Most major movie and TV show productions shut down due to COVID-19, but not all of them. The Mickey Rourke-starring World War II fantasy horror movie, Warhunt, was filming when the lockdowns began, and it was in a unique position to be able to complete production.
According to Variety, production was allowed to continue on Warhunt, which was filming in Riga, Latvia, with crew members wearing facemasks and gloves. Additionally, production staff had their temperatures taken twice daily, while they also practiced social-distancing and used disinfectant on their equipment, in adherence with local guidelines.
Each actor had their own makeup kit, so that the makeup artists only used brushes and other equipment on one actor. Additionally, the makeup stylists wore facemasks.
Director Mauro Borrelli said it was a “surreal” experience filming Warhunt with the COVID-19 guidelines in place. He noted that the cast and crew responded positively, and they ended up filming in a “more focused and efficient” manner as a result.
Rourke told Variety, “I came to Riga to work and this thing (COVID-19) was so out of control, but everyone was so great.”
Due to the pandemic, the filmmakers moved up Rourke’s filming dates, and the actor was able to fly into town early to film his scenes ahead of the previous schedule.
Warhunt follows a group of American soldiers in World War II who become trapped in Germany’s Black Forest where they encounter witches.
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In the past, bots on social media sites have sent spoilers as automated replies to posts including related terms – we haven’t yet seen reports of this but, if you are trying to wait for release, it’s likely worth paying extra attention to tweets containing the name of the game, or its main characters.
Even before Fallout 76 was released, fans were clamoring for Bethesda to add pets to the open-world game. Now, it’s finally happening–maybe.
As part of a recent Reddit AMA, project lead Jeff Gardiner teased that Bethesda is looking into the possibility of introducing pets, but not ones you can eat. “Edible ones? I kid. Now that we have our companions system in the game, we are looking to add pets as well,” Gardiner said (via Kotaku).
At PAX Australia in October 2018, just a month before Fallout 76 launched in November of that year, Bethesda boss Pete Hines said to a crowd that the online RPG would not allow you to get a dog companion at launch.
However, he said if players really want to have a dog in Fallout 76, the studio would add it to its list of features it might consider for the game after launch. Now, it seems that’s finally happening.
Despite some negative reception, Fallout 76 launched to strong sales in the United States. Bethesda has steadily supported the game with new content and features since launch, the latest major addition being the Wastelanders update that was released earlier in April. Among other things, it introduced NPCs to the game.
For lots more on the state of Fallout 76 today, check out GameSpot’s video above in which host and producer Jake Dekker talks about his experience playing 30 hours of the Wastelanders update.
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Driving fast cars is meant to be one of the many things secret agent James Bond is skilled at, but it turns out 007 actor Pierce Brosnan made a rookie error with the beautiful Aston Martin DB5 he got to drive in 1995’s Goldeneye.
As reported by Digital Spy, from a tidbit picked up in the Esquire watch-along of the film with Brosnan, the actor revealed that he forgot to take off the handbrake while driving the Aston Martin in one scene–and not just once.
“I drive up, and I get out, and they say, ‘Cut. Do you want to drive the car back?’ and I say, ‘Yeah, I’ll drive it back’. So, I get out, do my little Bond quip, get back, reverse the car, go back to [my] starting position. We did this about five, six times, and on the sixth go round I could smell burning.”
Yes, far from handling his car with the suave grave we expect from Bond, Brosnan had left the handbrake on for multiple takes in the very expensive car–in front of a large audience that included the car’s owner, no less.
Brosnan isn’t entirely sure what happened next between the car, its mistreatment and its no-doubt upset owner, because he “scarpered off into the night”, in his own words. “I’m sure [the car’s owner] was taken care of by the company,” he said. “I hope he was anyway.”
Once again, Sony has moved the release date of its long-awaited Uncharted movie, but this shift is different. The movie studio has announced that the Uncharted movie has now moved forward to a release date of July 16, 2021.
The action-adventure movie was previously scheduled to premiere on October 8, 2021, so it’s been moved up by around three months. The release date changed as part of a wider Sony shakeup that saw the release date of the Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel move to November 5, 2021, with the Into The Spider-Verse sequel shifting to October 7, 2022.
The Uncharted movie has been in one form of production or another since 2008 or earlier, so it’s been a very long time coming. The film had been delayed numerous times over the years, but this time it’s moving up the schedule. The Uncharted movie had always sounded like a summer blockbuster, so the new July release date seems fitting.
The Uncharted movie has shuffled through seven different directors and numerous scriptwriters over the years. The cast is now set, however, with Spider-Man actor Tom Holland attached to play a young Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as his mentor, Victor “Sully” Sullivan. Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas also has a role in the movie alongside Sophia Ali (Grey’s Anatomy) as the female lead. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina actress Tati Gabrielle has also come aboard in a major role.
The Uncharted film will be directed by Ruben Fleischer, who previously directed the Zombieland movies and Venom for Sony. It’s written by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, who wrote the original Iron Man movie.
Avengers: Endgame is the most commercially successful movie of all time, with $2.79 billion at the global box office. The movie was extremely expensive to produce, as well, but the epic comic book film made enough money to become the most profitable film in history.
Deadline’s sources report that Endgame made $890 million in profit, which sets a new record for any film ever released. The P&L sheet states that Endgame cost $356 million to produce, with a further $175 million going toward paying cast and staff before residuals. Marvel reportedly paid $155 million to market the movie around the world.
In total, Endgame cost $899 million to produce, covering the production budget, actor and staff salaries, marketing, and other costs, according to the report. You can see a full breakdown of the expense sheet here at Deadline.
Endgame, which was released in theatres one year ago this month, raked in $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office over its first weekend, which covered the film’s entire production, marketing, and theatrical costs.
One actor who really benefitted from the movie was Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr., who is said to have taken home $55 million due to the nature of his contract being tied to box office grosses. He was paid $20 million up front to appear in the film, the report said. “Many” of the cast members also received bonuses tied to Endgame’s box office performance.
The world is a very different place one year on from Endgame’s release. Currently, most movie theatres around the globe are closed due to the COVID-19 crisis.
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It’s the last episode of New Releases for April, and some war games have been itching to finally deploy. We’ve got Gears Tactics, Sakura Wars, and the Xbox One and PC versions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered to check out. It’s also the return of a retro classic with Streets of Rage 4. If you’ve been itching to get behind the wheel of a vehicle recently, you can check out SnowRunner too.
Gears Tactics — April 28
Available on: PC
Gears Tactics turns the Gears of War shooter formula into a tactics game, giving you a squad of customizable COGs who will carry out your orders against the Locust. It’s not just cannon fodder they’ll be facing, though: expect to encounter big Brumaks and Corpsers during the campaign too. Tactics is coming Game Pass for PC on launch day, but the Xbox One version will launch later this year.
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Sakura Wars — April 28
Available on: PS4
This soft reboot of the long-running series is finally coming to the West, putting you in the shoes of protagonist Seijuro Kamiya. It’s the first time the games have offered direction action commands in combat, as Kamiya fights alongside the Imperial Combat Revue’s Flower Division. Outside of battle, he can explore the Ginza district and foster relationships with his fellow fighters.
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SnowRunner — April 28
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC
If you’ve ever wanted to drive big vehicles in the most extreme environments on Earth, SnowRunner is your game. The open-world driving game puts you in the driver’s seat of real-world brands like Cat, Chevy, and more as you haul cargo through mud, over snowy mountains, and across frozen lakes. You can drive solo or convoy with friends online.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered — April 30
Available on: Xbox One, PC
The campaign is already out on PS4, but now it’s time for Xbox One and PC players to revisit the story. This remaster includes up to 4K resolution and HDR support, plus uncapped framerates and ultrawide monitor support for the PC version. You’ll get Underwater Demo Team Classic Ghost Bundle when you pick up the remaster on any platform–that includes some goodies for the first Modern Warfare and Warzone.
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Streets of Rage 4 — April 30
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch
It’s been 26 years since Streets of Rage 3, but Axel, Blaze, and Adam are ready for round four. Adam’s daughter Cherry joins the roster for this outing, along with Floyd, who definitely isn’t Jax from Mortal Kombat. Streets of Rage 4 offers four-play co-op, of course, but it also includes a Battle mode, which lets you throw down against each other.
Fortnite‘s recent Travis Scott event was a gigantic, unprecedented success for the free-to-play battle royale game. Developer Epic Games announced that more than 12.3 million people were logged into the game at the same time for the concert, which sets a new concurrent record.
To put this number into perspective, the free-to-play PC juggernaut Counter Strike: Global Offensive recently set a concurrent player record of 924,000 users. No one doubted Fortnite’s unthinkable popularity, but these new numbers for the Travis Scott concert reinforce what a behemoth the game really is in terms of scale.
Over 12.3 million concurrent players participated live in Travis Scott’s Astronomical, an all-time record!
The Travis Scott Astronomical event premiered on April 24, with repeat shows taking place every day thereafter until April 26. Everyone who attended any of the Astronomical events received an Astroworld Cyclone glider and two free loading screens, while a skin based on Travis Scott, including emotes and more, was available to buy in the game.
Since its highly successful Steam launch just under a month ago, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord has been busy patching. In the 27 days since release, the game has had 19 patches and hotfixes, as well as introducing alpha and beta branches to streamline the patching process. The e1.2.0 patch is the result of the beta being rolled into the main Steam version, while further updates are happening on the beta branch.
The biggest fixes made in the new patch have to do with crashes, something the game has struggled with since launch, but has been proactive in fixing. A number of small checks and balances for multiplayer have been added too:
A heap of other fixes and quality-of-life tweaks from the beta have also moved over to the main release, and you can check the full list here.
New changes are being trialed in the beta now, including major performance upgrades that aim to reduce loading time and game performance in battles. The game will also now be stopping you from stealing equipment from party members.
The beta 1.3.0 additions are extensive, including tweaks to the AI, art, and overall quality-of-life in the in-depth medieval simulator. These changes will be tested in the beta for at least a week before they’re rolled out in game, but if you want to get your hands on them first you can opt into the beta branch by accessing the game properties in your Steam library.
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Infinity Ward has share more details on the April 28 update for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone, including the preliminary patch notes and the file size.
In a blog post, Infinity Ward clarified that the update is about 15 GB in size, and it will be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The update delivers the Data Pack 1, and it must be downloaded to keep playing the game. This appears to be a console-only update.
In addition to the Data Pack, the April 28 update will include a series of bug fixes and changes (across console and PC). One of the big ones is that the speed and size of the Warzone gas circle has been “adjusted,” but Infinity Ward did not provide any further details.
In terms of bug fixes, the April 28 update takes care of an issue that could cause players to lose the ability to select a favorite faction from the Operator menu. It also fixes a bug that could cause watches to appear in the wrong direction when using a gesture. There are also a variety of fixes for problems related to challenges and weapon unlocks, among other things.
The full patch notes will be released later, but for now, you can check out a preview below.
April 28 Modern Warfare Patch Notes Preview:
Fix for a bug where PC players using a Vega64 GPU could see corrupted outlines around their character models and weapons.
Fix for a bug where selecting the USEF 1 skin for the Mil-Sim Operator appears as the default skin in Co-op
Adjusted the speed and sizing of the circle in Warzone
Fix for a bug where completing the completionist challenges for the SKS are unlocking the associated camos for the Renetti
Fix for a bug where unlocking camos for the SKS was inconsistent with other camo challenges for marksman rifles
Fixed a bug where the “Hard Wired” skin for Alex would appear in thermals while Cold Blooded is equipped
Fixed a bug where some watches were appearing the wrong direction when gesturing
Fixed a bug where players could lose the option to pick their favorite Faction in the Operator menu
Fixed a bug where white lighting could be seen while moving or firing a weapon near specific locations
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