Spider-Man Has an Amazing Holiday Turnout

The results are in, and Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man is definitely on the upswing. Box office reports show that Marc Webb's new 3D tentpole has pulled in a stellar $59.3 million domestically in its first two days.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Wednesday's $23.4 million gross was the second-best 4th of July showing of all time after Transformers, which earned $29.1 million that same day in 2007. Additionally, the film is on track to make $125 million to $140 million by the end of its six-day debut.

With a budget of $220 million, Spider-Man is mainly being fueled by positive word-of-mouth. Despite its familiar storyline, the fans are turning out in droves to see Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in the updated roles of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. IMAX ticket sales have also given the film a nice leg up over the competition.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

The Office: New Characters in Dwight Spin-Off

TVLine.com has learned some details about the upcoming Dwight-centric Office spin-off, The Farm.

Dwight, after inheriting a large family farm/bed and breakfast, will leave Dunder Mifflin behind and in the first episode/potential pilot (which will air as an episode of The Office in Season 9) Dwight will have to convince his brother and sister to run the B&B with him. Right now casting is underway for an entire new set of supporting characters. Here are the descriptions of Dwight's Farmers and Farmettes.

FANNIE SCHRUTE - "Attractive, urban and in her late 20s/early 30s, Dwight’s younger sister fled the Schrute farm life for Boston as soon as she could, and has had little to do with her roots for quite some time. Now divorced with one son, Fannie is 'a bit of a pseudo-intellectual lefty' with an ironic sense of humor and a great heart."

JEB SCHRUTE - "Dwight’s easygoing thirtysomething brother hasn’t done well in any of the career paths he’s followed – worm breeder and Bigfoot hunter among them — but has found some success with a pot farm. He’s got none of Dwight’s dedication or work ethic, but he has made an exercise video about things you can do with a knife and a canoe."

CAMERON WHITMAN - "Dwight’s smart and slightly weird 9-year-old nephew (Fannie’s son) is a cosmopolitan lad who nevertheless feels the pull of his Schrute heritage, especially when he’s around someone — his uncles, perhaps? — who can offer the fatherly guidance he lacks."

HEINRICH MANHEIM - "The Schrute siblings’ great uncle is charming, greedy, manipulative… and just may have had to spend time in Argentina following World War II, thanks to his German National Socialist roots. Oh, and he vows to kill Dwight by the end of the first episode."

Since the once-in-a-while Office role of Dwight's cousin Mose was played by former Office co-EP Michael Schur (who now runs Parks and Recreation), it's not known at this time if the character will appear on The Farm.

Source : ign[dot]com

The Avengers: Battle For Earth first impressions

2012 definitely stands as the year of Marvel’s The Avengers, what with Joss Whedon’s big-screen take on the superhero squad cleaning up at the box office with $1.4 billion in ticket sales.  And with the home release already dated for September 25, the fun looks to continue on for months to come.  With that, Ubisoft has finally stepped forward with an Avengers licensed video game, Battle For Earth, which will be knocking heads later this year for Xbox 360 Kinect and Wii U.  The company recently invited us to a behind-closed-doors demo to see how it works.

The concept is pretty similar to Power-Up Heroes, Ubi’s previously released superhero endeavor, but obviously tailor made with the Avengers in mind.  Instead of tying in with events from the film, you’ll be following chapters from the Secret Invasion saga, which means you’ll not only be tangling with the Skrulls, but also super villains like Loki and Magneto.  For that matter, additional characters will be included with the original Avengers team, such as Spider-Man and Wolverine.  (Over 20 will be in the game in all.)

The game works like a one-on-one battle game, where you fight against a specific opponent until one of you falls.  Think of it like a fighting game, but set up with an over-the-shoulder view – and with motion controls.  With your chosen character, you’ll execute attacks by swinging your arms and feet around in the desired motion.

Movement of your character is handled simply by swaying left and right, or pushing forward if you feel like going in for an attack.  You can swing your fists for basic attacks and also initiate an air launch move, leaving them vulnerable for a strike.  But it’s when you introduce special moves into the fray that things really get interesting with Battle For Earth.

Here, you can raise your arm in the air using Thor to initiate a lightning charge, then point at your opponent to hit them with the required voltage.  Or you can play as Hulk, slapping your hands together for a Thunder Clap and watching the sonic waves knock them around like crazy.  (A ground smash is available as well, so don’t be concerned.)  Ubisoft is fine-tuning each character so that their attacks feel natural to the player executing them, and so far, those controls look quite responsive, though there are times small executions aren’t properly received.  It’s still in the works though.

On top of a single player campaign, Battle For Earth will also support two-player co-op, so you can battle with a friend in split-screen fashion, swinging away and using special techniques.  The game will also be online compatible through Xbox Live, so you can battle others.

We noted that Battle For Earth was also headed for Wii U, and while Ubisoft didn’t specifically elaborate on the features for that version, it’s bound to use the touch-screen to some effect, and possibly even the device’s gyrosensors.  Once we know more, we’ll let you know what unfolds…

For now, you can rest easy with The Avengers: Battle For Earth.  This isn’t just some rushed Kinect effort that’s taking advantage of the super-hot film franchise, but rather a fighting game that lets you acts out your ultimate superhero desires with 20+ various characters.  Who doesn’t want to perform a shield throw with Captain America or a plasma blast with Iron Man?  We’re game for that.

Look for later this year.

Source : gamezone[dot]com

Is The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Cancelled?

With The Avengers movie destroying box office records left and right, it would seem odd that the current Avengers animated TV series, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, could be cancelled. But there’s increasing speculation that might be the case.

In recent interviews, Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb has been non-committal on the status of EMH, only saying they had ongoing plans for the Avengers in animation, but not whether that particular series would continue. While Earth’s Mightiest Heroes debuted after Disney bought Marvel, it’s worth noting that the show was already in the works before that deal. The speculation is that Marvel may want to end Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in order to begin a new Avengers animated series fully developed and produced by them and also in continuity with the new Marvel animated series universe established by Ultimate Spider-Man.

When I spoke to Adrian Pasdar last month (who voices Iron Man on Ultimate Spider-Man), he noted he had also voiced Iron Man on the upcoming Hulk and the Agents of Smash animated series – likely a sign those two shows (both fully produced by Marvel) will be considered part of the same universe. A universe Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is not a part of...

While acknowledging Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ fandom, Loeb’s comments to Collider in March, on the topic of serialization in the animated series, also could point to the current Avengers show not being in line with Marvel’s future plans. Said Loeb, “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes has a tremendous following. One of the things that’s very unique about that show is that it was at a time prior to my coming in. It is a very serialized show, and there are a lot of characters. What we wanted to do with Spider-Man, and going forward, was to tell stories that are individualized. Obviously, we want everybody to watch the show every week, but we also know that people’s time is often taken. So, DVR the show, but if you’re not going to do that, the idea is that you will be able to catch up. I don’t ever want anybody to sit down on Sunday mornings at 11 o’clock and suddenly feel like, “Well, I lost the last three episodes, so I don’t really know what’s going on.”” Loeb has previously indicated that the final twelve episodes of Season 2 of Earth's Mightiest Heroes feature more standalone storylines.

There are still eighteen episodes left to air for Season 2 of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. When I asked Marvel for information on the show potentially ending after that, I was told the company doesn’t officially comment on plans for future seasons of their Marvel Universe programs.

Loeb usually takes part in a Marvel television panel at San Diego Comic-Con. Assuming that is the case again this summer, no doubt the future of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will be a question many are curious to ask.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/22/is-the-avengers-earths-mightiest-heroes-cancelled

Avengers Now in Top 5 of All Time Hits Lists

Marvel's The Avengers has now cracked the Top 5 on both the All Time Worldwide and All Time Domestic grosses lists, according to Box Office Mojo.

With a current global tally of $1,186,653,451, The Avengers is now No. 4 on the list of all time worldwide grosses, ahead of Transformers: Dark of the Moon but behind Avatar (No. 1), Titanic (No. 2) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (No. 3).

On the domestic side, The Avengers is No. 5 behind Avatar (No. 1), Titanic (No. 2), The Dark Knight (No. 3) and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (No. 4).

The Avengers has been the No. 1 movie in North America for the last three weekends, but is widely expected to finally be dethroned from the top spot at the box office when Men in Black 3 opens Friday.

Source : http://www.ign.com

Depp's Night Stalker Stakes Out a Writer

His latest big screen adaptation of a cult classic horror TV series isn't exactly doing great business at the box office, but that apparently isn't deterring Dark Shadows star Johnny Depp from moving ahead with his plans to produce and star in a feature film version of The Night Stalker.

The Hollywood Reporter says D.V. DeVincentis (High Fidelity, Gross Pointe Blank) has been hired to script The Night Stalker based, like Dark Shadows, on the 1970s Dan Curtis TV series.

Scott Pilgrim helmer Edgar Wright will direct The Night Stalker for Disney.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/19/depps-night-stalker-stakes-out-a-writer

The Office: Season 8 Review

Note: Full spoilers for The Office: Season 8 follow.

Looking back at my review of The Office's Season 7, I concluded with the hope that the writing staff would plan the next year out ahead of time because having a destination in mind (in last year's case, sending off Michael Scott) seemed to have done the show some good. Too bad they didn't take that advice. Instead of a heading in a single, coherent direction in Season 8, the stories and the characters were all over the map.

Season 7 ended without revealing the next branch manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton, but the question was answered soon enough in the season premiere, "The List," with Andy sitting in the corner office. The choice wasn't out of left field, and it had some potential to bring a new flavor to the show – the insecure manager who is in over his head and knows it, rather than the incompetent manager who desperately wants to be one of the guys – but instead of properly cultivating Andy as a manager, they decided to have him share the spotlight with James Spader's Robert California, who wore out his welcome early on (as I feared he might). Even when Andy did try to flex his managerial muscles, as in "Garden Party" and "Gettysburg," the storylines were too absurd to accept as legitimate character development, yet not funny enough to make it worth pushing the reality of the show to an ever more extreme degree.

Speaking of "Garden Party" and "Gettysburg," there were quite a few outings that took the characters away from the office this year, including an entire arc set in Tallahassee, Florida (more on that storyline later). I suspect the motivation behind this was to change things up and keep them fresh, but it didn't always work. There were times, like in "Pool Party" when it felt like I was watching a different series – an Office spinoff, maybe – instead of the show I know and used to love. It wasn't always a problem with the locations themselves, but with the writing. By the time Andy and Erin crashed a stranger's bachelorette party to break up with his bland girlfriend, I wished they'd been part of a different show.

I haven't made it a secret that I'm not much of a fan of the Andy and Erin relationship. Last season, Andy pined for Erin while she was dating Gabe, so I guess it was Erin's turn to carry the torch. The writers fell back on the old love-triangle trope, giving Andy a girlfriend, but they didn't bother to give her any personality or defining characteristics. So I wasn't rooting for either side, really. There was also a potential romantic entanglement between Andy and Robert's wife (guest star Maura Tierney) in "Mrs. California," but that went nowhere. The last few episodes of the season devoted a good deal of screen time getting Andy and Erin back together, which proved to be a bit of a letdown after a run of some of the best episodes in a long time.

Those episodes made up the previously mentioned Tallahassee arc, which demonstrated that there is life, and laughs, left in this show when they get it right. Beginning with the 14th episode, "Special Project," we got a great business-related arc centered around the launch of the Sabre Store down in Florida. It was a silly idea, but the characters involved made it interesting and fun. Dwight got a chance to experience both the thrill and the stress of leadership while Jim had his hands full fending off the affections of crazy Cathy. That little drama resolved better than I'd hoped. I enjoyed seeing Jim squirm and being forced to turn to Dwight for help (their scenes together were some of the best of the whole season). Poor Cathy was punished for her actions by being banished from the show, never to be mentioned again. Ryan was true to character, talking a big game but ultimately choking when his big moment came. And of course, we'll never forget you, Florida Stanley.

For everyone else in the Office, the stories were relatively minor. Pam and Angela both had babies named Phillip, but the origin of Angela's pregnancy had much more intrigue to it. There were hints all along that the father of Angela's baby was not her possibly gay state senator husband, but the issue resided on the backburner for the majority of the season. It wasn't until the finale, "Free Family Portrait Studio" that Dwight finally took the initiative to get the kid tested. And we still don't even know the outcome (though they left little room for doubt).

The only other plot of note was the subdued and sweet courtship of Darryl and the new warehouse forewoman, Val. Grounded in realism, Val was one of the better new characters introduced this season. I also appreciated the expanded role of Nate, Dwight's former handyman who became a warehouse worker in "Lotto." He's like the Creed of the warehouse, stealing entire scenes with just a line or two (Creed continues to reign supreme in that regard, though).

While we're talking about new characters, I can't avoid mentioning Nellie (recurring guest star Catherine Tate), who first appeared briefly interviewing for the manager job in "Search Committee" and returned as the head of the Sabre Store project in "Tallahassee." I had hoped that Tate would be a colorful addition to the cast, but either the material failed her or she failed the material – I'm not sure which, but there was definitely some fail involved on some level. Hopefully the writers will tone her down next year and make her part of the ensemble rather than trying to make her into the new Michael Scott. And then they can focus on Andy as manager, which they should have been doing all along.

To be sure, every season of The Office has had its ups and downs. It used to be that the peaks were steeper than the valleys; now, it's the opposite. At this time last year I didn't think the writers and cast had another season in them, and yet here we are heading into Season 9. At this point, I'm too invested in the characters to give up on the show entirely – and I am looking forward to seeing David Wallace in charge again – but with the big changes in store and potential departures both in front of and behind the camera, it's hard to imagine that the show will recover the ground it's already lost.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/18/the-office-season-8-review

Daniel Radcliffe @IGNUK Twitter Takeover

Daniel Radcliffe, the star of box office horror smash The Woman In Black, doesn't do Twitter. There are plenty of imitators out there, but none are the real deal. This will all change this afternoon at 4pm (GMT) on Friday May 18th as the actor formerly know as Harry Potter takes over the @IGNUK Twitter feed for 30 minutes.

"Hashtag terrified."

Daniel will be taking over the 140-character reigns to answer your questions about The Woman In Black, his past and future projects, and anything else you care to quiz him about. So, if you've ever wanted to ask Daniel about his thoughts on ghost stories, horror films, or just his preferred sandwich filling, this is the time to do it.

To submit a question for Daniel simply tweet it to @IGNUK using the hashtag #WomanInBlack and we'll try to get as many of your questions answered as we can between 4pm and 4:30pm.

The Woman In Black is out on DVD and Blu-ray on June 18th, 2012.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/18/daniel-radcliffe-ignuk-twitter-takeover