Sylvester Stallone announced over the weekend that Paulie’s robot will be cut from the director’s cut of Rocky IV.
Rocky IV came out in 1985 and Stallone is celebrating its 35th anniversary on November 27 with a director’s cut of the boxing movie. He talked about this new cut on Instagram over the weekend and showcased a beautiful piece of art highlighting Rocky’s bout with Ivan Drago, which you can check out here.
“For the 35th anniversary Rocky 4 is getting a new DIRECTORS cut by me,” Stallone said in the Instagram post. “So far, it looks great. Soulful…Thank you MGM for this opportunity to entertain.”
While the prospect of a director’s cut of Rocky IV is exciting, longtime fans of the movie will likely be saddened to learn that Paulie’s robot will be cut entirely from the movie. Stallone responded to a comment on the Instagram post, saying,”the robot is going to the junkyard forever.”
If you don’t remember the robot in question, it’s gifted to Paulie Pennino, who is one of Rocky’s close friends, as a gift from Rocky on Paulie’s birthday. It’s here that Paulie said the now infamous, “I wanted a sports car for my birthday, not no walking trash can” line. This robot was admittedly a very strange inclusion in the film and certainly dates the film now upon a rewatch, but it is nonetheless part of this classic movie.
Stallone will possibly hear from people unhappy about this – like the commenter that asked about the robot on Instagram in the first place – but something tells us fans of the movie are willing to say goodbye to the robot if it means they get a new cut of Rocky IV.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.
The August 28-30 weekend saw the biggest box office results of any weekend since the COVID-19 pandemic closed cinemas back in March, with The New Mutants leading a weekend that, while extremely quiet by pre-COVID standards, was big for 2020.
Variety is reporting that The New Mutants earned around $7 million for the weekend, following a $750,000 take from Thursday previews. This is well above the $4 million Unhinged earned the previous weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, cinemas around the US earned around $11 million over the weekend.
This is a funny ending to The New Mutants’ long, strange road to a cinema release–the film wrapped in 2017, and was initially planned for a 2018 release. It finally settled into an April 2020 release date after numerous delays–but then had to be pushed back.
Variety has a quote from Cathleen Taff, the president of global distribution at Disney, about the movie’s opening weekend. “We’re encouraged by the results,” she says, noting that there’s “clearly an appetite” for going to the cinema. “We have to stay fluid and work with the framework of this new reality,” she notes.
Here’s the full top 5 for the weekend.
August 28-30 US Box Office Top 5
The New Mutants: $7 million
Unhinged: $2.6 million
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run: $604k
The Personal History of David Copperfield: $520k
Words on Bathroom Walls: $453k
The New Mutants received a 6/10 in GameSpot’s review, and essentially concludes the long-running X-Men film franchise following Disney’s purchase of Fox–the X-Men will likely be folded into the Marvel Cinematic Universe going forward.
Next weekend will see the limited release of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which has already earned $53 million in international markets. That makes it the ninth highest grossing film of 2020 before its US release; it’ll be interesting to see how far it goes.
In much of the world, of course, it’s still extremely unsafe to travel to a cinema–if you’re planning a trip, be careful, and avoid cinemas entirely if there’s a chance of infection via community transmission.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will bring back many of the series’ previous characters, including Alex Mason and Frank Woods–but the parts have been recast. Now, the actor behind Frank Woods in previous Black Ops games has opened up at his disappointment at the recasting.
In a lengthy video, Burns opens up about how it feels to see someone else playing his character. Although he’s diplomatic about the new actor (who has not been publicly named), he’s also clearly disappointed.
In an excerpt posted to Reddit (and picked up on by Eurogamer), Burns talks about how his previous performances, and his knowledge of the character’s backstory, would have informed his performance.
“I’m sure the story’s going to be f***ing brilliant,” Burns says, but thinks it could have been even better with him attached. “I’ve got 80000 pounds of weight to bring to this thing. And not a knock at whoever they got in there, but he doesn’t have the background I have with Woods. I got 11 years with this guy, man.”
“Not that this guy’s not gonna do a great job…but I would have f***ing crushed this thing.” he continues. “I wish I had a shot at it.”
The decision may stem from the fact that, while Frank Woods has been a character across multiple Black Ops and Call of Duty titles, Cold War is specifically a sequel to the first Black Ops game–so that sense of character history might confuse things rather than inform them. But then, considering how strange the plots can get in the Black Ops series, it’s hard to say what the case will be.
Alex Mason’s original actor, Sam Worthington (Avatar), also isn’t returning. Meanwhile, a very strong Ronald Reagan impersonator has been cast as the president.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will feature open-ended missions with multiple endings. The game will release November 13 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC; PS5 and Xbox Series X versions are also coming.
This episode of New Releases is taking a look at some of the biggest games launching in September. The new month starts off with a bang, with the action-packed Marvel’s Avengers, the amped-up NBA 2K21, and the trick-filled Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 all dropping on the same day. There are also two big re-releases on the horizon: Crysis Remastered and Mafia: Definitive Edition.
Marvel’s Avengers — September 4
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia
As you’d expect, Avengers lets you team up with friends to take on threats together. There’s a whole squad of superheroes to choose from, including Iron Man, Black Widow, The Hulk, and more. Of course, each hero has their own set of powers and abilities, and you can rank them up by collecting loot and filling out skill trees.
More Coverage:
NBA 2K21 — September 4
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia, Switch
NBA 2K21
This year’s game makes improvements to the Pro Stick system to help you dribble and shoot better. MyTeam and MyCareer have also been revamped. NBA 2K21 will be coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X later this year, but you should know that cross-gen gameplay won’t be possible with the new versions.
More Coverage:
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 — September 4
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2
This is a double dose of skateboarding remastered, bringing the first two games in the Tony Hawk series to the modern era. It also includes mechanics that weren’t a part of those early games, like custom skate parks and skaters. Since the soundtrack has also been so closely tied to the games over the years, fans will be happy to know that there are 37 new songs included here.
More Coverage:
Crysis Remastered — September 18
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Crysis Remastered
Crysis Remastered is already out on Switch, but now gamers on other platforms can get their hands on it. The remaster includes new 8K textures, improved lighting, and ray-tracing support. Crysis was once the game used as a PC benchmark, but now it should look even better as you battle your way across an island occupied by enemy soldiers and alien invaders.
Mafia: Definitive Edition — September 25
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Mafia: Definitive Edition
Mafia: Definitive Edition isn’t just a remaster–the game has been totally remade from the ground up. It also has new story content, so those of you who played the original back in the day are still in for some surprises. Definitive Edition can also be experienced in 4K if you’ve got the hardware for it.
More Coverage:
September is only just arriving, so the next episode of New Releases will take a closer look at more video games coming soon. Next week, we’ll check out hot RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, then learn how to make our own with RPG Maker MV.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
The world is mourning the tragic, unexpected death of Chadwick Boseman, who passed away from colon cancer at the age of 43 on August 28. The actor, who kept his diagnosis and fight under wraps, was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016–meaning that he was fighting his own private battle during the filming of Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, and his non-Marvel work during this period.
Ryan Coogler, who directed Boseman in Black Panther, has penned a moving tribute to the actor on Marvel’s website, where he praises Boseman not just for his performance, but for his humanity, his creativity, and his kindness.
Coogler discusses how he “inherited” Boseman’s casting from Captain America: Civil War, saying that this is “something that I will forever be grateful for.” He recalls seeing Boseman’s performance in an unfinished cut of the movie, and how it convinced him to come on and do Black Panther. “I’ll never forget, sitting in an editorial suite on the Disney Lot and watching his scenes,” he writes. “His first with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, then, with the South African cinema titan, John Kani as T’Challa’s father, King T’Chaka. It was at that moment I knew I wanted to make this movie.”
Coogler recalls how Kani and Boseman held a discussion in Xhosa, Kani’s native language, which he says “had a musicality to it that felt ancient, powerful, and African.” He learned that Boseman, who didn’t speak Xhosa, had made the decision to learn his lines in an African language. “I couldn’t conceive how difficult that must have been, and even though I hadn’t met Chad, I was already in awe of his capacity as actor,” Coogler recalls.
Xhosa went on to be the official language of the fictional nation of Wakanda, and Boseman famously advocated for T’Challa to speak in an African accent. As Coogler puts it, “he could present T’Challa to audiences as an African king, whose dialect had not been conquered by the West.”
Coogler recalls meaning Boseman for the first time in 2016, when the actor visited him during a press junket for his earlier film, Creed. “We spoke about the irony of how his former Howard classmate Ta-Nehisi Coates was writing T’Challa’s current arc with Marvel Comics,” Coogler recalls. “And how Chad knew Howard student Prince Jones, whose murder by a police officer inspired Coates’ memoir Between The World and Me.”
“I noticed then that Chad was an anomaly,” he continues. “He was calm. Assured. Constantly studying. But also kind, comforting, had the warmest laugh in the world, and eyes that seen much beyond his years, but could still sparkle like a child seeing something for the first time.”
Coogler says that it was Boseman who best recognized what the film could be, saying on the set “This is Star Wars, this is Lord of the Rings, but for us.” Coogler reflects back on this now and sees the truth in Boseman’s words. “I had no idea if the film would work. I wasn’t sure I knew what I was doing. But I look back and realize that Chad knew something we all didn’t. He was playing the long game. All while putting in the work. And work he did.”
Coogler says that he “wasn’t privy” to Boseman’s illness, and was as shocked as the rest of us about his passing. “After his family released their statement, I realized that he was living with his illness the entire time I knew him,” Coogler says. “Because he was a caretaker, a leader, and a man of faith, dignity and pride, he shielded his collaborators from his suffering. He lived a beautiful life. And he made great art. Day after day, year after year. That was who he was. He was an epic firework display. I will tell stories about being there for some of the brilliant sparks till the end of my days. What an incredible mark he’s left for us.”
Coogler ends his statement with an extremely moving sentiment. “In African cultures we often refer to loved ones that have passed on as ancestors,” he writes. “Sometimes you are genetically related. Sometimes you are not. I had the privilege of directing scenes of Chad’s character, T’Challa, communicating with the ancestors of Wakanda. We were in Atlanta, in an abandoned warehouse, with bluescreens, and massive movie lights, but Chad’s performance made it feel real. I think it was because from the time that I met him, the ancestors spoke through him.”
“It’s no secret to me now how he was able to skillfully portray some of our most notable ones,” Coogler continues. “I had no doubt that he would live on and continue to bless us with more. But it is with a heavy heart and a sense of deep gratitude to have ever been in his presence, that I have to reckon with the fact that Chad is an ancestor now. And I know that he will watch over us, until we meet again.”
Coogler has spent the previous year working on the script for Black Panther II. In the initial statement by Boseman’s family announcing the actor’s passing, they noted that “It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther.”
Chadwick Boseman’s final performance will be in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, coming to Netflix this year. He’s also in Spike Lee’s latest joint, Da 5 Bloods, released earlier this year. For Black Panther, Boseman won Outstanding Actor at the Black Reel Awards, Outstanding Actor at the NAACP Image Awards, Best Performance in a Movie and Best Hero at the MTV Movie + TV Awards, Favorite Male Movie Star at the People’s Choice Awards, and a cast ensemble award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Vigor is coming to PlayStation 4 and 5 later this year. The online shooter, which launched on Switch earlier this year, will also go free-to-play on Nintendo’s platform–right now, you can only play with a $20 Founder’s Pack purchase.
IGN has revealed, as part of their Gamescom 2020 coverage, that the game will come to the PS4 on November 25, and over the holiday period for PS5 (the system’s release date has not been announced yet). For Switch players, you’ll be able to play the game without a purchase from September 23.
Vigor is a multiplayer online loot-shooter set in a post-apocalyptic Norway, in which players have to team up to stay alive and overcome the challenges of the environment.
The Switch version released alongside Season 4 of the game; that will have likely ended by the time the PlayStation version of the game drops.
Back in 2018, Vigor was an Xbox console exclusive, and the developer explained that this was the case because Sony does not offer a Game Preview option.
Rocky IV, which originally released in 1985, is an extremely iconic 80s film. It’s got everything–huge hair, a banging soundtrack, and simmering tensions between the US and the Soviet Union that are ultimately overcome by a boxing match that unites both nations in their mutual love for Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa. And now, Stallone (who also directed) has announced plans for a 35th anniversary director’s cut of the film–but with the film’s single most 80s element cut out.
Stallone, who announced the Director’s Cut on Instagram, has responded to multiple comments asking him if the film’s robot, which is given to Rocky’s brother-in-law for his birthday early in the film, will make the cut. According to Stallone, the robot’s out–and people aren’t happy about it.
🚨 Sylvester Stallone is ELIMINATING Paulie’s Robot from his upcoming “Director’s Cut” of ROCKY IV DO SOMETHING “FILM TWITTER” 🚨 pic.twitter.com/wLoo17AelM
The robot is, in 2020, a wonderful bit of sci-fi ephemera. Thanks to its beep-and-boop synth music introduction, strange alien design, and impossibly advanced A.I. (the robot seems immediately aware of Paulie, and is somehow able to recognize its surroundings), people have grown very fond of it.
Rocky IV also has a bit of a reputation as being a fairly silly movie, so the robot–who Paulie is besotted with by the film’s ending–fits perfectly. Notably, the robot does not return in future sequels.
What else the director’s cut will change remains unclear. The latest film in the long-running franchise, Creed II, revisited the story of Rocky IV by bringing back villain Ivan Drago–who, back in Rocky IV, killed Apollo Creed.
It’s not clear where or when this new version of Rocky IV will release, or whether it will add in previously cut scenes.
Twelve Minutes, the upcoming adventure game from Annapurna Interactive set inside a time loop that players experience repeatedly, has some major Hollywood stars in it–James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe. Now, in a new behind-the-scenes video, McAvoy, Ridley, and creative director Luis Antonio have talked more about what to expect from the game.
Antonio says that originally the game was smaller in scope: “It was going to be a short game, and I was doing everything.” However, he eventually realized that if he could “go a little further,” things could get more interesting, and more options would be available to him. According to an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Antonio started working on the concept back in 2013.
The video, below, shows that while Ridley and McAvoy recorded together, they did so while separated by a barrier. Dafoe recorded his lines separately in Rome. According to McAvoy, the game is “about the danger of truly examining within,” and Ridley says that the game is about how you deal with your own truth and the truth of those around you, saying it will mean “different things for different people.”
In the game, McAvoy and Ridley play a married couple who are attacked by Dafoe’s detective–but you can break the cycle, and ultimately save yourself from death, by using the knowledge that you gain on each loop. The clips of their performances in the video above show off some of the game’s dramatic moments.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the final recordings between Ridley and McAvoy happened in August in a London recording studio. Antonio is in San Francisco, and directed the two actors through Zoom.
In the studios, face masks are required for everyone aside from the actors, and daily temperature checks were implemented. In the Entertainment Weekly piece, Antonio also addresses the possibility of the game coming to other platforms after its 2020 launch on Xbox and PC. “I would wait and see how everyone reacts to the game,” he clarifies–which means that it’s a possibility if the game does well.
Twelve Minutes will come to Xbox Series X this year, alongside PC and Xbox One versions.
