Month: February 2020

The Harley Quinn movie Birds of Prey opened in theatres this weekend, but it did not do so well. Despite positive reviews and star power with Margot Robbie leading the ensemble cast, the comic book movie made many millions less than expected in the US and worldwide.

In fact, it opened to the lowest box office figure in the entire DC Extended Universe. To put its $33.2 million US opening in context, we’re rounding up the first-weekend domestic box office results for all the DCEU movies so far, along with their total global box office figures.

Bear in mind that this ranking is only for DCEU movies, which began in 2013 with Man of Steel. The Joaquin Phoenix movie Joker, which made more than $1 billion at the box office, is a DC movie but is not part of the DCEU.

Despite poor reviews, Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had the biggest US opening weekend ever for DCEU movie, with $166 million in box office receipts.

The Jason Momoa-starring Aquaman started with only $67.8 million at the US box office, which at the time ranked the lowest-ever start for a DCEU movie. However, it improved stateside and did phenomenally internationally to finish with $1.15 billion. It’s the only DCEU movie to surpass $1 billion at the global box office.

Also of note, Birds of Prey is the first R-rated DCEU movie. Though there are of course exceptions like Deadpool, R-rated films typically perform worse than PG-13 films. It’s also worth mentioning that when comparing Birds of Prey to other DCEU movies is that Birds of Prey was released in February, which is typically slower than summer.

You can see the full rankings below; all box office numbers come from BoxOfficeMojo.

Looking ahead, some of the upcoming DCEU movies include Wonder Woman 1984 and Black Adam, in addition to sequels for Shazam and Aquaman.

DCEU Box Office Rankings

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

• US opening — $166M
• Global total — $873.6M

Suicide Squad

• US opening — $133.7M
• Global total — $746.8M

Man of Steel

• US opening — $116.6M
• Global total — $668M

Wonder Woman

• US opening — $103.3M
• Global total — $821.8M

Justice League

• US opening — $93.8M
• Global total — $657.9M

Aquaman

• US opening — $67.8M
• Global total — $1.15B

Shazam

• US opening –$53.5M
• Global total — $365.9M

Birds of Prey

• US opening — $33.2M
• Global total (so far) — $81.2M

In GameSpot’s review of Birds of Prey, Meg Downey said, “It’s the sort of kinetic, high energy romp that comes with built-in replay value, and proves exactly why Harley Quinn has become such an endearing, beloved character in the pop-culture pantheon. If this is the direction the DCEU is headed, the future’s looking bright.”

For more on Birds of Prey, find out more about the ending of the movie, whether or not Joker is in the movie, and the connection to Harley’s first appearance in Suicide Squad.

It’s the week of love, so this episode of New Releases is spending some extra time to talk about one more game than usual–or at least some bonus DLC, since Dead Cells expansion The Last Seed arrives this week. It’s also time for the Western releases of the Yakuza 5 remaster and Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold. If you missed out on the original release of Darksiders Genesis, you can grab the console versions this week. Street Fighter 5 is also jumping back into the spotlight with Champion Edition, and PS4 creative types can dig into the long-awaited exclusive Dreams.

Yakuza 5 — February 11

Available on: PS4

The Yakuza Remastered Collection is an all-in-one package that gets you remasters of Yakuza 3, 4, and 5.. Those three games got staggered release dates, but the final entry arrives this month. Taking after the “5” in its name, this particular entry is set across five different parts of Japan and features five playable characters, including everyone’s favorite ruffian Kazuma Kiryu.

More Coverage:

• Yakuza 5 Review

• New Yakuza 5 Screenshots Highlight the Five Main Characters

Dead Cells – The Bad Seed — February 11

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch

The Bad Seed is Dead Cells’ first piece of paid DLC, and the $5 buy-in gets you a good amount new content. The Arboretum and The Swamp are two new biomes branching out from the early parts of the roguelike game, and they cap off with a boss fight against a giant mushroom monster. You’ll also battle new enemies with new abilities and weapons, including a giant scythe that takes up both of your weapon slots.

More Coverage:

• Dead Cells The Bad Seed DLC Gets Release Date And New Trailer

• Dead Cells’ Legacy Update Brings Back Previous Game Builds

Dreams — February 14

Available on: PS4

Media Molecule, creators of LittleBigPlanet, have crafted another deep toolset with Dreams. This PS4 exclusive lets you sculpt objects, build worlds, and create pretty much any type of activity you can think of–someone even remade Final Fantasy VII within the game. What will you dream up?

More Coverage:

• Media Molecule’s PS4 Exclusive Dreams Has Gone Gold

• Game Making Made Easy In Dreams

Darksiders Genesis — February 14

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, Switch

The Horsemen are back: this top-down hack-and-slash game puts you in control of Strife and War. You can swap between the two on the fly, using Strife’s pistols and War’s sword to chop down the horde of enemies on screen. The PC release already happened last year, but console gamers can take the reigns this week.

More Coverage:

• Darksiders: Genesis Review – Lucy And The Horsemen

• First 18 Minutes Of Darksiders Genesis Gameplay

Street Fighter V: Champion Edition — February 14

Available on: PS4, PC

Street Fighter 5 has also been out for some time, but Champion Edition packages together all previously released content. That means you’re getting 40 characters, 34 stages, and over 200 costumes. Capcom has also added second V-Skill for every fighter and made some balance changes–that balance patch will be available to anyone who owns any version of Street Fighter 5.

More Coverage:

• Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition Brings Seth Back In New Trailer

• Evo 2020 Announces Game Lineup: Smash Ultimate, Street Fighter, DBZ, And More

Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold — February 14

Available on: Switch

Snack World’s setting is a mash-up of medieval fantasy and modern conveniences like cell phones and mini-marts–leave it to Professor Layton makers Level-5 to build another fascinating world. Snack World lets you customize a character, explore randomly generated dungeons, and help the townspeople. The “gold” in the title means you’re getting all previously released content too.

There’s still plenty of February to come, and another batch of games is cooking up for next week. New Releases will return next Sunday to take a look at some beloved games finding a home on new consoles, as Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Final Chapter Prologue comes to Xbox One and Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition comes to Switch.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was released back in 2012. Whereas some games slow down over time as players move on to new games, CSGO has continued to grow.

The public Steam stats page shows that CSGO has reached a new all-time peak concurrent player figure. On Sunday, February 9, CSGO had more than 901,000 peak concurrent players, which surpasses the previous record of 850,485 in April 2016 following the MLG Columbus tournament, according to Eurogamer.

For comparison, CSGO had more than 250,000 more peak concurrent players on February 9 than the No. 2 game, DOTA 2, which is also free-to-play and developed by Valve.

CSGO’s peak concurrent player numbers are massive, and a new record for the game itself, but PUBG still holds the record for highest overall peak concurrent player numbers. The battle royale game reached an astonishing 3 million peak concurrent players during the height of its popularity in 2018.

It’s not immediately clear why CSGO’s player figures have jumped in recent times.

In other news, Valve recently updated CSGO again with a new feature takes aim at people who abuse others via in-game chat. Players who received “significantly more abuse reports” than other players will receive a warning. If they ignore the warning, they’ll get automatically muted. They will stay muted until they earn enough XP to lift the speaking ban, but during this time, other players can choose to manually unmute them.

Go to CSGO’s website to learn more about this new feature.

Not only did Bong Joo-ho’s Parasite make history at this year’s Oscars by being the first non-English language film to win the Best Picture award, but the writer/director himself actually tied a creative icon for most Oscar wins in a single ceremony.

Bong Joo-ho took home four Oscars tonight – for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best International Feature Film. In doing do he tied the record for most single night wins with…Walt Disney.

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Disney too brought home four Oscars back in 1954 – for The Living Desert (Best Documentary Feature), The Alaskan Eskimo (Best Documentary Short), Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (Best Short Subject Cartoon), and Bear Country (Best Short Subject Two-Reel).

The pool for those who’ve taken home only three Oscars in one sitting is a little more crowed, as eleven people have accomplished that – including James Cameron, Peter Jackson and Alfonso Cuarón, to name a few.

Click here for the full list of all the Oscars 2020 Winners.

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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is one of the big winners of the 2020 Academy Awards. Not only did the critically acclaimed film bring home multiple Oscars this year, it managed to make history in the process.

Read on to see all the ways in which Parasite achieved new milestones for South Korean filmmakers at this year’s Oscars ceremony.

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Best Original Screenplay

Parasite took home an early win by beating out all challengers for Best Original Screenplay. In the process, it became the first South Korean film to win that award.

It’s all the more noteworthy achievement considering the Academy rarely nominates non-English language films in this category, much less gives them the top honor. For example, Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma was the only non-English Language nominee in last year’s Best Original Screenplay lineup, and it didn’t win that category despite taking home the awards for  Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography and Best Director.

Best International Feature Film

Parasite was a favorite to win the newly renamed Best International Feature Film category this year, and it didn’t disappoint. It’s now the first South Korean film to win that award.

That may seem surprising given how robust the South Korean film industry is and how far this award (in its many varied forms) dates back in Oscars history. Prior to 2020, the category was known as Best Foreign Language Film, and Bong acknowledged and applauded the change during his acceptance speech.

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Best Director

In one of the most significant moments of the ceremony, Bong became the first South Korean person to win the Academy Award for Best Director. Bong was clearly moved by the honor, while also admitting he assumed his time in the spotlight was over after accepting the Oscar for Best International Feature Film.

Best Picture

Parasite’s hot streak continued through the very end, as it took home the top honor at this year’s Academy Awards. Parasite is not only the first South Korean film to win Best Picture, but the first non-English language film of any kind to win that award. It’s a real game-changer given the Academy’s infamous track record in that regard.

Parasite was a popular pick in IGN’s 2020 Oscar Predictions. Many writers wanted the film to win, but few expected it to actually take home the award. This is nothing if not a welcome surprise.

To see why Parasite deserved all these accolades, check out our review of Bong Joon-ho’s masterpiece and see why we picked it as IGN’s best film of 2019. And find out all the winners from the 2020 Academy Awards here.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.