John Goodman, Ken Watanabe Voicing Autobots in New Transformers
Two veterans have joined Michael Bay's Transformers: Age of Extinction, rounding out a surprisingly talented cast led by Mark Wahlberg. Both Goodman and Watanabe will be doing voiceover work for two new Autobots, Hound and Drift, respectively. Transformers alum Frank Welker will also be voicing Galvatron, the same character that he voiced in the 1986 animated film, Transformers: The Movie.
If the characters stay true to their original incarnations, Goodman's Hound will be a 4x4 military jeep outfitted with a missile launcher, machine gun, and "hologram gun." Drift, meanwhile, was originally a Decepticon under the name Deadlock that was known for his viciousness and ruthless attacks. However, after an epiphany opened his eyes to the truth behind the Transformers war, he opted to carry swords instead of guns and joined the Autobots' side under the Drift name. Galvatron, meanwhile, is a ruthless Decepticon created by Unicron with remnants of Megatron's old Spark. I'm pretty confident to say Galvatron will be Age of Extinction's big bad.
In a way, each actor embodies their characters well... for better or worse. When the casting news broke late last week, I remember seeing some hateful tweets directed at Bay over Watanabe's casting as the Japanese-influenced Drift. Racially-charged or character-fitting casting? You decide. All I care about is a Transformers film that I can actually point at and say, "This is what Transformers is really about."
Transformers: Age of Extinction will roll out to theaters on June 27th. You can check out some recently released images from the film below.
[via Variety]
[Weekend Box Office] Neighbors More Amazing Than Spider-Man
In a shocking turn of events at the box office this weekend, the Seth Rogen-led raunchy comedy Neighbors overtook The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as the highest grossing film this weekend. It's rare for a superhero blockbuster to falter in its second week, but that's exactly what happened to good ol' Spidey. Could it be a sign of audience's fatigue towards comic book films, or it is a testament to the film's quality? Whatever the case may be, it doesn't bode well for the Sony film, especially with the American Godzilla remake coming out next weekend.
However, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise that Neighbors sold well. I called it the comedy of the year back at SXSW, but I didn't know it would have performed so well against Spider-Man. If you haven't seen the film yet, I highly recommend doing so; Zac Efron definitely has shed his Disney past and has become an amazing actor over the past few years, and his performance in Neighbors will attract any Efron detractors.
The Other Woman, Heaven is for Real, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier fill out the rest of the Top 5. This weekend's other major release, Legends of Oz, performed poorly with a $3.7m intake. The animated "sequel" to Wizard of Oz was anticipated to have a solid return, especially with its star-studded cast made up of Lea Michele, Dan Aykroyd, Kelsey Grammer, Jim Belushi, Martin Short, and others, but may struggle to break even with its $70m budget.
You can read the rest of this weekend's box office numbers below.
1. Neighbors - $51,070,425
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - $37,200,000
3. The Other Woman - $9,250,000
4. Heaven is for Real - $7,000,000
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - $5,619,000
6. Rio 2 - $5,125,000
7. Mom's Night Out - $4,200,000
8. Legends of Oz - $3,705,376
9. Divergent - $1,700,000
10. Brick Mansions - $1,480,000
[via Rentrak]
Nobody Will Forget About Dre: Apple Wants Beats by Dre for $3.2 Billion
Could Dr. Dre become the first billionaire in hip hop? Conflicting reports have come out that Apple has either bought Beats by Dre or are in talks to acquire the company for an astounding $3.2 billion. Obviously, Beats by Dre will come out the big winner if the acquisition goes through, but analysts are dumbfounded as to why Apple would splurge on the popular headphone manufacturers (who also have their own music streaming subscription service amongst other products and services beyond the headphones).
The acquisition would allow Apple to step their headphone game up, hopefully making the included iPhone earbuds a thing of the past with some better quality Beats by Apple wear. However, the biggest aspect of the acquisition is not Beats by Dre's big selling point (their headphones), but their steaming service Beats Music. The acquisition of the system and its algorithm could help bolster Apple's own music service in an attempt to compete with Pandora and Spotify. However, the Beats Music install base isn't known to have many subscribers.
If the deal goes through, it would become Apple's most expensive (and riskiest) acquisition to date. Meanwhile, Dr. Dre would become the richest rapper in the music industry. As a fan of both Beats by Dre and Apple, I'm all for the acquisition. If this means increasing the audio quality across all Apple products (iPod, iPad, iPhone, MacBooks, etc.), it can only be a blessing. Sure, stingy audiophiles will complain about Beats by Dre's focus on deeper bass for a muckier mid tone, but really, the common consumer won't even notice while they're juking to their iPads Powered by Beats by Dre Audio™.
[via CNET]
Chris Hemsworth Might Become a Lethal Weapon
Technically, it can be argued that actor Chris Hemsworth already is a lethal weapon, considering his status as a God in the Marvel Universe. But hey, isn't it a lot cooler when our action heroes are more human and grounded to reality? Rumors came out last week about Warner Bros. interest in rebooting the Lethal Weapon franchise, but considering Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are shells of their former selves, any reboot would relegate them to the background. Current rumors involve Thor himself being targeted for a lead role in the film.
Fast & Furious 6 director Justin Lin is attached to the film with Will Beall (Gangster Squad) writing the script, although original Lethal Weapon writer Shane Black has been offering guidance on the script, as well. The plot concerns a retired cop's son wishing to join the police force. Considering this, there is room for Gibson and Glover to play minor roles in the reboot. The biggest concern, if Hemsworth were to join the production, is finding a suitable buddy to pair him with.
Would a modern day Lethal Weapon work in light of all of the amazing action films that have followed since? I guess we'll find out in a couple of years.
[via Collider]
[Weekly Netflix Fix] They Can't All Be Winners
Not ever weekly Netflix update will have a gem. We'll try to find something good to recommend amidst the dozens of new titles that are added to Netflix's Instant Library, but hey... we can't be on the money every week. Apparently, Netflix can't, either. There are a plethora of behind the scenes videos promoting Orange is the New Black's second season, which are sure to be great for fans of OITNB (and if you're not one of them, just stop reading this and binge watch the first season right now). Outside of that, I can't honestly recommend anything. Considering how huge last week's update was, you might be better off re-watching Kill Bill or one of the many Godzilla films.
The full list of updates are below for the curious.
- Back in the Day
- Behind the Bars with Alex
- Behind the Bars with Big Boo
- Behind the Bars with Crazy Eyes
- Behind the Bars with Daya
- Behind the Bars with Larry
- Behind the Bars with Lorna
- Behind the Bars with Nicky
- Behind the Bars with Pennsatucky
- Behind the Bars with Piper
- Behind the Bars with Pornstache
- Behind the Bars with Red
- Behind the Bars with Sophia
- Behind the Bars with Taystee
- Bitten
- Jamesy Boy
- The Anonymous People
- El Fuente: 24fps 8 Hour
- Finding Normal
- Josh (Against the Grain)
- Madrid, 1987
- The Trials of Muhammad Ali
- Wrestling for Jesus: The Tale of T-Money
- Badges of Fury
- LeapFrog: The Letter Machine Rescue Team
- A Liga
- Lost in Thailand
- Series 20
- Finding Faith
- The Future
- Having You
- JFK: The Smoking Gun
- Blue Exorcist
- Derek: Season 2 (Trailer)
- The Wedding Pact
Disney Wants to Produce Multiple Star Wars Spin-Offs
In a surprise to nobody, Disney confirmed their plans to greatly expand upon the Star Wars franchise. Outside of the core trilogy, Disney had recently announced their intentions to release a new Star Wars film annually to pad out the next decade of films, somewhat following the manner that Disney and Marvel have been treating their films. With Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed their intentions to produce at least three spin-off films, it begs the question as to what these films would be about.
Earlier, it was reported that a prequel film was in the works featuring a young Han Solo and Chewbacca with Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan and X-Men: Days of Future Past writer Simon Kinberg teaming together on the script. No new news has come from the initial rumblings, but considering how huge both Star Wars Episode VII and X-Men: Days of Future Past are, it's not a real surprise. Another spin-off film that has been rumored for a long time is a film centered on everybody's favorite bounty hunter, Boba Fett. Whether or not these two pitches will actually develop into real projects will have to be seen, but at least one thing's clear: for better or worse, there's going to be a whole hell lot of Star Wars over the next few years.
[via Collider]
Lionsgate and Saban Brands are Developing a Power Rangers Film Reboot
Ask anybody over the age of 25 what one of their fondest childhood memories was, and I can guarantee that 95% of them would say "Power Rangers." Mighty Morphin Power Rangers debuted on American TV in 1993 and caught like wildfire in grade schools all over the country. Before long, the Power Rangers overtook the incumbent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' popularity, with kids all over choosing their favorite dinosaurs to represent themselves. To say the least, the MMPR era of Power Rangers represented one of my first real obsessions. It's been over 20 years since Kimberly became every boy's first crush, yet the Power Rangers still have a dedicated and loyal fan base despite the franchise's dwindling appeal and ever apparent lacking quality. With the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set for their big screen return this August, it was only a matter of time before our favorite spandex-wearing teenagers with attitudes came back, too, right?
Lionsgate and Saban Brands seem to agree, as they announced today that the two studios are teaming together to bring the Power Rangers back to theaters with a film franchise rebooting the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The press release reads in part:
The new film franchise will re-envision the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a group of high school kids who are infused with unique and cool super powers but must harness and use those powers as a team if they have any hope of saving the world.
The film is obviously in its infantile stages, but I can guarantee any movement on the project will be met with both excitement and hesitance. Considering Lionsgate has found success in adapting other properties (namely The Hunger Games and Divergent), the property is in good hands. The material is sound and just ripe for a proper film adaptation, and considering Lionsgate's proper treatment of the aforementioned properties, this planned Mighty Morphin Power Rangers film reboot is just what might bring the Power Rangers back into the forefront of pop culture once again.
Sony's Developing a 185 TB Cassette Tape
Header image via 8lacknightshade's DeviantArt
Cassettes used to rule the world. If you're older than 25, chances are your first experience with music not on the radio came from a cassette tape. I know people from my generation perfected the art of the mixtape, painstakingly crafting the perfect double-sided tape to express our love to all of the cute girls of the world. With the advent of the CD and MP3 in following years, cassettes died a quick, fiery death. While it's not uncommon to catch indie bands pressing music on to cassettes these days, the format carries nothing more than a kitsch aesthetic for those that want to make their lives extra analog.
However, the cassette tape is about to find a second chance at life thanks to Sony and IBM, but not in the way most of us may remember it. Last week, Sony announced their development of a cassette tape that can hold up to 185 terabytes of data. 185 TERABYTES. To give you perspective, that's 3,700 Blu-rays' worth of data, with each square inch of tape able to hold 148 GB. The development of the "super" cassette tape bucks the cloud trend, allowing Sony to create a tangible product that can store a plethora of data for tech companies looking for some serious backup storage.
While Sony has plans to release their new cassette tape commercially, it won't attract everyday users as they're not intended to store playback files like games, music, and video. Rather, as I mentioned previously, they'll be targeting tech companies looking for industrial-strength means of storage. Don't call it a comeback, kids.
[via Consequence of Sound]