Category: News

LEGO – Justice League: Gotham City Breakout Coming July 12

JL Gotham City BreakoutBURBANK, CA – Fighting crime is a full-time job and Batman NEVER takes a vacation. That is until he finally agrees to let Batgirl and Nightwing take him on a long overdue trip – leaving Gotham City under the watchful eye of the Justice League in LEGO® DC Comics Super Heroes – Justice League: Gotham City Breakout. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, DC Entertainment and the LEGO® Group, the film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on on July 12, 2016 on Blu-rayTM Combo Pack, DVD and Digital HD. The Blu-rayTM and DVD releases will include an exclusive Nightwing LEGO® figurine, while supplies last.

LEGO® DC Comics Super Heroes – Justice League: Gotham City Breakout will be available on Blu-rayTM Combo Pack for $24.98 SRP and DVD for $19.98 SRP.  The Blu-rayTM Combo Pack includes a digital version of the movie on Digital HD with UltraViolet. Fans can also own LEGO® DC Comics Super Heroes – Justice League: Gotham City Breakout on Digital HD on June 21, 2016 via purchase from digital retailers.

When Batgirl and Nightwing take Batman on a trip down memory lane – literally – to visit one of the key mentors from his formative years, it’s up to the Justice League to keep Gotham City crime-free. But neither situation proves to be a “vacation” as the Bat trio encounters old nemeses on their adventure, and the Justice League discovers just how busy Batman is on a regular basis. It’s a brick-tastic battle on two fronts as Batman, Batgirl and Nightwing take on Bane and Deathstroke, while the Justice League – with some help from a few Teen Titans – fends off an assault by many of Batman’s infamous adversaries to ensure Gotham City’s safety.

Modern Family star Sarah Hyland joins the cast of LEGO® DC Comics Super Heroes – Justice League: Gotham City Breakout as the voice of Batgirl alongside some of the top actors in the industry voicing a quartet of Justice League super heroes: Troy Baker (Batman), Nolan North (Superman), Grey Griffin (Wonder Woman) and Khary Payton (Cyborg). Eric Bauza (Bane), John DiMaggio (Deathstroke), Tom Kenny (Penguin), Jason Spisak (Joker), Tara Strong (Harley Quinn) and Vanessa Marshall (Poison Ivy) comprise the rogues’ gallery of villains that Batman and the Justice League must confront. The Teen Titans also join the fray, vocally represented by Will Friedle (Nightwing), Greg Cipes (Beast Boy), Scott Menville (Robin) and Hynden Walch (Starfire). Amy Hill adds to the fun as the voice of Madame Mantis.

LEGO® DC Comics Super Heroes – Justice League: Gotham City Breakout is directed by Matt Peters and Mel Zwyer from a script by Jim Krieg. Sam Register, Jill Wilfert and Jason Cosler are executive producers. Benjamin Melniker & Michael Uslan are co-executive producers, and Brandon Vietti is supervising producer.

DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION ELEMENTS

LEGO® DC Comics Super Heroes – Justice League: Gotham City Breakout will be available for streaming and download to watch anywhere in high definition and standard definition on their favorite devices from select digital retailers including Amazon, CinemaNow, Flixster, iTunes, PlayStation, Vudu, Xbox and others. Starting June 21, 2016, LEGO® DC Comics Super Heroes – Justice League: Gotham City Breakout will also be available digitally on Video On Demand services from cable and satellite providers, and on select gaming consoles.

BASICS

Street Date: July 12, 2016
Run Time:  72 minutes
Blu-ray Combo Price: $24.98 SRP
DVD Price: $19.98 SRP
DVD Audio – English

Mix March Madness 2016 Webcomics Tournament Elite Eight!

  • News
  • April 21, 2016

ComicMixMarchMadnessWide2016Round5

It’s Round 5, starring the Elite Eight of ComicMix’s April Armageddon 2015 Webcomic Tournament. Driving forces in webcomics standing toe to toe, going head to head. Being pitted against each other, fans standing together voting for their favorite until there is just one winner. Who will it be? Every survivor has chance at the brass ring. All they need is your vote!

Speaking of votes…give yourself a round of applause for the strong support for The Hero Initiative, with donations totaling $71.00 in round 4.

The Elite Eight will narrow the field yet again, So vote soon and vote often… and tell your friends. Polls close 12 midnight, Friday, April 22nd EDT!

(more…)

Deadpool Comes to DVD May 10, with Rob Liefeld Commentary

DeadpoolHold onto your chimichangas, folks. From the studio that brought you all 3 Taken films comes DEADPOOL, the block-busting, fourth-wall-breaking masterpiece about Marvel Comics’ sexiest anti-hero: me! Go deep inside (I love that) my origin story…typical stuff…rogue experiment, accelerated healing powers, horrible disfigurement, red spandex, imminent revenge. Directed by overpaid tool Tim Miller, and starring God’s perfect idiot Ryan Reynolds, Ed Skrein, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller and Gina Carano, DEADPOOL is a giddy slice of awesomeness packed with more twists than my enemies’ intestines and more action than prom night. Amazeballs!
Deadpool DVD PRDEADPOOL will be available on Blu-ray and DVD May 10
from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

DC’s First Animated R goes to Batman: The Killing Joke

Batman Killing JokeBURBANK, CA – Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has accepted the MPAA’s “R” rating for its upcoming animated film, Batman: The Killing Joke, choosing to remain true to the landmark DC Comics graphic novel’s violent, controversial story, and making the film the first non-PG/PG-13 rated movie in the nine-year history of the DC Universe Original Movie franchise.

Batman: The Killing Joke, one of the best-selling graphic novels in history, tells the tale of The Joker’s origin story – from his humble beginnings as a struggling comic, to his fateful encounter with Batman that changes both of their lives forever. Actors Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprise their Batman: The Animated Series roles as Batman and The Joker, respectively.

Since its inception in 2007, the DC Universe Original Movie franchise has brought classic and current DC Comics stories and characters to animated life through a series of primarily PG-13 rated films. Throughout the 26-film history of this popular franchise, Warner Bros. Animation, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment have crafted animated productions that appeal to the adult fan – from adaptations of fan favorite stories (Superman: Doomsday, Justice League: The New Frontier, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) to liberal adaptations of contemporary tales (Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, Batman: Bad Blood, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox) to original narratives (Batman: Gotham Knight, Wonder Woman, Justice League: Gods & Monsters).

Animation visionary Bruce Timm guided the DC Universe Original Movie franchise for its initial 16 films, then returned last summer with his own original story, Justice League: Gods & Monsters. Timm takes the reigns once again for Batman: The Killing Joke, reuniting a trio of actors (Conroy, Hamill & Tara Strong) from the game-changing Batman: The Animated Series cast to add even greater reverence to this heralded tale. Recognizing the fans’ dedication to the highly acclaimed graphic novel, Timm has worked meticulously to accurately maintain the intense adult content of The Killing Joke.

“From the start of production, we encouraged producer Bruce Timm and our team at Warner Bros. Animation to remain faithful to the original story – regardless of the eventual MPAA rating,” said Sam Register, President, Warner Bros. Animation & Warner Digital Series. “The Killing Joke is revered by the fans, particularly for its blunt, often-shocking adult themes and situations. We felt it was our responsibility to present our core audience – the comics-loving community – with an animated film that authentically represented the tale they know all too well.”

At this time, there are no plans for an edited, PG-13 version of the film.

A two-time Eisner Award winner written by renowned comics author Alan Moore, Batman: The Killing Joke has maintained an unparalleled popularity throughout its 28 years of existence – as evidenced by its ranking as the best-selling graphic novel of 2015. Batman: The Killing Joke was greenlit in 2013 and announced in July 2015 at Comic Con International in San Diego.

Batman: The Killing Joke also features the voices of Tara Strong (Teen Titans; Batman: Arkham games), as Barbara Gordon and Ray Wise (Twin Peaks, RoboCop) as Commissioner Gordon. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will host the film’s World Premiere at Comic-Con International this summer, and see a subsequent release in 2016 on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital HD.

Joe Corallo: Shell Game

Ghost In The Shell 1

This was supposed to be a lighter column for me. I had seen Iggy Pop play over at The Capital Theatre in Port Chester last Thursday. I was going to write about how it was an absolutely incredible show, talk a bit about Iggy Pop’s career and how he was a major influence on the comic book series The Crow. Then I read this. And this. I saw friends of my get incredibly upset over this. Hell, I’m upset too. So without putting up much of a fight with myself, I decided this week I’d tackle the growing embarrassment that is the Ghost In The Shell live action adaptation.

Ghost In The Shell was one of the first anime movies I had watched. When I was a kid, I grew up on Voltron, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and many others. The Sci-Fi channel (before it was the SyFy channel) used to do Saturday Anime in the mid to late 90s. That exposed me to a lot of different anime movies. They had commercials for the anime movie adaptation of Ghost In The Shell and I eventually got the DVD. It was fantastic. Visually stunning and engaging in a similar way to me as Akira or Serial Experiment Lain.

Dreamworks Pictures is currently deep into the production of the Ghost In The Shell live action movie, slated for release on March 31, 2017. It’s been reported that this has been a long anticipated project. Personally, I’m fine with my anime movie staying an anime movie without a live action adaptation. We all saw how movies like Speed Racer and Dragon Ball: Evolution turned out. Ghost In The Shell may prove to be worse than those.

Let’s get into some details that we know about the movie so far. It’s being directed by Rupert Sanders. It’s written by Jonathan Herman and Jamie Moss. It’s starring Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbaek, Michael Pitt, Takeshi Kitano, and Juliette Binoche. Notice something a bit off about all this? If the answer is “no” congratulations! You’re part of the problem. If your answer is “I thought this was a Japanese property. Isn’t nearly every single person listed here white?” then we’re on the same page.

Ghost-in-the-Shell-102615In addition to all of that, Dreamworks Pictures admitted to using VFX technology to attempt to “shift the ethnicities” of white actors in the film with CGI to make them appear more Asian in post-production. While plans to go through with this have been scrapped, I do want to make something clear for everyone. At least one person working high enough on this movie identified that barely any Asian actors on screen was a problem.

That person managed to convey that was a problem. Either that person or another person high enough in the production proposed that they could try to use a modern version of yellow face that they don’t have to call yellow face because it’s done by computers now and we all know that yellow face is bad, but the intentions behind yellow face apparently aren’t to those working on Ghost In The Shell. Person with this idea to use modern yellow face was able to get enough traction from the production for them to actually try it. The fact that we are even so inclined as to say that at least they didn’t go through with it in the end shows just how low the bar is for institutional racism in Hollywood.

Now the fault here certainly lays heavily on the production team, but how much of it is on the actors themselves? Scarlett Johansson is certainly a talented actress that’s a proven cash grab at the box office. So few women in Hollywood have been elevated to this level. Shouldn’t we celebrate Scarlett Johansson being elevated like this and ignore the fact that the character she is playing is supposed to be Asian?

No. Nope. Never.

Nearly every single woman that has been elevated to a similar position to Scarlett Johansson in Hollywood has been cis straight and white. The reason is because they’re the ones given a disproportionate about of the opportunities. Scarlett Johansson is not desperate to break into the industry. She’s a leader there. Someone that’s admired by many. She is successful enough to turn down a role like this. She should have turned it down. I’m sure she’s turned down plenty of roles in her career to play characters that she actually fits the description of. Why did she have to take this one? Or Pilou Asbaek? Or Michael Pitt? Or Juliette Binoche?

It’s because of casting decisions like this that predominantly straight cis white men and women dominate the box office. Arguments are made about needing big names to get butts in the seats. However, there are plenty of examples that counter that point. One prominent example related to comics is Superman: The Movie. Other than a couple of names who all had smaller roles, the movie was led primarily by unknowns. Also movies like, you know, Star Wars. And if Johnny Depp has taught us anything lately, it’s you can still be a Hollywood giant and star in box office disaster after box office disaster and still get picked over someone whose background and ethnicity better fits the role he’s playing. He is 1/16th Native American though, so that must count for something to someone apparently.

So how does this happen? The short and obvious answer is because not enough people see this as a problem. And it is a problem. It’s a hard problem to combat, and even gigantic box office bombs like 2013’s The Lone Ranger can’t seem to discourage Hollywood. It would require a sea-change. One of which would be going against one of the current cash cows they’ve been milking, comic book movies which technically Ghost In The Shell as a manga falls into. Movies that are primarily dominated by straight cis white men. It’s okay though, Black Panther is finally getting his own movie over at Marvel only about 54 years after the civil rights act, and Captain Marvel only 99 years after the 19th amendment.

You know, progress.

Star Trek Beyond gets Fan Event May 20

7EB8C515-A4E6-4F03-8C9E-5C07E1F190C7HOLLYWOOD, CA (April 14, 2016) – “Star Trek Beyond” director Justin Lin announced today a first-ever fan event to take place on May 20 in celebration of the series’ milestone 50th Anniversary this year and the film’s release this summer.

The one-time only special event, taking place at the historic Paramount Pictures studio lot, will include the premiere of the newest “Star Trek Beyond” trailer, an exclusive first-look of never before seen footage from the upcoming film, a Q&A with Lin and the cast and crew, special guests appearances, and other surprises. The Q&A will be streamed via Facebook Live.

Said Justin Lin, “As a lifelong fan of Trek, we wanted to do something special for the fans and we couldn’t think of a better way to do that than creating an event dedicated to them in the year that we also come together to celebrate the series’ amazing 50th year.”

Opening July 22, 2016 from Paramount Pictures and Skydance, “Star Trek Beyond” is a Bad Robot, Sneaky Shark, Perfect Storm Entertainment production.  The film stars John Cho, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoë Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin and Idris Elba. Directed by Lin, the third film in the franchise series is produced by J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, Lindsey Weber, and Lin; and executive produced by Jeffrey Chernov, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Tommy Harper. Based upon “Star Trek” created by Gene Roddenberry, the screenplay is written by Pegg & Doug Jung.

 

The Point Radio: One Welcome CATASTROPHE

The quirky, sweet British comedy CATASTROPHE is back for a second season, and creators/stars Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan talk about how things have changed for their characters and just how their real life partnership began. GHOST ASYLUM is also back, for third season of chills that host Scott Porter tells us is more terrifying than ever for us and him.

Follow us here on Instagram or on Twitter here.

Wrath of Khan gets Blu-ray Treatment in June

ST_WOK_BD-ORNG_3DHOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise will boldly go where they have never gone before when STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN Director’s Edition arrives for the first time ever on Blu-ray June 7, 2016 from Paramount Home Media Distribution.  As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Star Trek franchise, this classic film has been digitally remastered in high definition with brilliant picture quality and will be presented in both Nicholas Meyer’s Director’s Edition and the original theatrical version.  The Blu-ray also includes a brand-new, nearly 30-minute documentary entitled “The Genesis Effect: Engineering The Wrath of Khan,” which details the development and production of this fan-favorite film through archival footage, photos and new interviews.

In addition to the new documentary, the STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN Director’s EditionBlu-ray is bursting with more than two hours of previously released special features including multiple commentaries, original interviews with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montalban and DeForest Kelley, explorations of the visual effects and musical score, a tribute to Ricardo Montalban, storyboards and much more.

Captain Kirk’s Starfleet career enters a new chapter as a result of his most vengeful nemesis: Khan Noonien Singh, the genetically enhanced conqueror from late 20th century Earth.  Escaping his forgotten prison, Khan sets his sights on both capturing Project Genesis, a device of god-like power, and the utter destruction of Kirk.

STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN Director’s Edition Blu-ray

The Blu-ray is presented in 1080p high definition with English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 2.0 Dolby Digital, Spanish Mono Dolby Digital and Portuguese Mono Dolby Digital with English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.  The disc includes the following:

Blu-ray

  • Director’s Edition in high definition
  • Theatrical Version in high definition
  • Commentary by director Nicholas Meyer (Director’s Edition & Theatrical Version)
  • Commentary by director Nicholas Meyer and Manny Coto (Theatrical Version)
  • Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda (Director’s Edition)
  • Library Computer (Theatrical Version)
  • The Genesis Effect: Engineering The Wrath of Khan—NEW!
  • Production

o   Captain’s Log

o   Designing Khan

o   Original interviews with DeForest Kelley, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Ricardo Montalban

o   Where No Man Has Gone Before: The Visual Effects of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

o   James Horner: Composing Genesis

  • The Star Trek Universe

o   Collecting Star Trek’s Movie Relics

o   A Novel Approach

o   Starfleet Academy: The Mystery Behind Ceti Alpha VI

  • Farewell

o   A Tribute to Ricardo Montalban

  • Storyboards
  • Theatrical Trailer
Shatner, Carter, Weir Headline Smithsonian SF Festival

Shatner, Carter, Weir Headline Smithsonian SF Festival

William_ShatnerWashington, D.C. —  Fanboy favorites from Star Trek star William Shatner and The X-Files creator Chris Carter to Syfy’s hit series 12 Monkeys and Deadpool director Tim Miller are squarely in the spotlight for Smithsonian magazine’s fourth annual The Future Is Here Festival™, a three-day event highlighting the most advanced thinking in science, technology, space, art and engineering from a dazzling array of experts, visionaries and noted science-lovers.

The Festival kicks off on Friday, April 22nd at the Shakespeare Theatre’s Sidney Harman Hall with an exclusive ticketed evening event featuring Shatner, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Star Trek; a conversation with Carter, fresh off the triumphant return of The X-Files to television; and an exclusive glimpse into the thrilling second season of Syfy’s hit series 12 Monkeys (premieres April 18) with special advance footage presented by stars Aaron Stanford and Amanda Schull and executive producer Terry Matalas.

USA TODAY entertainment writer Brian Truitt will conduct the conversation with Carter, and renowned astronomer/author Phil Plait will moderate the 12 Monkeys panel.

Tickets for this exclusive Friday night event can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/smithsonian-magazines-2016-the-future-is-here-festivaltm-registration-21495104436.

Programming for Saturday and Sunday includes appearances by Deadpool director Tim Miller, The Martian author Andy Weir, explorers Céline & Alexandra Cousteau, noted science fiction author Bruce Sterling, leading NASA scientists and a profound list of visionary speakers and presenters, offering the audience an eye-opening look into the future. Among the entertaining events on the weekend slate is an electrifying concert by Tesla Coils band Arc Attack, and a performance of mind-bending techno tricks by Marco Tempest, the world’s leading cyber illusionist.

The Future Is Here Festival™ convenes the world’s leading experts in science and technology, including:

  • Vint Cerf – Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google, one of the “fathers of the internet”
  • Alexandra Cousteau – Explorer, storyteller, environmental advocate
  • Céline S. Cousteau – Explorer, Founder & Executive Director, CauseCentric Productions
  • Frans de Waal – Professor of Primate Behavior at Emory University & Author, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
  • Anthony Fauci – America’s point man on epidemics, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health
  • Kirk Johnson – Director of the National Museum of Natural History
  • Nicholas Negroponte – Co-founder of the MIT Media Lab, Founder of One Laptop Per Child Project
  • Rebecca Newberger Goldstein – Philosopher & Author, Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away
  • Dava Newman –Deputy Administrator of NASA
  • Fiona Raby, Professor of Design and Emerging Technology at Parsons
  • Martine Rothblatt – Transhumanist and Founder of Sirius Radio, Geostar and United Therapeutics
  • Sara Seager – Planetary Scientist and Astrophysicist
  • Seth Shostak – Director of Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
  • Adam Steltzner – NASA Engineer/Mars Rover, Author, The Right Kind of Crazy
  • Bruce Sterling – Science Fiction Author
  • Marco Tempest — Cyber Illusionist
  • Andy Weir – Author of The Martian (via Skype)

Additional speakers/programming will be announced as confirmed.

The Future Is Here Festival™, an exciting and mind-expanding live event taking place April 22-24 in Washington, D.C., is accompanied by Smithsonian’s May “Future” issue, which hits newsstands April 26th, bringing the excitement of The Future Is Here Festival™ to 6.8 million readers and 5 million digital viewers across the country and around the world.

 

Mix March Madness 2016 Webcomics Tournament Sweet 16!

  • News
  • April 14, 2016

ComicMixMarchMadnessWide2016Round4

Well, that was annoying.

Due to a bunch of fires all happening at the same time, the start of the Sweet 16 round of the April Armageddon was delayed… but now we are down to the best of the best battling to see who will be the winner and bring home the bragging rights for 2016.

Here are the updated brackets. To make it easier, from this point forward the Anderson, Obadiah, Ryan, and Trimpe divisions are being condensed into the final bracket, shown here. To see how we got to this point, look here.

Erfword
Game 1 Details
Misfile
Girl Genius
Game 5 Details
Grrl Power
Winner of 1
Game 9 Details
Winner of 2
Winner of 5
Game 11 Details
Winner of 6
Winner of 9
Game 13 Details
Winner of 10
Winner of 13
Game 15 Details
Winner of 14
Winner of 11
Game 14 Details
Winner of 12
Power Nap
Game 2 Details
Stand Still. Stay Silent
Something Positive
Game 6 Details
Paranatural
Order of the Stick
Game 3 Details
Lackadaisy
Gunnerkrigg Court
Game 7 Details
PVP
Winner of 3
Game 10 Details
Winner of 4
Winner of 7
Game 12 Details
Winner of 8
White Board
Game 4 Details
xkcd
Unsounded
Game 8 Details
Dead Winter

And to manage the polls, we’re doing it directly via Twitter! Here are the polls… vote now and then share and retweet them!

hero_InitiativeAs usual, we’re letting you support your favorite strips by paying for additional votes, with your money going to charity. Simply click on the Donate button below, and during checkout, click on “Which comic are you donating for?” and tell us who you’re voting for. The price is 20¢ a vote, with a minimum of five votes purchased at a time, split any way you want. All proceeds from paid votes will go to the Hero Initiative, an organization that helps comic book creators in need. At the close of the round, we’ll add the paid votes to the totals and announce the winners who move on to the brackets. (And yes, your donations to Hero are tax deductible.)



Remember, voting ends at midnight Eastern Time on Saturday night, April 16th! Good luck to everyone!

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