Dwayne Johnson is clearly a man who hates having free time and vacations, as is evidenced by his adding yet another movie to his upcoming slate–in this instance the announced Fast & Furious spinoff he will star in with Jason Statham. That said, while the movie won’t debut in theaters until the summer of 2019, there’s plenty to get excited about now.
Variety reports that while no meetings have taken place, the list of directors being considered to helm the movie includes none other than Shane Black. A veteran of action movies in his own right, Black is the writer and director behind titles like Iron Man 3, The Nice Guys and the upcoming The Predator, a sequel to 2010’s Predators due in 2018. Even more impressive, he’s also written The Monster Squad, Lethal Weapon, Lethal Weapon 2 and The Hunt for Red October, among a long list of other movies.
Given his film pedigree, the director would likely be a natural fit in the Fast & Furious universe, should he be chosen. The project would also present a new opportunity for Black, as he’s never directed a film he didn’t write. The script for the untitled spinoff is being written by Chris Morgan, who has also penned the last six Fast & Furious installments.
While a director has yet to sign on for the project, Johnson is having a hard time containing his excitement. In an Instagram post, the former wrestler writes, “Thank you UNIVERSAL STUDIOS for being tremendous partners who see the big picture and for coming to us years ago with this spinoff idea. Huge shout to my brother, Jason Statham for the trust and wanting to create and deliver something fresh and bad a** for the fans.”
Not everyone in the Fast family is excited about the movie, though. In particular, co-star Tyrese Gibson has been an outspoken critic of the spinoff and how it seemingly pushed back the next Fast & Furious installment by a year, ranting about it on Instagram.
“Congratulations to @hhgarcia41 and @therock you guys are just amazing you really broke up the #FastFamily I tried to warn you guys,” he writes. “I got 3 years of venting on this clown – They offered but YOU didn’t have to agree with a solo #HobbsMovie.”
While Johnson hasn’t responded to his Fast co-star’s comments, Vin Diesel did with an Instagram post of his own. Diesel, the top-billed star and producer of the films, wrote that the move isn’t necessarily any one person’s fault. Instead, he writes, “Like any vehicle that has run around the globe 8 times, the franchise is in need of maintenance. My good friend and the godfather of Universal, Ron Meyer has granted me the time to do just that.”
The ninth Fast & Furious movie will arrive on April 10, 2020–nearly a year after the spinoff starring Johnson and Statham premieres on July 26, 2019.
Four esports series will stream exclusively on Hulu later this fall. Each will be produced by the ESL and will range from shorter podcast-style discussions to more in-depth documentaries.
The series are Player v. Player, a talk show; Bootcamp, which follows competitive CS: GO team The Immortals; Defining Moments, on which experts will analyze a different topic each week; and ESL Replay, which will recap four CS: GO, Dota 2, and PUBG tournaments from October through December.
“Player v. Player is a gamified debate show with casters and esports influencers facing off over the hottest topics in esports. Panelists accrue points while debating both newsy and big picture topics for ultimate bragging rights, with a final challenge over a classic video game.” (10 30-minute episodes)
“Bootcamp is a weekly docu-series following The Immortals, a top CS:GO team, as they rebuild their roster leading up to IEM Oakland, one of the premiere esports events in North America that takes place on November 18-19 at Oracle Arena.” (six 30-minutes episodes)
“Defining Moments will cover many of the top games and fan the flames of ongoing debates about these plays….The series will feature in-depth interviews with game designers, teammates, fans, rivals, even sports scientists assessing reaction speed–anyone who can add to the story of defining moments in esports.” (six 30-minute episodes)
“ESL Replay is a fast-paced, condensed, documentary-style recap of the most memorable moments from four of the biggest multi-day esports tournaments in the world.” Via Variety, the tournaments include Dota 2 in Hamburg in late October, CS: GO and PUBG in Oakland in November, and CS: GO in Denmark in December. (four 60-minute episodes)
25 years after its original release, Star Control II is officially getting a sequel — and it’s coming from the game’s creators.
Fred Ford and Paul Reiche announced on their blog that a direct sequel to Star Control II — The Ur-Quan Masters is in the works, and it will be called Ghosts of the Precursors.
“Pretty much ever since
, fans have been politely asking us to create a sequel, sometimes begging for a sequel, even threatening us if we don’t make a sequel. Our answer was always, “We really want to do this, we just need to wait until the time is right” … Well, the stars have finally aligned,” the announcement post reads.
Bungie has delayed Destiny 2’s Leviathan Prestige Raid.
In a post on the game’s official forums, Bungie said an exploit was discovered in the Leviathan Raid that makes its enemy encounters easier than they should be. Since this could potentially tarnish the legacy of the team who earns the World First Bonus for completing the more difficult, Prestige version of the Raid, the developer has decided to postpone its launch to fix the exploit.
As such, Destiny 2’s first Prestige Raid will now go live on Wednesday, October 18 at 10am PT/1pm ET/6pm UK (October 19 at 4am AET).
The Leviathan Prestige Raid was announced last week among a slew of other new content, including Destiny 2’s first Iron Banner event and new armor sets.
The MCU is invading Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, with the sequel’s season pass revealed to include Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Revealed as part of the game’s showing at New York Comic Con, WB has confirmed that the season pass will cost $14.99 and include six level packs and four character packs. The six level packs are all based on Marvel Cinematic Universe films or TV shows, including:
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Black Panther
Avengers: Infinity War
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Cloak and Dagger
Runaways
The season pass also includes four character packs:
Star Wars Battlefront II introduces a wide variety of new classes, weapons, and vehicles, but one of the most dominant that we’ve seen so far is the AT-RT. The All-Terrain Recon Transport might not be as menacing or iconic as something like the AT-AT, but at least in the beta, it’s a versatile, powerful vehicle that you’ll want to take for a ride.
In the video above, you can see us putting the AT-RT through its paces and pulling off a lengthy killstreak. Whether it’s a tank, Darth Maul, or every enemy in Naboo’s throne room standing in its path, we found it to be a devastating vehicle–to the point where it might be in line for a balance adjustment in the full game.
Your opportunity to try out the AT-RT–and the rest of the game–ahead of release was scheduled to already come to a close. However, EA has now extended the Battlefront II beta, providing two more days with the upcoming sequel.
Battlefront II launches in full on November 17 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Aside from the single-player campaign, one other key feature you can look forward to is Darth Vader as a playable character.
A new box set of rare Pokemon cards is on its way. Called the Premium Trainer’s XY Collection, it’s the largest player set in TCG history and includes 14 tournament-ready, full-art holographic cards.
The set is based on popular cards from the XY series of the TCG, some with new art. Among the full-art foil cards are N and Shaymin-EX, both popular cards at tournaments. The collection also includes full-art Yveltal-EX, M Camerupt-EX, and M Sharpedo-EX. See close-ups of some of the cards below.
Also in the collection are two sets of dice, an XY-themed deck box and card sleeves, and two XY booster packs. To top it off, there’s an adorable metal Pikachu coin.
The Premium Trainer’s XY Collection will be available on October 20 at independent stores holding Sun and Moon: Crimson Invasion pre-release tournaments. It will be available in the Pokemon Center starting November 17.
For competitive TCG players, the set is a good opportunity to secure some rare, tournament-level cards. In other TCG news, shiny Pokemon will be returning after 10 years.
The much-anticipated second season of Stranger Things hits Netflix on October 27, and a new teaser has been released. As well as offering creepy music and visuals, it seems to reveal some of the episodes–or chapter–titles in the new season.
The chapter titles are “Mad Max,” “Trick or Treat Freak,” “The Pollywog,” “Will the Wise,” “Dig Dug,” and “The Spy.” However, as the teaser reveals, the titles of chapters 8, 9, and 10 are remaining a secret for now. Check it out below:
The second season is officially going under the title Stranger Things 2. Last month, creators Matt and Ross Duffer explained that there was initially some resistance from Netflix about this. “When we started describing it as a sequel, Netflix was like, ‘Don’t do that, because sequels are known to be bad,'” said Matt. “I was like, ‘Yes, but what about T2 and Aliens and Toy Story 2 and Godfather II?'”
The Duffers also stated that the show’s new creature would be named the “shadow monster.” Ross said: “It’s all connected to this singular threat, which is tied into this shape that Will sees in the sky. Each episode is building on the last one. It gets much crazier than it ever got in Season 1.”
Last month, it was confirmed that Stranger Things will return for Season 3. Initially the Duffers stated that Season 4 would be the final one; however, last week director Shawn Levy suggested that there could be a fifth season. “Hearts were heard breaking in Netflix headquarters when the brothers made four seasons sound like an official end, and I was suddenly getting phone calls from our actors’ agents,” he told Slashfilm. “The truth is we’re definitely going four seasons and there’s very much the possibility of a fifth. Beyond that, it becomes I think very unlikely.”
Those getting ready for the Prestige version of Destiny 2‘s Leviathan Raid now have some additional time to make their preparations. Bungie announced today that it has delayed the launch of Prestige mode after the discovery of a serious bug.
In a post on its website, Bungie explained that this bug would have negated the difficulty of Prestige mode–which is basically the entire point, being the hard-mode version of the Raid. “An exploit has been discovered in the Leviathan Raid that causes the encounters to be stripped of their intended challenge,” it explained. “To allow time to fix this issue, we are delaying the start of the Prestige Raid until next week. It’s important to us that the team who earns World First status doesn’t have their legacy tarnished by doubt, skepticism, or uncertainty.”
No further details were shared about the nature of the bug. It could be related to the recently discovery exploit that allows players to easily defeat Calus, which is documented here on Reddit.
The Leviathan Prestige Raid now launches at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST on Wednesday, October 18 (4 AM AEDT on October 19). That’s a full day after the weekly reset; it had been scheduled to launch just after this week’s, at 10 AM PT on October 10.
We don’t yet have a complete idea of how exactly the Prestige Raid will differ from the standard version. “We do not expect everyone to be successful in completing this activity,” Bungie said when it was first announced. “Mechanical changes to the encounters are minimal, but they are there.” We also know that rewards will be less about making you more powerful; instead, you can expect “unique rewards to help you shine.”
While Tuesday’s weekly reset may not bring a new challenge for Raid fans, the first-ever Iron Banner in Destiny 2 does kick off. It will run for a week and offer up some new rewards. Players can also look forward to the next Nightfall Strike, among other things.
The WWE’s current Bray Wyatt/Finn Balor storyline has been going on for close to half a year. And yet, somehow, even though both men have exhausted their narrative possibilities, WWE is continuing this feud for at least another month. This past Monday, we learned that Bray Wyatt will finally introduce Sister Abigail–his oft-referred to mentor from his promos. This is a terrible idea.
At one time, back when Wyatt was the heir apparent to the Undertaker, this might have been exciting. Now, it feels like a cheap, short-term solution rather than a long-term commitment to Wyatt’s success. Sadly, that’s nothing new.
Like the Undertaker, Bray Wyatt debuted as a heel; the two of them share the same dark appeal. Undertaker had his Creatures of the Night. Wyatt has his sheep-masked Fireflies.
The Undertaker was supernatural. He could shoot lightning. He could float from the rafters. He could shrug off beatdowns and sit up like Dracula. A brand new wrestler, attempting the same sort of schtick in 2017, would probably be laughed out of arenas.
And this is why WWE grounded Bray Wyatt in reality. He was a backwoods cult leader who–with the exception of a 2015 feud with the Undertaker–had no magical or otherworldly powers. His only powers were his charisma and his voice, which dripped with religious fervor. Like Undertaker, Wyatt was a monster. But unlike Undertaker, Wyatt could conceivably exist. And that’s what made him so disturbing.
Wyatt’s promos made little sense, but that was the point; they were the product of an addled, delusional mind. And it was during these monologues that fans learned about Sister Abigail.
What we know about her has been relayed through rambled mutterings, and Bray himself is not the most reliable narrator. But the basic idea is that she raised him, probably in the abandoned cabin that Wyatt delivered his promos from. The now iconic rocking chair is probably hers. And she made Wyatt the leader of her cult before she died. Fans have speculated that she might have been a nun, which is where her “Sister” designation comes from.
Sister Abigail is dead and buried beneath the floorboards of the Wyatt cabin. We know this, because the week after Randy Orton burned down the cabin, Wyatt went inside to retrieve Abigail’s ashes, which he then used to “baptize” himself..
At least on the surface, introducing Sister Abigail might seem like a good idea. But it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. This will be akin to killing a golden goose–the “unmasking Kane” moment of 2017.
It’s better to leave this part of Wyatt’s personality and personal history vague and abstract. Not everything needs to be spelled out and defined. A character like Wyatt’s thrives on mystery and half-truths, left open to interpretation. Take away the mystique, and the character loses its appeal. It’s that hope of learning more that keeps fans coming back.
Whoever WWE assigns to perform Sister Abigail will face an uphill battle. Thanks to social media, fans will treat her as the wrestler who is performing Sister Abigail, rather than Sister Abigail herself. And narratively, because Sister Abigail is dead in-storyline, this whole premise is a stretch. How did she come back to life? Was she alive all along? Was she resurrected? Has her spirit possessed another wrestler’s body? WWE fans know this is all fiction, but we still look for consistency–the fictional universe has to abide by its own rules.
Speculation is running rampant over Sister Abigail’s casting. Due to a suspicious looking tweet, many fans are theorizing that NXT wrestler Sage Beckett will perform the role:
And then on Thursday, there was another, more substantiated rumor floating around that Wyatt himself would be Sister Abigail–that she is an alter-ego, who Wyatt will put on a different costume and makeup for. This seems a bit odd, but it might actually be the best solution, as it reaffirms that Bray is just an unstable man rather than an otherworldly being.
But whether Sister Abigail is Beckett, another NXT prospect, or Wyatt himself, there is one thing for certain: A one-off gimmick, no matter how cool and creepy it is, has not and will not get Wyatt over by itself. It didn’t work in 2014, when Wyatt paraded a choir of sheep kids out on Raw. It didn’t work in 2015, when he possessed the Undertaker’s powers. And it didn’t work earlier this year, when he fought Randy Orton in a gonzo-style House of Horrors match.
Because you see, Wyatt ultimately lost all of those feuds. The solution to getting Bray Wyatt over does not require lighting tricks, lens filters, ‘found footage’ camerawork, or Sister Abigail reveals.
Wyatt just needs to actually win–decisively, consistently, and cleanly. There is no amount of smoke and mirrors that can compensate for a losing track record.
Wyatt has expressed frustration with this fan perception, most recently in an interview with Uproxx:
“Is that true? Do y’all really believe that? What are you talking about? You don’t know. You don’t know. So shh! Shut up, all of you, shut up! Shut up! … I was just World Champion. I was a Tag Team Champion last year. I beat Randy Orton, I beat Seth Rollins, I beat Finn Bálor on Monday. What are y’all talking about? What are you talking about? You don’t know. You don’t know.”
While it’s true that Wyatt held these titles, he held the tag titles for less than a month. He held the WWE championship for less than two months. Heck, Jinder Mahal has held the world title for longer than Wyatt did. It’s also true that Wyatt has individual wins over most major superstars, but many of those wins are due to hocus pocus shenanigans. And even if he wins a match here or there, he still loses the larger feud.
Wyatt shouldn’t even be feuding with Balor, because this is a feud that he cannot win. The company clearly wants to push Balor to the moon. Even if Wyatt wins this upcoming, inevitable Sister Abigail battle, he’s still going to lose the bigger war.
Wyatt needs to stay in the midcard, at least for the time being, where he can mentally torture someone for weeks and emerge victorious. His recent match with Goldust was a great example of what Wyatt can do to get his notoriety back.
There’s no rambling promos. There’s no “lights out” special effects. One cannot build a career on gimmicky spots. One builds a career on wins. So long as Bray Wyatt is stuck in high profile feuds as a glorified jobber to the stars, he will continue to produce diminishing returns. This upcoming Sister Abigail reveal is yet another small crack in his mystique. And if WWE continues on its current path, then Wyatt won’t even have that a couple of years from now.
