There’s been a huge backlash to the casting of Scarlett Johansson as Motoko Kusanagi in the upcoming live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell. Hollywood whitewashing has become a big deal, and there have been a ton of rants about it online. Well, Kodansha, the Japanese company that publishes the Ghost in the Shell manga, recently offered an official statement on the controversy surrounding the casting of Johansson, and I think you’ll be very surprised by what they had to say.

Everyone is saying that a Japanese actress should have been cast in the lead role, but apparently that not what Kodansha envisioned for the character. In fact, they completely support the casting of Johansson. They tell THR:

"Looking at her career so far, I think Scarlett Johansson is well-cast. She has the cyberpunk feel. And we never imagined it would be a Japanese actress in the first place.  This is a chance for a Japanese property to be seen around the world."  

Sam Yoshiba, director of the international business division at Kodnasha, recently visited the film's set in New Zealand, and he said that "he was impressed by the respect being shown for the source material."

I just want to reiterate that this is the publisher of the manga speaking, and not creator Masamune Shirow. So this would basically be like Marvel throwing an endorsement out for something created by their writers or artists, so it still holds some weight. What do you think about this latest statement from Yoshiba? Does it smooth things over for you a little or make you even more mad?

Ghost in the Shell is an upcoming, cyberpunk sci-fi film from Dreamworks and Paramount Pictures.  Rupert Sanders directs from a script written by Jamie Moss and Jonathan Herman.  Scarlett Johansson stars as Motoko Kusanagi. Pilou Asbæk plays her right-hand man, Batou.  Beat Takeshi plays their boss, Lt. Col. Daisuke Aramaki.  Michael Pitt will play the villain of the film, The Laughing Man.

Ghost in the Shell opens in US theaters on March 31st, 2017. 

Now some of Marvel’s comic book series are getting their own trailers! One of their big comic book events coming up is Civil War II, and today we have a trailer for you to watch to get you pumped up for what’s to come. 

The comic comes from Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez, and Justin Ponsor, and it will explore two sides of an issue that emerges to split up the Marvel superheroes again. 

A new power has emerged, one that can predict the future – for good or for ill. Standing on opposite sides, will the heroes use this new power to prevent danger before it happens? Or will they fight to allow tomorrow to unfold unaltered. Battle lines will be drawn. Lives will be changed. Heroes will fall. Do you stand with Captain Marvel? Or will you side with Iron Man? Choose your side! 

With Iron Man and Captain Marvel coming to blows in Civil War II #1, it’s time to pick a side. The first comic comes out this June.

We got a very brief tease of the crazy bizarre world of Doctor Strange, but the movie is going to give so much more! What we saw in the trailer barely scratched the surface of the insanity that we’ll see in the movie. According to screenwriter C. Robert Cargill, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was pushing the team to make the movie as crazy as possible. 

While talking about the film on the podcast The Sunday Service, Cargill explains:

"You are only getting a small taste of just how crazy this movie gets. We have only just the slightest hints of magic in there. There are major characters you don’t even glimpse in that trailer, there is so much stuff going on, that this thing is just nutty, the stuff they let us do, I can’t believe they let us do it."

That’s encouraging to hear. I was hoping that they wouldn’t hold back from properly bringing the Sorcerer Supreme’s world to the big screen. Cargill goes on to say that Feige and producer Stephen Broussard were constantly pushing the writers to be "crazier" and "play around" in the world.

One of the other interesting things Cargill said is that Marvel told them they wanted to "let the movie stand on its own," and they didn't want to force any connective or set-up tissue for future Marvel films.

After Terminator Genisys did do as well as expected, the other sequels that were supposed to get made were put on hold while they do a little readjusting. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently said that another Terminator sequel would happen, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen with Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke, who played Sarah Connor in Genisys. When asked if she would come back for the sequel by Comingsoon, she said:

“No. Can I say that? It’s okay. No. Uh-uh. But I have some very different roles coming up."

You can't get much blunter than that. I actually thought the last Terminator movie was fun. It was the best one since Terminator 2, but obviously nowhere near as good as that. I liked Clarke as Connor, and I would have liked to see her version of the character evolve. Looks like that's not going to happen! 

As far as different roles go, she is taking on the lead role in a romance film for Warner Bros. called Me Before You, and apparently it's a dream project for her. She explains that she came across it while she was shooting Terminator:

“I read the book and it was just the most beautiful thing I had ever read. I was shooting ‘Terminator’ at the time and had a rocket launcher in my hand while crying like a little girl. I felt like the author, Jojo Moyes, had found a part of me and just wrote it down. I knew that I just had to play the role.”

In case you haven't seen the trailer for that movie yet, you can check it out here. Clarke plays a woman who takes a job caring for a wealthy young man played by Sam Claflin who has recently become paralyzed. She ends up falling in love with him in the process. Clarke goes on to compare the character to Khaleesi saying:

“Khaleesi doesn’t laugh. She doesn’t smile. She’s really serious. She takes her work very seriously. This role is the complete opposite. It’s affecting, but it’s a comedy as well. There’s some very funny moments in it… It’s a simple love story that talks about people’s rights.”

I'm glad that Clarke is taking on roles that she's passionate about. It's just a bummer she won't be back as Connor if these Terminator sequels actually happen. What do you think about Clarke dropping out of the Terminator franchise? I guess it's not the worst career move she could make.

I’ve got a wonderfully made short film that you need to take the time to watch today. It’s called "Player Two," and it tells the touching true story of a son who rediscovers an old X-Box that he and his late dad played together. As he starts to play a racing game he used to play with his dad, he finds a ghost in the game, his dad’s old time trial ghost, which he races against. No joke, this thing got me all kinds of choked up, so you might want to get your box of tissues ready. 

The short is based on a story shared in a YouTube comment that you can read here. "Player Two" was directed by John Wikstrom, and he did a beautiful job bringing this incredibly moving story to life for us to see.

The Weinstein Company has released the first trailer for the upcoming McDonald's biopic, The Founder. The movie stars Michael Keaton, Laura Dern, Patrick Wilson, Linda Cardellini, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, and B.J. Novak.

The Founder tells the story of how a salesman named Ray Kroc (Keaton) teamed with two brothers, Richard and Maurice “Mac” McDonald, to launch what would soon become an international fast food chain and then through ruthless business practices took it from them. 

The movie is being directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) from a script by Robert Siegel (Big Fan, The Wrestler). It's also being produced by Jeremy Renner. There's a lot of talented people involved with this project, and judging by the trailer, they've made a great movie that tells the intriguing story of the birth of one of the world's biggest fast food chains. 

The Founder will be released in theaters on August 5th, 2016.

"Game of Hyrule" is a Legend of Zelda fan film unlike any other Legend of Zelda fan film you've seen before. That's because it's done in the dark, hard core style of HBO's Game of Thrones, but it also has a comedic parody vibe to it. The short comes to us from Megasteakman, and it was written, directed, and produced by Kial Natale. It's a decently made fan film that turned out to be amusingly fun. Here's the story description that came with the film:

Wisdom. Power. Courage. Corruption. Experience the Legend of Zelda as you've never seen it before in this live-action, morally-grey fan-film mash­up with Game of Thrones. The Hyrule Kingdom is on the edge of ruin from years of warfare against the Gerudo, but a cruel deal has been set in motion that will change the course of history forever.

After Arrested Development, I'll watch any comedy Mitch Hurwitz is involved with! That said, I'm putting a lot aside to try out Lady Dynamite. This short trailer looks ten kinds of weird, and I don't know exactly how to describe it? Luckily Netflix has a description...

This is the true story of a woman who loses -- and then finds -- her shit.
Lady Dynamite is a 12-episode half-hour comedy from Mitch Hurwitz (Arrested Development) and Pam Brady (South Park) starring comedian-actress Maria Bamford. Based on what she has accepted to be “her life,” the semi-autobiographical, semi-surreal series is a truthful look at the highs and lows of Bamford’s life -- as an actor on the rise, during her hospitalization for bipolar disorder, and through her present life in LA, where she’s reached a middle ground and found love.

They got the surreal part down pat. Check the series out May 20th!

In this third venture down the glorious and winding road of video games nostalgia, GameTyrant Audio is happy to bring you some old favorites ranging from the chiptune 8-bit era to the full... View Full Post on GameTyrant

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Thanks to Coldwell Banker, we have three new promo videos that offer us some new footage from Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse. Each of them revolves around Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. The first is called "Nice to Come Home," the second is called "Being at Home," and the third is a parody version of their “Home of the Week” that focuses on the X-Mansion. Above, you'll find a great new image of Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) helping Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan) guide his laser blast at an unseen enemy. Out of everything that we've seen from this film, that image above is one of my favorites. Seeing these two working together and helping each other is pretty cool. There's a calm, focused intensity about the moment.

X-Men: Apocalypse will hit theaters on May 27th.

Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel's X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.

Via: Entertainment Weekly

On his press junket for Captain America: Civil War, Robert Downey Jr. revealed some surprising information about another film franchise of his, Sherlock Holmes! Shortlist says the actor says he has spoken to director Guy Ritchie, and they are discussing the third installment for the film! From the interview...

"We’re talking about it right now. NOW. I can’t wait...We can do some preliminary stuff. If we could shoot it on Skype, we could have it done in a week. I know Guy Ritchie loves me as much as I love him – and he damn well should. When we’re making those Sherlock movies it is off the hook. We’ll attempt to make one this year. It really is a big deal to go and do those movies. I’m tired all the time, but I’m excited about it."

Making another film this year will be a tall order for Downey Jr., who has been on a nonstop film spree for the past eight years! I'm excited to hear we will be getting another Sherlock Holmes, but damn, slow down, RDJ!

Intro and Design

The number of Bluetooth speakers flooding the market and even the ones that come crashing upon the shores of our desks, is astounding. They range anywhere...read more on Gametyrant

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The feuds you see on screen in Captain America: Civil War didn't end there. Tensions were high behind the scenes as well! Just look at this exchange between Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. It's a short clip, but well worth your time!

I'm just upset someone wasn't punched in their perfect teeth.

Crackle is ordering a 10 episode series based on Guy Ritchie's 2000 film Snatch. Variety reports Crackle likens the series to the television adaptation of Fargo and says it will feature many of the same things that made the original film great. Fighting gypsies, colorful goons, a big score...it all sounds like something great! No release date yet, but needless to say I'm eagerly anticipating this one!

Deadline reports that Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron has come on board to help out with Andy Serkis' upcoming take on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. The film, which previously went by the title The Jungle Book: Origins, has reportedly been changed to simply Jungle Book — a questionable decision if you ask me, considering how popular Jon Favreau's version has become in theaters across the world over the past few days. Cuaron isn't coming in to take over directing or anything like that — principal photography is already complete — but he'll be offering notes and suggestions on how the movie might be able to utilize the new time it finds itself with in the wake of its recent year-long delay.

The film was originally intended to come out on October 6, 2017, but it's been bumped all the way back to October 19, 2018, and Serkis — who is directing the movie and starring as Baloo — talked about how the delay will give them more time to master the movie's complex visual effects. Cuaron is one of the premiere directors at Warner Bros. and he worked extensively with VFX on Gravity, so it makes a some sense that the studio would call him in to offer some pointers at this stage in the game. But even with the delay and a stellar cast that includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, and Naomie Harris, are audiences really going to want to see another adaptation of this story so quickly? What do you think?

Chris Pratt is back with another set visit of Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2! This time Omaze and Pratt show us his personal fire hydrant, the interior of the Milano, and more of the magic of Hollywood! Check it out below!

It appears that there is a resurgence of old-school TV shows being made into movies. We have Baywatch being filmed as we speak, and we found out yesterday that Three’s Company is going to be making its way to the big screen. Here is what The Hollywood Reporter has to say about it:

The studio is in negotiations to pick up the rights to the classic television series Three’s Company, and is tapping scribes Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, the duo behind its 2009 hit He’s Just Not That Into You, to pen the screenplay...

Three’s Company was a top 10 show that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984 and centered on the friendship forged between two single women living in Santa Monica who took in a man as a roommate, this in an age when such cohabitation was not a social norm. To keep the arrangement kosher with the landlords, the trio concocted a story saying the man had no ill intentions towards the women because he was gay. A comedy of errors, with plenty of innuendo, ensued week after week for eight seasons.

There is no word on casting yet and for a story like thi,s that is the most important element. The story premise worked great for a TV show because John Ritter was fantastic in his role and was able to bring laughs without that much writing behind it. I think that will have to be the case for the movie, too.

I am not convinced that this will be a super successful movie, but because I really like the show, I will give it a shot.

TMZ broke some sad news this morning: legendary rock star Prince (real name: Prince Rogers Nelson) has passed away at the age of 57. His body was reportedly discovered early this morning at his Paisley Park compound in Minnesota. He had apparently been having some health problems recently and was fighting a bad case of the flu.

Prince was a giant in the world of music, selling over 100 million albums and winning seven Grammys during his long career, but he had some success on the big screen as well. He appeared in the films Purple Rain, Under The Cherry Moon, Sign 'o The Times, and Graffiti Bridge, and won an Oscar for Best Original Song Score for Purple Rain. He also memorably created the soundtrack for Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film.

I'm sad that I never took the time to really get into his music, because I remember being pretty blown away with his live performance at the Super Bowl halftime show a few years ago.

Sadly, most of my knowledge of Prince is limited to the fact that he once changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and went by "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince," and of course, the classic Chappelle Show sketch in which a story is recounted about a game of basketball he played against Eddie Murphy's brother Charlie.

Rest in peace, Prince. You will be missed.

The lasting legacy of Marvel Studios may be that practically every other studio has jumped on the idea of an interconnected cinematic universe, and now Hasbro is getting in on that action by creating its own writers room to plan out film adaptations of toys like G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries, ROM, and M.A.S.K.

THR reports that the company has hired a team of writers to fill its writers room, and they include some big names: Brian K. Vaughan (Lost, Y: The Last Man, too many awesome things to list here), Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon (Spider-Man 2, Wonder Boys), and Jeff Pinkner (Lost, The Amazing Spider-Man 2) are probably the most recognizable. Geneva Robertson (one of the writers of the new Tomb Raider) is on board, as are Nicole Riegel (Dogfight) and Lindsey Beer (Kingkiller Chronicle). The group also includes a ton of Marvel Studios and Marvel TV veterans: Nicole Perlman (Captain Marvel), Cheo Coker (Luke Cage showrunner), Joe Robert Cole (Black Panther), and John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the pair who wrote the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming.

This is very similar to the way Paramount set up its writers room for Transformers, so it's no surprise that this Hasbro room is also being set up at Paramount and the writers will also report to Akiva Goldsman, who's shepherding both of these franchises for the studio. The group will meet for the first time on the Paramount lot this Monday, along with Hasbro artists who will sketch out concepts and characters.

I guess if they insist on going full steam ahead with adaptations like these, this is the best outcome we can hope for: a team of talented, diverse writers that will hopefully be able to either elevate these stories above their source material or really embrace the toy origins to create movies that are tons of goofy fun.

I generally try to be a positive person, and I'll give anyone the benefit of the doubt before I judge something they make, but I watched about two CinemaSins videos before vowing never to give them another click or any more of my time. Yes, we occasionally write about them here on the site when it's a slow day and we need something to talk about, but I've never personally written about one of their videos because frankly, I can't stand them. 

I despise their nitpicky take on movies and their attempts at humor, so it was totally cathartic when The AV Club pointed out this terrific video from YouTuber Shesellssheshells that breaks down everything wrong with CinemaSins' "Everything Wrong With Sherlock Holmes" video. Enjoy...I know I did.