Hollywood News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

If you haven’t heard, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a really, really good game. Just, so good. When the semi-regular cast of Beyond was asked to decide our best PlayStation game of 2023, several of us immediately blurted out Baldur’s Gate 3, and no one else had any objections. So, there are plenty of write-ups on IGN and elsewhere about why it’s so great, but I wanted to reflect a little on how it seemingly came out of nowhere. Make no mistake, this game is 100% Game of the Year material. It almost was IGN’s overall pick, losing to Zelda by a handful of votes. That said, it seems like a miracle that such a dense, unabashedly technical entry in a 23-years-dormant franchise would have such widespread appeal.

Death Stranding is coming to the big screen, thanks to a partnership between indie film studio A24 and game developer Kojima Productions. The announcement comes ahead of the Hideo Kojima-helmed studio's 8th anniversary. The film adaptation will focus on the mysteries surrounding the titular apocalyptic event that brought the nightmarish creatures called BT into the living world, blurring the lines between the dead and the living through a portal. Instead of a direct translation of the divisive 2019 video game, the film will serve as a companion piece that further expands the solitary universe. The world of Death Stranding is also set to return in DS2, a sequel announced at last year's The Game Awards.

Another Orphan sequel is officially in development, director William Brent Bell has revealed.

We may have read fiction and seen Hollywood movies where some people can read other people's, and pets', thoughts, but now, we have a living example of a tool that actually goes ahead and does it, courtesy artificial intelligence (AI). It is nothing short of a miracle! Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney's GrapheneX-UTS Human-centric Artificial Intelligence Centre have introduced a groundbreaking device, the world's first mind-reading helmet. This portable and non-invasive invention translates silent thoughts into written text, offering a vital means of communication for individuals with conditions hindering speech, such as paralysis or stroke. Additionally, it holds promise for seamless interaction between humans and machines, potentially enhancing control over robots and bionic arms. With AI likely to keep making the kind of progress it is making now, clearly, the sky is the limit as far as this tool is concerned. The participants wore a cap equipped with an electroencephalogram (EEG) to capture brain activity while silently reading texts. The sensors detected thinking moments, recorded brain waves, and utilised an AI model named DeWave to transform these waves into coherent text. A video demonstration showcased a participant thinking a complex message, with the AI accurately rendering the thought into written form.

In the early days of the streaming wars, library content seemed to be king. Peacock holding onto the rights of extraordinarily valuable parent-company shows like The Office looked like wins that would help the streaming service soar and felt like an existential threat to Netflix. But three years after Peacock’s launch, that’s not really how things have shaken out. In 2023, Netflix is still king of the streamers, and studios licensing out their most valuable shows and movies is starting to look like a great idea again.

Game developers have a problem with this year’s Game Awards.

The Golden Globes 2024 nominations were revealed last night, with Greta Gerwig's feminist candy-coated romp Barbie, which dominated the box office charts this year, leading the pack. It's got a whopping 10 nominations, including one for Best Musical or Comedy, alongside acting nods for stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling (supporting). The awards show has also added two new categories to recognise the best in entertainment, starting with a ‘Cinematic and Box Office Achievement' category, which honours the biggest movies of the year, having grossed $150 million (about Rs. 1,250 crore) minimum, of which $100 million must be from within the US. Eight nominees compete for that award, including Barbie, Oppenheimer, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Hasbro is laying off 1,100 employees, according to anSEC filing. The company behind franchises like Dungeons & Dragons and Transformers, Hasbro already laid off 800 employees in January. While some employees will find out about the fate of their jobs on Tuesday, others will be cut in the coming year. By 2025, Hasbro told shareholders, the company hopes to save about $350 million to $400 million in costs.

This year GamesBeat was part of the 2023 Game Awards in L.A., as part of a mini GB event, “Pixels to Pop Culture,” exploring the intersection of game industry creatives, Hollywood and a growing audience’s hunger for new IP.

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From Nintendo’s triumphant follow-up to Breath of the Wild to the hot pink perfection of Barbie and so much more, 2023 has been a landmark year for games and entertainment. Indeed, IGN has labeled 16 games, movies and TV shows a masterpiece over the past 12 months, with countless more worthy of your time and money. Admittedly, it’s also been a year of polar opposites, and Skull Island: Rise of Kong wasn’t the only stinker to receive a bad score (I’m looking at you, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey). The games industry suffered a huge number of lay-offs too, and Hollywood strikes put release calendars on hold as screenwriters and actors fought for better working conditions.

Meryl Streep may have received an Oscar nomination for her performance in The Devil Wears Prada, but her casting was initially an unpopular choice.

You could say that Cyberpunk 2077 hasn't had the easiest of rides. Perhaps after the years of hyperbole that was deserved, but what can't be denied is that CD Projekt Red re-trenched after the initial reception, stuck by the game, and has delivered consistent improvements that all led up to this year's major 2.0 update. That was supposed to be the end of it but a few days ago, surprise surprise, patch 2.1 popped up with even more improvements: and a little bit of meme history.

Stormgate is an upcoming real-time strategy game from a company with a great RTS development pedigree going back to StarCraft, but not one you'd necessarily expect to attract big Hollywood actors. Sometimes, though, big Hollywood actors happen to be huge StarCraft fans. At The Game Awards tonight, Marvel star Simu Liu added a Hollywood twist to Stormgate when he appeared on stage to introduce a new trailer; Liu is voicing a major character in the RTS. The trailer also revealed that Stormgate, which went into closed beta this week, will hit early access this summer.   Before The Game Awards, I spoke with Tim Morton and Tim Campell, the heads of Stormgate developer Frost Giant, about Liu's role, and it turns out that their big get happened somewhat organically. «We didn't set out to go recruit a Hollywood cast for the game,» said Morton. The star of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and bestselling author of We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story just happens to be a skilled StarCraft 2 player.

As an enjoyer of PC games, the only thing that could possibly be better than a Steam Deck OLED is a free Steam Deck OLED. Or maybe money to buy all my wishlisted games. The Game Awards 2023 is offering up a chance to get Valve’s new handheld via a giveaway that starts tonight.

I’ve collected video game delay notices like Christmas candy, and today I have one more to shove in the stocking. The Alone in the Dark remake has been delayed once more until early next year — but the reason should leave most feeling jolly.

The Alone in the Dark reboot is delayed from January 16 to March 20, 2024, publisher THQ Nordic has announced, citing the well-being of its developer.

THQ Nordic and developer Pieces Interactive have announced that they are delaying the release of Alone in the Dark to March 20th 2024, buying the team a little bit more time and some much needed rest around the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The Last of Us has always been a major hit with gamers worldwide. When Naughty Dog first released this game on the PlayStation 3, fans were getting a cinematic action-adventure experience. We had a solid narrative experience, and it wasn’t long after that a remastered edition was released. There’s even a complete remake of this game available today, so it certainly has a strong fan base. However, this franchise got a new resurgence when HBO released a live-action adaptation. Now, this IP has fans who have never experienced video games. Shortly into the first season, HBO approved production for season two. Today, we’re discovering that this second season is heading our way in 2025.

Rebel Moon's Netflix release has been brought forward by a few hours, meaning it'll be available to watch a day earlier – for US audiences, at least.

THQ Nordic has delayed its Alone in the Dark reboot for a second time.

The director of the upcoming The Legend of Zelda movie has discussed his vision for the live-action adaptation.

Nintendo and Universal's partnership has been a fruitful one. Universal Studios Japan's version of Super Nintendo World kicked it all off in late 2020 and early 2021 with a magical experience for Nintendo fans (learn more about our experience here), then in February 2023, Universal Studios Hollywood's Super Nintendo World opened its doors (see our photo tour of that version here). The collaboration to this point culminated shortly after that with the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which garnered strong fan reactions and grossed more than $1 billion at the box office.

SteamWorld Build is the latest addition to the SteamWorld franchise, bringing a steampunk theme to the city-building genre. You build up your city to capitalize on resources and escape a dying planet, giving you plenty of tough choices to make along the way.

The Fallout TV series just got a trailer, giving us a glimpse into its irradiated post-apocalyptic world. Unveiled during the Comic-Con Expo (CCXP) event in Brazil, the show brings forth an original story set in a dilapidated Los Angeles and runs canon to the Bethesda game's universe — adding to the franchise, instead of adapting from one of its titles. However, just like the games, the tale largely follows a vault dweller who heads out into the nuclear wasteland in search of answers and in the process, meets countless eccentric characters — both good and bad — and uncovers the larger politics surrounding class divide, morality, and more. Fallout premieres April 12 on Amazon Prime Video.

Gear up squad, we’re going to Arrakis. Activision has revealed skins for its operators revolving around the upcoming Dune: Part Two for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone Season One.

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Zack Snyder has addressed the report that bots helped to power the Snyder Cut movement – but he's not that concerned.

After literal decades of middling-to-terrible 3D Sonic games, it seemed like an actual honest-to-god miracle that the Sonic movie and its sequel were so successful. Both movies got largely positive reviews, were praised for the performances of Ben Schwartz as Sonic and Jim Carrey as Robotnik, and made $300 million and $400 million, respectively.

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition will join Netflix‘s subscription service on December 14.

Zack Snyder has talked about the new DCU – and he could be tempted back with one project in particular. 

An old rumour from 2015 claiming that Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes are involved in GTA 6 has resurfaced. Depending on who you follow, the rumours suggest that Mendes and Gosling will be voicing Lucia and Jason, the alleged main protagonists of the upcoming game. At the same time, other rumours suggest that instead of voicing Lucia and Jason, Gosling and Mendes’ characters in The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) will act as inspiration for the game’s main characters.

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At a time when Black Friday weekend is the buzz of town, artificial intelligence still manages to capture eyeballs with some interesting developments. In the first news, the Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud spoke on AI at a virtual conference today, highlighting the problem of ethical treatment of AI. In other news, Hollywood actor Nicholas Cage spoke about deepfakes in movies, where actors' likenesses can be used to make movies without needing their physical presence, and called it a ‘nightmare'. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

 Artificial intelligence is likely to transform our world in many ways, but one that hasn't received much attention is the technology's looming impact on real estate. As AI becomes an essential component of both business and daily life, the value of places where those who work on AI want to live will rise, provided these locales have reasonable infrastructure. At the same time, the value of lower-tier cities left out of the AI boom will diminish.

Hideo Kojima’s Twitter activity indicates that he will be at The Game Awards. But will he actually be showing us a new game there?

A former member of staff at Rockstar who worked on a raft of Grand Theft Auto games has pulled their behind-the-scenes development blog after someone from the studio got in touch.

AEW Fight Forever’s second season of content is here, launching with the Dynamite pack. The first season brought with it a half-dozen new roster members alongside new content for mini-games, while the second season begins with the company’s most successful homegrown tag team, The Acclaimed as its showcase DLC alongside the 2022 AEW Dynamite stage. The Acclaimed’s Anthony Bowens and Max Caster have been known as DLC characters due to their X posts over the last few months about being scanned for the game – making their gaming debuts here in Fight Forever.

There was a massive resurgence with The Last of Us thanks to the HBO live-action adaptation. Naughty Dog’s video game was already a cinematic experience for players. So, it likely wasn’t too challenging to adapt the video game into its own series. Still, for those who enjoyed the season, it’s been a waiting game to see when season two will begin production. Fortunately, we know the season production is coming, and already one leading start can’t wait to get back into the heavy stunt work required for the next season. 

Today, November 22, marked another massive day for artificial intelligence with big announcements across the ecosystem. OpenAI finally appears to have resolved the week-long turmoil as the company announced that ousted CEO Sam Altman will be reinstated to his position. In other news, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the negative effect of AI at the virtual summit of G20 nations. He said that AI must be made safe for society and its dangers must be understood. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

One of the first ways Fortnite was able to prove its mainstream success was by introducing popular real-world people into the game. Whether it's Travis Scott, Lebron James, or Patrick Mahomes, it's become a sort of Hollywood Star of Fame to be featured in Epic Games' hit shooter. Today. Marshall Mathers joins the club – Eminem is coming to Fortnite. 

OpenAI and Microsoft have been hit with another lawsuit, this time from nonfiction authors, who claim that the tech companies have been training their AI chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot (formerly Bing Chat). This comes at a time when OpenAI and Microsoft both are involved in a chaotic situation over Sam Altman being fired as the CEO of OpenAI, and his next destination, which can either be being reinstated to his original position or taking over an AI research team at Microsoft.

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Skyler Gisondo has been cast as Jimmy Olsen in James Gunn's upcoming DC film Superman: Legacy.

Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio are starring in a new Karate Kid movie, and it's coming out next year.

It's starting to look like Timothée Chalamet could be making an appearance in , and this upcoming role could be the strangest one he's yet taken on. The world of is complex, but the one thing that's consistent about it is the weirdness that it brings to the table. Although post-apocalyptic America isn't an unfamiliar concept, avoids standard tropes like zombies and rigid dystopic societies for a more unusual flavor. Character names like Die-Hardman immediately make it obvious how off-kilter things can be, while the nuances of figures like Higgs combine compelling characterization and memorable quirks seamlessly.

Ridley Scott isn't one to mince his words, and he's certainly not holding back on the press tour for his upcoming period drama Napoleon. In a new interview with Deadline, the filmmaker was asked his thoughts on James Cameron's follow-up to his sci-fi hit Alien, to which he got, predictably, candid...

With a directing career that spans more than five decades, it's hard to pick one definitive masterpiece to define Martin Scorsese's filmography. Fellow filmmaking giant Steven Spielberg, however, has had his say. 

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For some reason — blame the encroaching winter, post-Halloween boredom, or simple copycat syndrome, you be the judge — November has become a big month for annual social-media-based collective challenges. From NaNoWriMo and NaPoWriMo to Movember and No-Shave November to, um, others, the extremely online crowd has focused on November as a month for group events and group discussion.

Dacoco, the group behind the Alien Worlds Web3 metaverse, announced a collaboration with renowned science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson, known for works such as Star Wars, Dune and Saga of the Seven Suns.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow might not be on everyone’s radars just yet – but it should be now. DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has praised the script of the upcoming "unique" feature in a new post on social media.

The casting of Abby in the second season of The Last of Us TV series may be imminent, according to a report.

The Last of Us season 2 will reportedly begin filming in early 2024. As per the FTIA production list, the second chapter is slated to shoot from January 7, 2024, onwards. The shooting schedule was delayed due to the Hollywood actors' and writers' strikes — both of which have ended now. Considering the show was not mentioned in HBO's 2024 slate, we can assume it will be out sometime in 2025 at the soonest. This is a bit off course from what lead Bella Ramsey — who played Ellie in season 1 — suggested, at a time when there were murmurs of a potential strike. It goes without saying that the series will adapt the events from the gory and polarising sequel, The Last of Us Part II, with plans for the arc from the video game to play out for longer than a season.

The movie about the GameStop short squeeze situation is available now to buy.

Days after Warner Bros. decided to shelve yet another completed movie, a new report says that all hope may not be lost.

The Game Awards holds its tenth ceremony later this year on December 7, where it’ll honor the games voted the best of the year. It’s not going to be easy, as 2023 has been an embarrassment of riches with regards to good games. Several of the games that have already received this year’s highest acclaim made it onto the list, including Baldur’s Gate 3, Resident Evil 4, Alan Wake II and Tears of the Kingdom.

The weekend is just around the corner but before you let loose, you should know about the top developments in the artificial intelligence space. In the first incident, Air India has planned to introduce new features to its generative AI virtual agent that handles more than 6,000 customer queries daily. In other news, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has issued a statement that multiple AI-generated videos are being circulated targeting the Olympic officials, including one particular video where Hollywood actor Tom Cruise has been seen saying that officials are “slowly and painfully destroying the Olympic sports that have existed for thousands of years”. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

Get your bribe money ready. Weappy Studios, the developer behind This is the Police, has unveiled their latest game, Hollywood Animal. It’s set to release on PC sometime in 2024.

Microsoft is imagining a world in which a game developer can sit down at their computer, pull up an artificial intelligence-powered design “Copilot,” and enter a brief prompt to quickly produce everything from scripts and dialogue to quest lines and NPC barks.

Felicia Day is one of the most successful nerds in history with eight million followers. So naturally she is exploring the subject of failure in her latest work called Third Eye.

Coyote vs. Acme, a live-action/animation hybrid movie in the Looney Tunes universe starring John Cena, has met the same fate as Batgirl. The movie, which cost $72 million and completed filming last year, has been shelved by Warner Bros. and will no longer be released, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

Two of the biggest bits of videogame news to come along this week were Nintendo's announcement of a live-action Zelda movie, and Rockstar's promise of a proper Grand Theft Auto 6 reveal in December. That might naturally lead your wandering thoughts to wonder when Take-Two Interactive will get around to making the Grand Theft Auto-based Hollywood blockbuster that's such an obvious, almost obligatory, project. 

The Hollywood actors’ strike is over, and the race to resume production on next year’s biggest movies and TV shows has begun. Actors union the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) announced late Wednesday that it had reached a tentative agreement with the studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Rockstar Games’ parent company, Take-Two Interactive, has claimed that in the event of a video game actors’ strike, the upcoming Grand Theft Auto game (unofficially known as GTA 6) would be «completely protected.» 

The Legend of Zelda movie adaption is officially in development, so naturally speculation is rife as to who will play the two lead roles of Link and Princess Zelda.

Nintendo‘s share price has jumped in value following its announcement that a Zelda movie is in the works.

The Legend of Zelda is getting a live-action adaptation. After years of rumours, Nintendo has finally confirmed that it's working on a movie set in the enchanted lands of Hyrule, co-produced by the gaming giant and Avi Arad, who's behind the recent Spider-Man spin-off films. Wes Ball — best known for the Maze Runner trilogy — is attached to direct, which isn't being received well by fans of the franchise. Of course, Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto is deeply involved in the project in a producer capacity, just like he was for The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

First reactions for The Marvels have hit the internet – and they're overwhelmingly positive. 

Hollywood's Avi Arad and Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto are teaming up to bring Zelda fans everywhere a live-action film based on the beloved ‘The Legend of Zelda’ series.

Nintendo has announced that it will develop a live-action film of The Legend of Zelda.

Xbox has announced a partnership with a company called Inworld AI in order to «empower game creators with the potential of generative AI» and no, you aren't the only one who thinks that sounds incredibly ominous.

Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson has launched legal action against an AI app that used her name and an AI likeness in an online advert, needless to say without permission. This is particularly ironic given that one of Johansson's most memorable roles was in the excellent 2013 film Her, where she voices an AI virtual assistant called Samantha that protagonist Theodore falls in love with.

Prison Break is coming back... again, according to The Hollywood Reporter – but it's bad news for Wentworth Miller fans. While Hulu is resurrecting the former FOX show following its controversial reboot in 2017, none of the beloved crime drama's cast will be returning.

Sofia Coppola brings a delicate touch to Priscilla, the A24 biopic of Priscilla Presley (née Beaulieu), who married Elvis Presley in 1967 and separated from him six years later. The movie runs out of steam in its final act, due to a scattered structure aimed more at tracing a real-world chronology than following character drama through to its most rigorous emotional outcomes. But until that point, it’s kept afloat by Coppola’s gentle conception of Priscilla’s story, which she unfurls through a pair of brilliant, alluring performances.

Godzilla Minus One is the throwback movie that longtime Godzilla fans have been waiting for. This is an age of abundance for Godzilla media: Over the past seven years, as part of a partnership between Toho and Hollywood studios, the giant lizard received three animated films on Netflix, two U.S. movies, and an Apple TV series that premieres Nov. 17. Godzilla fans like me haven’t been left wanting. And yet something crucial has been missing from most of this media, something fundamental to the earliest films in the Godzilla franchise: terror.

The final season of Game of Thrones remains one of the most divisive ends to a series in TV history, and it’s not just viewers who wished for a different ending. Lena Headey has shared her dream curtain call for her character Cersei Lannister, and we’ve got to admit, it sounds pretty epic.