TV, Movies & Home Theatre News - Page 37

The internet went crazy when they saw Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian, as his cuteness melted faces. But how much did that cuteness cost Disney?

First off, massive spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't seen the first season of The Mandalorian. Now that the disclaimer is over let's move on to how much Baby Yoda costs and how a number was brought up. In the final episode of the season, a stormtrooper punches Baby Yoda, and that stormtrooper was actor Adam Pally. Pally spoke at the Television Critics Association's Winter Press Tour, where he was asked about this final scene and what it was like to punch Baby Yoda.

Here's what he said, "I remember the first take that I did when I punched him. They called 'Cut!' and [showrunner] Jon [Favreau], who was watching on a monitor in his office, he came down from this office and said, 'I just want to let you know that this is the hero Yoda [the main prop used for close-ups] and it costs, like, $5 million. So while I want you to hit it, I just want you to know that.'".

If you haven't yet seen the hilarious comedy Afterlife created by comic Ricky Gervais, you are missing out. If you have seen the first season and enjoyed it, it's my pleasure to tell you that season 2 is currently on its way.

In a recent tweet by Ricky Gervais on his personal Twitter account, the comic thanked viewers for all of the positive reviews he was receiving after people tuned in to his TV show, Afterlife. Gervais mentioned that he was surprised with the number of reviews he was getting, and asked his audience whether it was his recent appearance at the Golden Globes with a joke that mentioned his TV show, or whether everyone just decided to pick up Netflix for the first time.

It would most likely be the Golden Globes joke that has caused his TV show to have an influx of traffic, as Gervais made headlines with his jokes directed towards Hollywood's most esteemed actors. The show was all just fun and games, and throughout Gervais' presentation, he even managed to squeeze some Afterlife jokes that have now turned into a nice increase in viewership numbers. In the above tweet, Gervais replied to a fan who asked him when season 2 is being produced, Gervais replied with a solid "now".

The Uncharted movie has suffered in terms of finding a director and keeping on the production schedule timeline. Sony is now looking for a new director to fast-track the movie.

When producing and developing a movie, ideally, you would want everything to be as smooth as possible. Unfortunately for the Uncharted movie, that has hardly been the case. Just last week, I reported on the movie losing their sixth director, Bumblee's Travis Knight. Knight departed the movie due to Spider-Man actor, Tom Holland's filming schedule.

Holland is currently filming the third Spider-Man movie, and due to that film's shooting schedule falling behind, the Uncharted movie has taken a massive hit. Now, sources are saying that a seventh director is already in talks, and according to sources close to Deadline, that director is Ruben Fleisher. Deadline says that "Ruben Fleischer is atop the list to direct Holland and Mark Wahlberg in the film". We will have to wait for an official announcement before we confirm anything.

No one wants to see The Simpsons end, but that day will eventually come whether it's sooner or later, and Fox is currently in preparation for that moment.

Fox Entertainment President Michael Thorn spoke to Deadline about Fox's current flagship animated shows. Rumors are suggesting that because Fox is increasing its production in other animated shows, that big shows such as The Simpsons and Family Guy are ending soon. Thorne says this isn't the case and that none of Fox's flagship animated shows will be ending anytime soon.

Thorn said, "It's twofold--it's part of our business and programming strategy but also preparing for that day (in which Fox says good-bye to The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Bob's Burgers) whenever it comes." Despite Fox not having any plans for ending its big shows, Thorn does say that day will eventually come and that they are currently preparing for that moment when it comes.

CES 2020 - Phillips Hue owners will be glad to know that later this year, Signify will be bringing out voice control for Phillips' smart lights.

Back in September last year, Signify launched the Phillips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box. Unfortunately, while that device was great as it allowed Hue owners to connect their lights to their TV, it didn't have any voice commands with Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant. Luckily, Signify is rectifying their lack of voice comparability as this Spring they will be rolling out a software update that enables voice activation.

So how does this work? The Signify Sync Box analyzes the TV's incoming image and then will change your Hue lights to the best lighting scenario for that image. The lighting experience can also be more fine-tuned with three different modes; games, music and video.

Aside from all of CES 2020 news that is spilling out in the media, we have an announcement for Amazon's massive Lord of the Rings TV show.

The announcement is in regards to the lead actor for the show being chosen, and it's a familiar face if you watched the entire Game of Thrones series. According to both Variety and Deadline, Robert Aramayo, who played young Ned Stark in Game of Thrones' later seasons, has been cast to play the shows lead role of Beldor.

Amazon's Lord of the Rings TV show will take place before the events of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy and will focus on the Second Age of Middle-Earth. Amazon seems to be more than confident that their show will fill up the fantasy hole that The Witcher is currently sitting in as the filming studio has already greenlit season two.

The showrunner for The Witcher TV show has shined a light on what to expect from season 2. According to her, fans should expect a much more linear story to unfold.

One of the main criticisms of The Witcher season 1 was the time jumps and the difficulty in following along with the story. Luckily, this won't be a problem in season 2 as the showrunner for The Witcher, Lauren S. Hissrich has taken to Reddit in an AMA (ask me anything) to say that season 2's story will be "much more linear, now that the three characters' stories have started to intersect."

Hissrich also says during the AMA that there will be a "whole new set of fun characters coming in season 2" some of which will be more Witchers. Hissrich teases, "We decided to save some tidbits of witcher lore until... you actually meet more witchers." Hissrich also gives a wide release date for when to expect season 2, and she says that there currently isn't a target release date, but she knows its past 2021.

*SPOILER WARNING* What you will find ahead is an alternative ending to The Witcher season one. If you haven't seen the whole first season, I would advise not reading any further.

Now that the disclaimers are over. The ending of The Witcher season one was awfully satisfying with Ciri finally finding Geralt in the forest after both of them being told that their destiny was to find one another. The showrunner for the show, Lauren S. Hissrich, took to Twitter just recently to reveal that several lines from the ending scene were sliced out of the final cut, and the reasoning behind it was because it "didn't feel earned".

Above you will find the transcript for what Geralt and Ciri actually said when they finally embrace each other. So what's different? The scene was originally meant to be much longer, and Geralt expresses his shock that destiny actually finally made them run into each other. He also realizes at this moment that he will never leave Ciri alone and that destiny is real, and he has to follow it.

The voice actor for Geralt of Rivia in CD Projekt RED's Witcher games has commented on Netflix's The Witcher TV show.

The Witcher TV show has been out for quite some time now and has even managed to usurp The Mandalorian as the most in-demand TV show. With controversial reviews but the wider public absolutely loving what they saw, who else is there left to comment on Netflix's great adaptation? How about the voice actor from CD Projekt RED's Witcher video game franchise?

Doug Cockle is the voice of Geralt of Rivia and recently announced on Twitter that he has finally finished all eight episodes in season one. He says the following, "Ok...finally saw all 8 episodes of @witchernetflix! I LOVE IT. The time jumps are challenging, but it all comes together in the end. The main characters are wonderfully played by a talented cast and the world is lovingly realised. Bring on series 2!".

Since the release of The Witcher, many fans have been flocking to other forms of Witcher IP, whether that be the original book series of CD Projekt Red's games.

The reason for the love to overflow from the Netflix series over to the other forms of IP is the root cause of why the TV show did so well in the first place. At least, that's what analysts are saying. Since people were already heavily invested in the Witcher universe (games/books), the show was expected to be a success story even before it premiered due to there already being heavily established fandom.

Ashley A. Hinck, an assistant professor at Xavier University with an expertise in fandom, spoke to The Verge and said, " That's part of the love of being a fan; love and desperation. You want more even if it's not awesome. Having a built in audience and fans committed to viewing that universe across what platform it takes place in is important for companies." The Witcher's success story is making companies realize that if they want their shows to succeed regardless of whether they are deemed 'good' or not, that they will have to pay attention to what large communities of already established fans want to see.