Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan will star alongside Rutger Hauer in an upcoming Russian-Chinese fantasy adventure movie called  Viy-2. Schwarzenegger and Chan almost appeared together in The Expendables 2 and 3, but Chan ended up passing on the role. I guess it was only a matter of time before they teamed up for a film. 

The film is a sequel to the 2014 film based on a horror novella by the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. Apparently it was a box office hit in Russia. I've never seen it, but it stars Jason Flemyng of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and he also stars in the sequel. I included the trailer for the first film for you to check out below, and it looks fun! Seems like a movie that's worth checking out.

The movie centers on English explorer Jonathan Green (Flemyng), who receives an order from Peter the Great to map the Russian Far East. Once again he sets out for a long journey full of incredible adventures that will eventually lead him to China. The cartographer will face many breathtaking discoveries, encounter bizarre creatures, meet with Chinese princesses, and confront deadly martial-arts masters and the Dragon King.

The movie was already shot in China and is currently in the post-production process. Viy-2 is expected to be released early next year. There's no word on if it will get a theatrical release in the U.S. but I'm sure if you want to watch it there will be a way to find it. 

Lucasfilm and Gillette have teamed up to create a promo short for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story called "A Hero Prepares." The short explores how a rebel soldier prepares for battle and ends up on the battlefront. It's an intriguing new perspective to see in the Star Wars universe. We're all familiar with the battle sequences in the Star Wars, but we never really see how the average Rebel hero prepares for war against the Empire. 

The promo starts with Rebel and Imperial forces from Rogue One coming face to face on the battleground. From there it goes back through time in reverse showing us how one of the Rebel soldiers arrived at that moment in his life. It does a great job of briefly humanizing the background characters of the Star Wars universe. 

EA mentioned in a conference call that a sequel to Star Wars Battlefront was slated for Fall of 2017. Polygon writes that EA's Blake Jorgensen said as much when he said the game can be expected "a year from now"...read more on Gametyrant

Permalink

Aaron Taylor-Johnson would return as Quicksilver if Marvel Studios would have him. The actor said the following when speaking to Metro UK about his new film Nocturnal Animals:

"Yeah...absolutely...I don’t have any knowledge I could share with you if I did."

Sounds like Aaron hasn't gotten any calls about returning to the franchise. That makes sense as head Marvel man Kevin Feige has confirmed that Quicksilver is 100% dead. 

I wouldn't mind seeing him back in the role only because he had such a small presence in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and his part in the film really doesn't develop much of the character when compared to Evan Peters, who I think we all agree is the definitive Quicksilver. I'm not convinced Johnson could ever top Peters, but that's not fair to say when Peters has had two films to develop the character compared to Johnson's 30ish minutes (max) on screen as the mutant. 

Would there be any logic in bringing Johnson back in the role? It's not hard to un-kill a hero, but what would the reasoning be in doing so? 

Because scientists are always so preoccupied on whether they could, and not whether they should, we now have a computer that transforms images into things that scare humans. Geekologie reports "The Nightmare Machine" is the product of a bunch of researchers at MIT who were inspired by the words of Elon Musk:

"Elon Musk said that with the development of AI, we are 'summoning the demon'...We wanted to playfully explore whether and how AI can indeed become a demon, that can learn how to scare us, both by extracting features from scary images and subsequent refinement using crowd feedback."

The result is effective in some cases (above), and in others just hilarious. That picture below is just Mickey Mouse with some skeletons in the background!

Bambi appears to have the same issue, although it does look scarier:

At least it's good to know that, for now anyway, this robot isn't that scary. I'd hate to see what it comes up with after a couple years, though! 

Selma and 13th director Ava DuVernay begins filming Walt Disney Studios' live-action adaptation of Madeline L'Engle's Newberry Medal-winning book A Wrinkle in Time today. The story follows a young girl named Meg (Storm Reid), her little brother, and their friend as they go on a search for her missing father (Chris Pine), a government scientist who was working on a top secret project involving an inter-dimensional tesseract. Joining the trio on their journey are three supernatural beings: Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey), Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling), and Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon). 

Disney sent out a press release revealing additional members of the cast, including Zach Galifianakis as The Happy Medium, André Holland (Moonlight, Selma) as Principal Jenkins, Deric McCabe as Meg's brother Charles Wallace, and Levi Miller (Pan) as their friend Calvin. Bellamy Young, Rowan Blanchard, and Will McCormack round out the cast. I only read an excerpt of the book in one of my English textbooks in elementary school, so I honestly couldn't tell you whether this is good casting or not, but I'd love to hear from those of you who are fans of the book.

Even if they aren't perfect fits from the outside looking in, I have no doubt that DuVernay knows what she's doing. She's an excellent filmmaker who has strong instincts and a real vision for her films, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she does with this classic story and a big studio budget. The movie films in California and shoots in New Zealand for two weeks later in the production, and it arrives in theaters on December 25, 2018.

"A happy medium is something I wonder if you'll ever learn." Thrilled to welcome Zach Galifianakis to #WRINKLEINTIME as The Happy Medium! pic.twitter.com/9nSZ5rDShi

— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) November 1, 2016

From Selma to Moonlight to #WRINKLEINTIME, hyped to welcome my friend Andre Holland to our cast as Principal Jenkins! pic.twitter.com/bB2xpUz12t

— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) November 1, 2016

Happy to reunite with my SCANDAL screen siren @BellamyYoung as she joins the cast family of #WRINKLEINTIME. Welcome, Bellamy! pic.twitter.com/1Na5MINE5Z

— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) November 1, 2016

I'm a fan of this young woman on and off the screen. She stands for something. Something good. Welcome to #WRINKLEINTIME, @RowBlanchard. 💛 pic.twitter.com/i65PmbC5dq

— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) November 1, 2016

After a worldwide search, overjoyed to welcome Levi Miller + Deric McCabe to #WRINKLEINTIME as Calvin and Charles Wallace! #TesserWell pic.twitter.com/rO9jAh8pLM

— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) November 2, 2016

Feeling brave and strong and ready!Appreciate all the love + light! First shot up in 30. Here we go! #WRINKLEINTIME pic.twitter.com/LsF1Pbo2pQ

— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) November 2, 2016

After The Secret Life of Pets, a movie I like less and less the more I think about, I wasn't exactly looking forward to Sing, the next animated film from Illumination Entertainment. The early trailers didn't do much for me...but lo and behold, Universal released a brand new trailer for Sing this morning, and it's actually pretty solid. There's something about the way music effects us all on a primal level that they tapped into with this trailer and somehow missed out on with earlier versions (or maybe it's just the Eminem/Aerosmith combo got me pumped up). I may not end up loving this movie, but it wasn't made specifically for me, so that's totally fine. I think at the very least it'll be an enjoyable time at the movies, and it may even surprise me and end up being great.

Sing hits theaters on Christmas Day.

Adam Savage is evidence that a lot of money and a passion for cosplay can accomplish anything. Of course, Savage doesn't just purchase pieces, he also makes them as well. Out of all the things I've seen in his collection I'd have to say his geekiest, and perhaps coolest, is a replica of the Apollo-era spacesuits! In his latest episode of Tested, Adam salvages and creates some more parts to make his suit as authentic as the original! 

Check out his progress in the episode below. 

If you live in the United Kingdom, Cowboy Bebop is now available to stream in both Japanese and English. I'm more than a little jealous sitting here in America knowing I can't just stream some Space Cowboy action right now! Then again, I have the entire series on DVD, so I don't know why I'm so upset about it. 

Congrats to our UK friends for snagging such an awesome show, and if you haven't watched it before you really need to because it's a classic! Here's hoping that the series appearing just across the pond means it'll be making its journey here soon!

Let's get one thing straight right now, I LOVED the first Dragon Ball Xenoverse. For those who've played DBZ games but not that one it took the awesome gameplay of Budokai Tenkaichi 3...read more on Gametyrant

Permalink

Aliens had a hell of a bar to clear to be as beloved as Ridley Scott's iconic original Alien, but by going against the grain and making the sequel more of an action thriller than a horror movie, James Cameron ended up clearing that bar and creating a film that, against all odds, is pretty much just as beloved as the first one.

It turns out one of the sequel's most iconic scenes — in which Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) jumps in a Power Loader and battles the Xenomorph Queen to protect Newt — looks pretty awesome even when 99% of the props are made with cardboard. Take a look at Cinefix's impressive recreation below:

Via: AV Club

Last night's episode of The Flash received the series' lowest ratings of all time. TV By The Numbers says last night's episode got a .9 viewership while the show after it, No Tomorrow, remained at its .3 rating of last week. 

So why did this happen? The obvious answer is that the World Series is the most televised World Series of all time and dominating the primetime slots whenever it's on. Add that to the fact that the NBA is just now starting off its season and you've lost most sports fans who watch the series for the night. 

The more cynical and personal reason is because I believe the show hasn't been "can't miss" television this season. While I've enjoyed what season 3 of The Flash has brought me so far, this has been their slowest start since the series began. We're getting peppered with a lot of throwaway villains, no real clear reveals or plots in the story...and really it feels like we're all just waiting week in and out for something to HAPPEN. 

Sure, things have happened, and there are a lot of things to like/look forward to, but I feel like we are just now at the point where the story is beginning. All the build up with Caitlyn, Flashpoint, Wally, and The Alchemist all seem like they're leading up to something bigger, which I think is what makes it a bit different from the past seasons. 

That's what I want to think anyway. The more cynical side of me thinks we're about to enter another Arrow scenario where the story gets too big to reign in the audience and ends up a jumbled mess. I have a bit more faith in the Flash team...but I did with Arrow as well after their first two seasons.

Do you think The Flash is losing people, or are the World Series and basketball to blame? 

Recently, some photos from Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast leaked online and made the rounds at a lot of movie websites. The studio specifically asked us not to post them, and we honored that request, but now we can finally share something with you that's official. Entertainment Weekly's latest cover features the first real look at Dan Stevens' Beast we've seen so far, as he dances with Emma Watson's Belle in a recreation of one of the original animated film's most famous sequences.

Additionally, we have some new photos from inside the magazine, and I've embedded those for you to see below. I'm very impressed with what director Bill Condon has managed to do here, and these images look pretty damn close to what we saw in the 1991 animated classic. It'll be interesting to see how far they stray (if at all) from that material, or if it'll basically just be a copy and pasted version of the story in live action instead of animation.

The cast of Marvel and Netflix's superhero team up limited series The Defenders continues to grow. We know that Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist will join forces to take on a big bad played by Sigourney Weaver, but today Marvel shared some new casting news with us via The Defenders' official Twitter account: namely that Scott Glenn (Stick), Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple), and Rachael Taylor (Trish Walker) will all be back.

Old friendships die hard. @_Rachael_Taylor, #ScottGlenn, and @rosariodawson return for The #Defenders pic.twitter.com/KiZWwXikJ6

— The Defenders (@TheDefenders) November 2, 2016

This isn't exactly shocking news, and it follows a similar announcement yesterday revealing that Carrie-Anne Moss (Hogarth), Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), and Eka Darville (Malcolm) are on board as well:

Assemble your allies: #EldenHenson, @AnnapurnaLiving and @ekadarville are back for The #Defenders. pic.twitter.com/mqDHtP5CZL

— The Defenders (@TheDefenders) November 1, 2016

Considering we also heard on Monday that Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and Misty Knight (Simone Missick) will be in the show, it's probably safe to say that we'll get more announcements like this over the rest of this week (The Punisher, anyone?), so keep your eyes peeled to The Defenders' Twitter account for up to the minute confirmations.

The Defenders will run for eight episodes (a great decision, considering the most common complaint about these Marvel Netflix shows is that they're all too long), and Jessica Jones director S.J. Clarkson has been tapped to direct the first two installments. It'll debut sometime in 2017.

I don't normally write about Kickstarter projects here at GeekTyrant, but I stumbled across one today that was so cool, I had to break my personal rule and write about it anyway.

Remember the wrist timer that Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken is forced to wear in John Carpenter's Escape From New York? The Awesomer pointed out that Ridgewood Watch Company is trying to crowd fund an officially licensed timer that looks just like that one, and they've added a ton of badass features to it to make it much more than just a countdown clock on your wrist. This thing is a full-on smartwatch that will tell you the time, date, weather, count your steps, and it also has Bluetooth connectivity so you can link it to your phone.

Check out the fantastically-produced video below, and click here to donate if you're interested. What a cool idea.

I was already a little wary of Warner Bros.' Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, especially since the studio has already announced there will be five movies in the series before we even figure out if the first one is decent, but I was especially disappointed to hear that Warner Bros. had cast Johnny Depp in the franchise when that news broke last night. The allegations of him beating his now-ex-wife Amber Heard don't help matters any, but even if you choose to compartmentalize and leave his off-screen behavior out of the equation, it's still been a long time since Depp has given a great performance in a movie.

Screencrush points us to SnitchSeeker.com, who has a screengrab of an upcoming issue of Empire Magazine in which director David Yates confirms that the Fantastic Beasts sequel — which is already underway — takes place in Paris, France. Why come to America for Fantastic Beasts only to travel back across the Atlantic for the sequel? Well, Screencrush points out that both movies will feature the character of Gellert Grindelwald, a wizard FB star Ezra Miller gave us a brief history lesson about yesterday. He's the dark wizard whom Dumbledore beat in a duel to win the Elder Wand, and though he only has a small role in the first film, he'll be a major force in the franchise. The first movie reportedly mentions Grindelwald's attacks in Europe via newspaper headlines, so it checks out that the sequel would head over there and continue telling that story.

And yes, according to Hypable, Johnny Depp will be playing Grindelwald. They say we'll only see the back of his head in the first Fantastic Beasts (a shot we've already seen at 3:23 in this featurette), but he'll presumably have a much bigger part to play in future films. No word yet on who's playing young Dumbledore, but that ought to be a particularly interesting bit of casting news for fans.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them arrives in theaters on November 18, 2016.

Methyl Ethyl Cosplay sent us some pics of our Diablo 3 cosplay asking if we would be kind enough to post, and after seeing the work she put into the costume...read more on Gametyrant

Permalink

I saw the title of this video and wasn't quite sure what to expect. But I'm so glad I clicked on it because it's truly fantastic. It's a mashup of moments from Netflix's Stranger Things with fist-pumpingly awesome music in the background, and something about the triumphant nature of the song with the selection of clips that are referenced and remixed really gets to the heart of the show's core friendships. It's a wonderful example of taking a piece of pop culture you love and spinning it into something distinctly your own, and YouTuber melodysheep deserves major props for this one. Check it out:

Thanks to The Awesomer for the heads up.

Couch Tomato and Hulk make bold predictions about Doctor Strange plot points a week before seeing the movie...Listen on PodTyrant

Permalink

Everyone likely remembers that a bag of Breaking Bad's blue meth showed up in an early episode of The Walking Dead, but while some saw this as nothing more than a fun nod from one show to another, others thought it could be proof that the two shows actually operated in the same universe. Now Netflix is here with a brand new fan theory video (via Uproxx) that pushes the theory forward a little bit with a few more connections between the two AMC shows, including a possible reference to Aaron Paul's Jesse Pinkman and a potential reveal of the first walker on screen in Breaking Bad! Some of these are a bit of a stretch, but let us know what you think in the comments below, and be sure to check out this amazing mashup between the two shows that we wrote about a couple of years ago. (I just watched that for the first time today, and it's incredibly well done.)

Spoilers for Breaking Bad ahead: