Category: Games

HBO’s newest show, Watchmen, is off to a good start, it seems. The network announced that the series premiere drew 1.5 million viewers across all of its channels on Sunday.

This represented the strongest start for a new HBO show since Westworld’s premiere back in 2016, according to numbers crunched by Variety.

By comparison, HBO’s Game of Thrones had 17.4 million viewers for its Season 8 premiere back in April. That show was one of the most popular in TV history, so comparisons against are difficult. A closer comparison might be Succession, which picked up 1.2 million viewers for its Season 2 premiere.

HBO’s Watchmen is based on the DC graphic novel from Dave Gibbons. The show is set in a world where superheroes and villains are outlawed but they still exist and are fighting.

GameSpot’s review of Watchmen Episode 1 remarked that the show is off to a very promising start.

“The pilot is steeped in that sensibility. Sure, superheroes play a major role, and yes, there’s no shortage of commentary about the complicated interplay between vigilantism and heroism, but at its heart, Episode 1 feels like the start of something truly special for fans of science fiction television,” reviewer Meg Downey wrote.

For more on Watchmen, check out the stories below.

The fried chicken restaurant Los Pollos Hermanos is one of the most famous fictional eateries out there, and now it’s expanding to a new place: virtual reality.

The restaurant made famous on Breaking Bad and its spinoff Better Call Saul will become a virtual store through Uber Eats beginning October 24, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Sony Pictures, the makers of Breaking Bad, have announced a partnership with the “enlightened kitchen” creator Family Style Inc. to create a virtual version of Los Pollos Hermanos that will live inside Uber Eats as part of a three-year deal beginning this week.

The in-app restaurant is modeled after the one on the show run by Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). Its menu will include Pollos tenders, Fring Fries, and the ABQ Hot Chicken Sandwich. This sandwich comes with a slathering of “Slaw Goodman.”

Los Pollos Hermanos from Uber Eats will only be available in Los Angeles at the start, though it will expand to San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Chicago later. Once a week each month for six months, Uber Eats will offer free delivery.

There is no real world physical Los Pollos Hermanos location, only a virtual one.

Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan said he’s been thinking for a long time about how to bring Los Pollos Hermanos to life. “Little did I realize this could be accomplished without building an actual brick-and-mortar restaurant. Yay, technology! Smart phones actually are good for something!” he said.

Gilligan added that he is pleased that the cooks got the menu right. “Their chicken sandwich is big and crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside, and it rests on one of the better brioche buns I’ve come across,” he said in a statement.

This isn’t the first time Los Pollos Hermanos the restaurant has crossed over into real life. In 2017, to promote the new season of Better Call Saul, pop-up locations of the restaurant came to New York City and Sydney, Australia with free chicken on offer for anyone who came by. Esposito himself even stopped by to meet with fans.

Los Pollos Hermanos is Spanish for “The Chicken Brothers.”

The launch of the Los Pollos Hermanos virtual store in Uber Eats comes not long after the launch of Netflix’s popular Breaking Bad movie, El Camino. Millions of people watched over its first weekend, making it a huge hit.

Horror in the 1970s was marked by darker movies, as independent filmmakers such as George Romero, Tobe Hooper, and Wes Craven combined scares and gore with social themes, and serious blockbusters such as The Exorcist and The Omen played to huge mainstream audiences. As a result, there wasn’t much space for the old-fashioned monster movie, which had long existed more in the crowd-pleasing side of the genre.

Luckily, in the 1980s, fun returned to horror. Of course, there were plenty of darker movies too, and many of the most popular in the first half of the decade were formulaic slasher movies. But this was also the decade of the horror comedy–not to mention neon, MTV, and hair metal–and many of ’80s key horror filmmakers embraced a lighter approach to their scary movies. They also brought the movie monster back big time.

Prosthetic and animatronic special effects were at their peak in the ’80s, leading to some hugely impressive creature creations. CGI was not yet at a stage where it could be used for monsters, especially on a lower budget, and the superstar make-up effects artists of the day were given the freedom to wildly indulge their imaginations. Amongst fans, the likes of Rick Baker, Stan Winston, Tom Savini, and Rob Bottin are as famous and revered as any directors, and their creature work in the ’80s is some of the best ever put on film.

Sadly, this is an era of monster movie that is unlikely to return. Even a show like Stranger Things, which homages ’80s horror in so many ways, uses extravagant CG for its creatures. The special effects superstars of today are more likely to be found sitting behind computer screens than getting elbow-deep in fake blood and plastic fangs. So with Halloween approaching, let’s look back at the best movie monsters from the 1980s…

Lost and The Lord of the Rings actor Dominic Monaghan has a role in the upcoming sci-fi blockbuster Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. We still don’t know who specifically he plays, but the new Episode IX trailer has provided a first look at his character.

Monaghan appears to be playing a resistance fighter. He can be seen in the trailer standing behind Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico. This appears to be a tense moment when people are scrambling to prepare for battle.

Monaghan played Charlie Pace in Lost, which was co-created by Rise of Skywalker director JJ Abrams. This is the first time Monaghan and Abrams have worked together since.

Monaghan is also known for his portrayal of Merry in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings series. He’s done work for video games as well, as he played William Joyce in the video game/TV show hybrid Quantum Break from Control and Alan Wake developer Remedy.

Monaghan is not the only newcomer joining the cast in Rise of Skywalker. The Americans actress Keri Russell plays the mysterious Zorii Bliss, who is “very cool and a little bit shady.”

In addition to the new trailer, Disney released a new poster for the movie, which you can check out below.

Advance tickets for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker are on sale now, and unsurprisingly, the tickets are selling incredibly well. CNBC and Brandon Katz report that Rise of Skywalker sold more tickets through Atom Tickets in its first hour than Avengers: Endgame did earlier this year. In fact, The Rise of Skywalker shifted 45 percent more tickets, Katz said.

This sets a new first-hour record for Atom. The other highest-sellers in the first hour on Atom are Avengers: Infinity War, The Last Jedi, and Rogue One.

This data may not be perfect, as people are pointing out that the demand was so high for Endgame that it crashed ticketing sites. Whatever the case, it’s clear there is also a huge amount of interest in The Rise of Skywalker.

You can buy advance tickets for The Rise of Skywalker at movie theatres and ticket-sellers around the world. In addition to standard tickets, a number of theatres are offering special events like a marathon of all nine movies and more.

Go to the Star Wars website to see a full rundown of what the various movie theatre chains and ticket-sellers are offering for The Rise of Skywalker.

A new trailer for The Rise of Skywalker premiered this evening during Monday Night Football. The film arrives in theatres on December 20.

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