Month: January 2019

The release of the star-studded, big budget remake of The Mummy in 2017 was supposed to kickstart an entire interconnected monster movie universe. But the movie was a critical and commercial failure, and the so-called Dark Universe was quickly abandoned by Universal. However, it has now been reported that The Invisible Man, one of the properties that was previously in development, has been resurrected by the studio.

According to Variety, the Invisible Man man reboot will be directed and written by Leigh Whannell, who most recently directed the sci-fi action movie Upgrade, as well as co-creating the Saw franchise. The movie is set to be produced Jason Blum, whose Blumhouse Films also produced Upgrade, plus horror hits such as The Purge, Get Out, and Insidious.

The site states that the film is part of a “fresh strategy” for Universal’s classic monster properties, utilising fresh, distinctive creative teams for the individual titles. Blumhouse is known for its modest budgets, so it is highly unlikely that The Invisible Man will cost anywhere near as much as The Mummy. There is currently no release date set for the movie. Johnny Depp, who was initially attached to star in the Dark Universe film of The Invisible Man, is reportedly no longer connected to the new version.

Dark Universe was launched in May 2017, but by November that year it was reported that the entire thing was dead. The second movie in the series was set to be The Bride of Frankenstein, but that was indefinitely delayed, and soon after franchise producers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan quit.

In a statement at the time, Universal president of production Peter Cramer said, “We’ve learned many lessons throughout the creative process on Dark Universe so far, and we are viewing these titles as filmmaker-driven vehicles, each with their own distinct vision. We are not rushing to meet a release date and will move forward with these films when we feel they are the best versions of themselves.”

Chinese giant NetEase has acquired a minority stake in Quantic Dream, the developer behind Detroit: Become Human and Heavy Rain.

The official announcement states that this is to “…further the development and distribution of global online games. Quantic Dream will continue to operate independently under the direction of industry veterans David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière… This strategic investment aims to support the studio’s vision of becoming a global, multi-franchise entertainment company, and to develop advanced technologies and games for the future.”

How the “global online” aspect of this statement applies to Quantic Dream is currently unknown, as while its games have incorporated some online social elements in the past (such as showing how many players chose specific decisions in Detroit) they are largely offline, story-based, single-player experiences.

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Resident Evil 2 has shipped over 3 million copies worldwide, across PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

In a press release today, Capcom announced that their remake of the fan favourite game, has shipped over 3 million in its first 7 days on sale.

While it’s worth noting that “shipped” doesn’t always mean sold, this is still a notable achievement after just a week of being available, especially in January.

The original Resident Evil 2 went on to sell nearly 5 million units after its release in 1998, but with such a successful first week, the current iteration may still go on to surpass that.

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The new Resident Evil 2 Remake for PS4, Xbox One, and PC is a huge hit. Capcom has announced that the game hit 3 million copies shipped worldwide in its first week.

Capcom also announced that the entire Resident Evil franchise has now pushed 88 million units shipped since the series debuted back in 1996. It also updated the sales performance for Resident Evil 7, confirming that it has reached 6 million copies shipped.

Unsurprisingly, Resident Evil is Capcom’s biggest franchise based on total units shipped.

For comparison, the 1998 original Resident Evil 2 reached 4.96 million in sales during its lifetime, so the new edition is already well on its way to hitting that mark. A big launch week for the Remake was no surprise, as the game’s unique “1-Shot Demo” picked up 4.7 million downloads.

Capcom has faith that the Resident Evil 2 remake will continue to sell well. The company said it believes that the remake can enjoy the kind of “long-term sales” that Resident Evil 7 did.

Looking ahead, Resident Evil 2’s new Ghost Survivors DLC, which is free, launches on February 15. GameSpot’s Resident Evil 2 review called it “a terrifying experience like no other.”

“Resident Evil 2 is not only a stellar remake of the original, but it’s also simply a strong horror game that delivers anxiety-inducing and grotesque situations, topping some of the series’ finest entries,” wrote critic Alessandro Fillari. “But above all, the remake is an impressive game for the fact that it goes all-in on the pure survival horror experience, confidently embracing its horrifying tone and rarely letting up until the story’s conclusion.”

Those who are new to Resident Evil 2 can check out our story recap before diving in. We’ve also put together a helpful guide on how to clear the 4th Survivor bonus game. The remake also makes it easier to unlock the secret Tofu Mode.

A fictional beer from the Breaking Bad universe might be tapped for a real-life promotion.

Sony Pictures Television, the production company behind Vince Gilligan’s celebrated crime drama, has filed a handful of trademark applications that suggest some kind of real version of the character Hank Schrader’s in-universe home-made beer, Schraderbrau, may be produced in real life.

One of the trademark applications filed with the United States Patent & Trademark Office this month is for a beer called Schraderbrau. Another one is for “Luminous signs,” yet another covers drinking glasses and bottle openers, and the fourth is for t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hats.

Put together, it would appear that Sony is trying to continue to make money off the popularity of Breaking Bad by bringing its fictional beer–and related merchandise–to the real world in some capacity. The wacky and wonderful Schraderbrau logo can be seen in Breaking Bad S2 Episode 5, and we sure do hope this makes it into whatever real beer Sony may be creating.

In another Breaking Bad episode, Hank says Schraderbrau is “home-brewed to silky perfection,” but that’s as close as we ever got to finding out what kind of beer it is. Its light colour suggests it may be a pilsner, but this is only a guess. At another point we see Hank bottling his brew in his garage, and some bottles explode because they became over-carbonated.

Breaking Bad premiered in January 2008, so last year marked its 10th anniversary. The show earned numerous awards, and it ended in 2013 after five seasons. A Breaking Bad movie is currently in development, and Aaron Paul might be coming back to play Jesse Pinkman again.

Would you be interested in sipping some Schraderbrau? Let us know in the comments below!