-day and next-day shipping on select items for orders of $35 or more. In this way, Walmart’s already been competing with Amazon Prime on the fast delivery front, offering some of the same perks with an order minimum instead of a yearly membership fee.

In addition to the delivery benefits, Walmart+ unlocks Scan & Go in the Walmart app, which lets you shop in-store much faster by scanning items with the app as you go. When you’re done, you can pay using the app as well, which allows for a quicker, touch-free experience (definitely a pro during the current pandemic). Walmart+ also gets you discounts on fuel, allowing you to save up to 5 cents a gallon at nearly 2,000 Walmart, Murphy USA, and Murphy Express gas stations. Sam’s Club fuel stations will be added soon as well.

The Walmart+ program launches on September 15, and there’s no way to sign up just yet. Though cheaper than Amazon’s $120 per year Prime membership, Walmart+ does include fewer benefits–Prime, for example, unlocks access to Prime Gaming, Prime Video, and more in addition to free same-day and one-day shipping. According to Walmart, more Walmart+ benefits will be added over time, though no details have been shared on that front.

When asked about Amazon Prime in a press call on Monday, Walmart chief customer officer Janey Whiteside declined to compare the two services, CNET reported. “We’re not launching Walmart+ with the intent to compete with anything else,” Whiteside said. “We’re launching it to meet the needs of our customers.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced movies theaters to close down since March for most places in the United States, AMC Theatres has announced plans to open up 70% of its locations by Friday, September 4, Labor Day weekend.

Approximately 420 locations will be opened across the US, with the majority of these reopenings happening on Thursday, September 3. On Friday, AMC expects to see its first locations in California reopen, with seven returning to operation in and around San Diego, according to a press release. The chain is “closely monitoring all local directives and will follow guidelines on auditorium capacity.”

In the near future, the company plans to announce additional openings in California, New Jersey, and other markets, after they are authorized to reopen by local and state officials.

“The first two weekends of operations have exceeded our expectations in terms of guests returning to the movies and in terms of their feedback about our extensive AMC Safe & Clean policies and procedures,” said AMC Theatres CEO and president Adam Aron. “Our comprehensive commitment to operating our theatres safely now includes social distancing through limiting ticket sales and automatic seat blocking, seamless contactless ticketing, greatly enhanced cleaning procedures, the availability of hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes throughout our theatres, as well as a mandatory mask policy for all guests and crew members.

“We’re also closely monitoring local and state guidance, and we are complying with any additional capacity restrictions. In addition, we have invested millions for high tech solutions to sanitization and disinfection including electrostatic sprayers, HEPA vacuums and MERV 13 air filters. Guests returning to AMC can do so knowing that we’ve been in constant dialogue with top scientists and experts in public health and cleaning about how best to reopen our theatres in ways that will be responsible and welcoming.”

The chain has the AMC Safe and Clean initiative, which details the safety precautions these movie theaters will be taking in order to keep moviegoers safe. In addition to what Aron mentioned, this will also include routine cleaning throughout the day–such as high touch points–reduced auditorium capacity (currently at 40% or less according to the website), and enforced mask wearing for guests at all times when not eating or drinking.

The major release during this time is none other than Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which GameSpot gave a 9/10. In our review of Tenet, Eddie Makuch said, “Tenet is a mind-bender of a movie that has action galore, characters you can for the most part connect with and understand, and a time travel story that doesn’t get bogged down in the details and just lets you enjoy the spectacle.”

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