Even With Solo Doing Poorly, Disney Had A Monster 2018 At The Box Office

Disney had a monster year in 2018 at the box office. Its movies collectively made $3.092 billion in the United States and $7.325 billion globally, according to a box office roundup by Entertainment Weekly. The domestic box office performance is a new all-time record, while the global result is the second-highest ever, only behind the $7.605 billion that Disney movies collectively made in 2016.

Marvel movies helped Disney’s performance substantially in 2018. Avengers: Infinity War raked in $2.049 billion globally, while Black Panther made $1.347 billion worldwide. The Disney Pixar movie Incredibles 2 pulled in $1.24 billion globally, while Ant-Man and the Wasp took in a mighty $623.1 million. New releases Ralph Breaks the Internet and Mary Poppins Returns are also expected to be big-time money-makers.

Disney movies were not guaranteed box office smashes in 2018, however, as Solo: A Star Wars Story took in $393.6 million worldwide–the worst result in the history of the Star Wars series. The Oprah-starring A Wrinkle in Time, meanwhile, only made $132.9 million worldwide.

Disney is expected to have another massive year in 2019 thanks to major new releases like Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame from Marvel, along with new live-action versions of Aladdin, Dumbo, and The Lion King. Disney also has Toy Story 4 coming up this year from Pixar, while the long-awaited Frozen 2 hits theatres just before Thanksgiving, and it’s expected to be a huge success. On top of those, the final entry in the new Star Wars trilogy, Episode IX, comes to theaters in December 2019.

What’s more, Disney is buying many of competitor Fox’s assets, including Deadpool and X-Men, so even bigger box office returns in the future are expected.

Original Pokemon Movie Possibly Getting a CGI Remake

It’s possible the upcoming Pokemon Movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution, will be a CGI remake of the original Pokemon film which first released in 1998 in Japan.

Eurogamer reports that fan speculation, after the release of the new teaser trailer for the movie, has leaned further into the idea that this new film will indeed be a remake.

Furthermore, almost all of the brief footage in the clip is CGI, leaving fans to speculate that perhaps this movie will be the first of its kind entirely animated using these graphics.

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Bandersnatch Has an Ending So Hidden, the Director Can’t Get to It

It turns out Netflix’s new interactive Black Mirror movie, Bandersnatch, has some endings so hidden that even the people who made it can’t find them.

According to the The Hollywood Reporter, Bandersnatch director David Slade has revealed that some endings are so secret and difficult to get that they may never be viewed by audiences.

“There are scenes that some people just will never see and we had to make sure that we were OK with that,” explained Slade, adding “We actually shot a scene that we can’t access.”

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Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night Cancels Two More Versions

Following the cancellation of the PlayStation Vita and Wii U versions of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the game’s Mac and Linux versions have now been canned as well. For those counting at home, that’s now four versions of the game that have been canceled (the Wii U edition was canceled in favour of Nintendo Switch version).

In a update posted on the game’s Kickstarter page, developer Koji Igarashi said the studio made the “tough decision” to cancel the Mac and Linux editions “due to challenges of supporting middleware and online feature support and making sure we deliver on the rest of the scope for the game.”

People who backed the game looking for a Mac or Linux version will be given the opportunity to change platforms; you can send an email to request a platform change; be sure to submit the request with the email address association with your pledge.

“We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and we hope for your understanding,” the developer said.

It’s unclear if refunds will be available or if the only option is to switch platforms.

Also in the blog post, Igarashi said development on Ritual of the Night has “reached its peak,” which sounds like it’s nearly finished.

“We are currently checking the performance of Bloodstained on each platform. Overall, we are done with enemy placement and entering the adjustment phase. But there are still many progression-blocking bugs that must be taken care of,” he said.

Igarashi worked at Konami for a long time, and there he worked on games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Ritual of the Night is said to be a spiritual successor to that game.

Ritual of the Night is due out sometime in 2019 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The game raised more than $5.5 million from its crowdfunding campaign back in 2015.

The Walking Dead Squanders More Potential

There’s an exchange in this issue of The Walking Dead where Rick and Michonne reflect on how the current Commonwealth conflict feels bigger and more out of control than anything they’ve faced in the past. That sentiment isn’t anywhere close to being supported by the past year or so’s worth of issues, unfortunately. It’s been a long, repetitive grind during that stretch. And even with issue #186 going a long way toward reinvigorating a struggling series, this follow-up makes it clear how much work remains.

This is a case where the dramatic cover doesn’t translate into the story itself. That image suggests a major rift between Rick and Michonne in the aftermath of Dwight’s tragic death. But while their relationship is obviously strained at this point, the end result is nowhere near as serious as one would expect. Strangely, writer Robert Kirkman seems to go out of his way to deflate the tension between the two and smooth over this sudden rough patch. That’s a pretty disappointing way to capitalize on one of this series’ more compelling cliffhangers in recent memory. It’s entirely possible their friendship will crack further as the Commonwealth situation escalates further, but why not take advantage of the dramatic potential available right here and now?

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Ninja Made Nearly $10 Million Last Year

2018 was a big year for streamer Ninja, whose real name is Tyler Blevins. While he was already an established name in the gaming world having competed as a professional Halo player for years, Ninja entered a new stratosphere of success in 2018 following his record-breaking Fortnite stream with rapper Drake.

He’s ridden that wave and prospered financially. He told CNN in an interview that he made nearly $10 million in 2018. He told the site that 70 percent of his revenue came from Twitch and YouTube, through ads and subscriptions, with the remainder coming from his sponsorship deals with companies like Samsung, Uber Eats, and Red Bull.

The $10 million figure cited in the CNN piece is likely pre-tax, so more than likely he did not take home that much at the end of the day. Still, it’s an eye-watering figure.

In March, Ninja said he was making around $500,000 every month from his various revenue sources.

Ninja told CNN that he spends around 12 hours each day streaming, and in 2018, he estimates he played around 4,000 hours of Fortnite; that’s about 140 days.

He’s enjoyed success among mainstream audiences this year through his appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s late night TV show and as a cover star of ESPN the Magazine.

Ninja said he thinks Fortnite still has lots of room to grow, but in the event that Fortnite loses steam, the streamer is diversifying through efforts like a Ninja-branded clothing line.

2018 wasn’t a blemish-free year for Ninja, as he stirred controversy when he told Polygon that he wouldn’t stream games with women to avoid dating rumours.

Daredevil Gets Stuck in Limbo

It’s become something of a tradition for Daredevil writers to leave Matt Murdock stuck in the lowest, most hopeless place imaginable before handing him off to the next creative team. Brian Bendis made him an incarcerated felon. Ed Brubaker made him leader of the Hand. And with the conclusion of the most recent volume of Daredevil last month, Charles Soule left Matt at death’s door. The onus is going to be on new writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Marco Checchetto to pick up the pieces of “The Death of Daredevil” next month. But for now, the weekly miniseries Man Without Fear serves as a stopgap, one exploring what happens when Matt drifts between life and death. Sadly, this first issue never comes across as anything more than a placeholder story.

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Everything We Got Right (And Wrong) About Gaming In 2018