Now that the world knows "What They Become", what's next for the last surviving members of S.H.I.E.L.D.?
ABC have today released the official plot synopsis for the mid-series première episode of their second full season of their detective drama Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Titled "Aftershocks", the eleventh instalment of the show's sophomore run will pick up shortly after the events of last December's seemingly game-changing mid-season finale "What They Become" as Daisy "Skye" Johnson and the ever-untraceable Raina come to terms with the powers bestowed upon them by the Terrigen Mists in an extraterrestrial city buried deep within the Earth.
On top of unveiling details on how Skye in particular will initially deal with her new-found abilities as well as how the episode in which she transformed will affect the loyalties of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra agents alike, the press release containing this information also presented readers with a concise yet no less intriguing précis for the second half of Season Two as a whole. The two synopses - both of which appear to actively encourage fans to perceive Agents' next ten episodes as a direct prologue to 2019's Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster Inhumans - can be found along with details of the US air-date for "Aftershocks" can be found below, so by all means, read on:
"AFTERSHOCKS" - "Coulson's team must deal with the consequences of their war with Hydra as shocking revelations threaten to tear them apart, and Hydra makes a dangerous move that may involve a traitor in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s midst."
SEASON TWO EPISODES 11-23 - "[...] New threats to the world have arisen, including Skye's father, Cal [...], who now seeks retribution against Coulson for stealing his revenge against Whitehall; a disturbing alliance between former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Ward [...] and Agent 33; the enigmatic Raina [...], who struggles with her transformation into something inhuman by the alien Obelisk and seeks vengeance; and Skye [...], who developed mysterious new powers from the Obelisk but whose lack of experience with her new abilities may threaten the safety of those she loves. Meanwhile, Bobbi [...] and Mack [...] begin the next phase of a plan which seems to have grave repercussios for Coulson and his team, who are unaware that there's another mysterious force moving against them. And as Hunter [...] is forced to make the biggest choice of his life, Coulson will find his mission threatened by this shocking endgame."
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will cease its Winter hiatus on March 3rd as "Aftershocks" premières in the United States via ABC.
Could the maze go by the name 'I'm A Fan of Original Ideas...Get Me Out of Here!'? Well, we can live in hope.
Thorpe Park have today announced the development of a new theme park attraction which will launch within their walls and will pay homage to iTV's long-running reality TV series I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.
Tentatively titled I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Maze, the themed interactive experience will feature pre-recorded video introductions courtesy of regular presenters Ant and Dec, humorous renditions of the venues in which I'm A Celebrity contestants traditionally partake in their Bush Tucker Trials like Croc Creek and the Chambers of Horror as well as other memorable iconography taken from the fourteen-season history of the programme (the most recent series of which, for those whose interest is peaked by such factoids, averaged 9.64 million viewers last year compared to Doctor Who's 7.34, Cilla's 7.72, Call the Midwife's 10.42 and Sherlock's chart-topping 11.83).
Usually, this would be the juncture at which we'd criticise the lack of ingenuity presented in the Surrey-based theme park's approach to creating new themed mazes for its visitors to immerse themselves in on a yearly basis, yet to be completely fair, past Thorpe Park attractions have, are and presumably will continue to take unashamed inspiration from well-known (if hardly critically lauded in some cases, though that would explain why the rights were easier to obtain than those owned by Disney, Universal et al) entertainment franchises including Saw and Angry Birds (yes, really - just check out the park's website for all of the necessary evidence), so we'll at least commend them on sticking to their guns in that respect. Even so, though, given the choice between the park's foremost attractions such as Stealth and Nemesis Inferno or this sure-to-be fairly subdued attraction, we're in little doubt as to just which high-octane roller-coasters the true thrill seekers of this hallowed isle will probably head towards. Choose wisely, folks.
I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Maze will bring the forests of Australia crashing onto the planes of Britannia at Thorpe Park, Surrey this March 27th.
Those hoping for a frame-by-frame remake of the Ezio Trilogy may well want to sit down...
Ubisoft have this week revealed a handful of further details surrounding 20th Century Fox's currently-in-the-works motion picture adaptation of the former development team's Assassin's Creed franchise of annual action-adventure video games.
The film, which stars none other than X-Men: First Class' Michael Fassbender as its still-to-be-announced protagonist, was rumoured last Summer to centre on the quasi-fantastical exploits of a lone Assassin operating in the midst of the Spanish Inquisition along with a present-day criminal-turned-saviour named Michael Lynch, though at the time of this article going to the metaphorical online presses, there had still been no sign of any official confirmation from Fox that this plot will indeed form the premise for their upcoming blockbuster.
Thankfully, Ubisoft's Head of Content for the Creed series - Aymay Azaizia - was surprisingly open to the idea of presenting additional information on the project's development on a Twitch live-stream of Assassin's Creed Rogue (the franchise's most recent last-generation instalment, for those who missed the product's initial release last November) gameplay, finally setting the record straight with regards to whether this notably secretive production will incorporate a main character from series entries gone by or start afresh. The answer? Whilst the piece of cinema in question may go so far as to add to the shared universe adopted by the games, the comics and the various supplementary novels, fans nevertheless shouldn't expect to see Ezio Auditore, Altair or Edward Kenway running the show this time around.
So as to simplify our readership's consumption of the latest details on the cinematic future of everyone's favourite historical saga, we've rounded up the key quotes below but have simultaneously included the Twitch video itself at the bottom of this article for anyone who wants to hear the interview in full. Without further ado, though, here are all of the revelatory information titbits that any true Creed follower could possibly hope for:
ON THE FILM'S PRODUCTION SCHEDULE - "Things are definitely moving forward - in two weeks, we're going to have a visit from the [still to be named] director and his production crew. We're going to work together for two days, so everything is moving forward from the script to the shooting locations and we already have a release date in mind. [...] Right now, we're targeting a release in two years' [time]." As if these details weren't enough, Azaizia went on to announce that Assassin's Creed is due to commence shooting later this year...
ON THE PREMISE OF FOX'S FIRST CREED ADAPTATION - "[The movie] is not about Ezio because if you took a look at all of the [games, novels, graphic novels and other types of Creed products] we have, I think that the projects that have the most value are [those] which enrich the franchise, that come up with their own take, their own Assassin, their own setting, [...] it's more exciting than just recycling [elements]. To be truly honest, if I start watching a movie about Ezio, it'd drive me nuts as it wouldn't be his character, his voice etc. [...] The kind of [recommendation] I gave to the brand team content-wise was every single project [...] should be self-sustainable [such that newcomers] shouldn't have to know anything about the video game to enjoy it. [...] For us, it doesn't make sense to do a movie about something we already know - we want to do something fresh [albeit with] references (the present-day is very important of course) and some returning characters."
Assassin's Creed will sneak into cinemas worldwide using its all-important Eagle Vision on December 21st, 2016. Now, to paraphrase Captain Jack Sparrow, bring us that elusive Animus, pronto...
Don't wear it out, but the name's Screen, On-Screen, and we're here with a first look at 007's latest international epic.
Metro Goldwyn-Mayer Studios have today released a behind-the-scenes promotional clip for their upcoming thriller motion picture Spectre as the project's production team continue filming at Blenheim Palace here in the UK.
Scheduled for release on all reliable big-screens later this year, the long-awaited follow-up to 2013's 50th anniversary outing Skyfall will feature Daniel Craig in the role of Ian Fleming's half-covert, half-womanising super spy in a partially self-contained narrative which picks up from where its immediate predecessor left off (namely with Judi Dench's incarnation of M deceased and her successor having been appointed in the form of Ralph Fiennes' Mallory) whilst additionally introducing new plot threads aplenty including the threat of the organisation that gives the piece its name, not to mention a variety of new co-stars including Sherlock's Andrew Scott, Django Unchained's Christoph Waltz and Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol's Lea Seydoux.
With eight months still standing between Bond devotees and their latest means by which to escape from the dishearteningly mundane real-world into a fictitious realm of unparalleled espionage (plus an unparalleled passion for the works of Alfred Lord Tennyson, if Dench's use of an extract from his "Ulysses" in Skyfall was even a subtle indication), there's still a way to go yet until a teaser trailer is likely to land on the interwebs, but even so, the brief glimpses we receive here at Craig and Seydoux in action as well as of jet skis, mountainous skylines and snow in abundance at least go some way towards suggesting that Sam Mendes' eye for the aesthetic hasn't weakened in the slightest since 2013, a reassuring realization to be certain.
On-Screen will naturally endeavour to publish all of the latest plot and production details surrounding Spectre in the months ahead, but before that, be sure to mark October 23rd in the calendar, since that's the date on which the twenty-four chapter in James Bond's increasingly acclaimed film franchise will land in UK auditoriums nationwide.
If anyone can put the Dead back into gratutious Pools of blood, it's most certainly him.
Lead star Ryan Reynolds has today published the first official image from the set - or rather the dressing room, if our eyes doth not deceive us as the working week draws to a much-needed close - of 20th Century Fox's upcoming superhero comedy blockbuster Deadpool.
Most likely best known - for better or for worse - amongst fans of the genre for his portrayal of the titular sword-wielding (yet heartbreakingly mute) anti-hero in the 2009 X-Men spin-off film X-Men Origins: Wolverine (as well as his work on 2011's Green Lantern, but we're sure Marvelites and DC fans alike would much rather forget about that project), Reynolds will not only reprise the role - albeit in a form supposedly far more similar to Deadpool's beloved comic-book incarnation - yet is all but confirmed serve as the third X-Men standalone outing (after Origins and 2013's The Wolverine)'s co-producer as well.
Better yet, Deadpool represents just one of three new instalments in the X-Men Cinematic Universe (as we're inclined to term this particular shared narrative universe from this point onwards) scheduled to launch in 2016 - with the others being X-Men Apocalypse (due May 27th, 2016) and Gambit (October 7th, 2016) - each of which should cast the Earth's Other Mightiest Heroes in a fascinating new light provided that production runs smoothly on the various projects. Only promotional material such as trailers, teasers and the like will confirm whether or not the final products are on the right track in this regard, but if nothing else, that Reynolds' photo of Fox's live-action rendition of the X-Men's endearing yet visceral opponent sports a mask which couldn't look closer to the source material's depiction if it was crafted by the unashamedly sadistic fictional alter-ego of Wade Wilson himself:
Provided that its protagonist doesn't get carried away as he relishes his first genuine big-screen mission, Deadpool should blast into cinemas worldwide - no doubt breaking the fourth wall in the process - on February 12th, 2016.
Another day, another block of time-travelling escapades for the Twelfth Doctor and Clara!
The BBC have today unveiled a new production image fresh from the set of their long-running science-fiction drama Doctor Who as filming continues on the programme's ninth season since its 2005 revival.
Starring World War Z's Peter Capaldi in the role of the twelfth incarnation of the eponymous eternal time traveller and Captain America: The First Avenger's Jenna Coleman as his ever-faithful travelling assistant Clara Oswald, the series' 2015 run will once again comprise of twelve episodes as was the case with 2014's Season Eight. Quite whether it'll be bookended by a Christmas Special a la "The Christmas Invasion" - "Last Christmas" has yet to be officially announced, but if historical precedent tells us anything, then there's a relatively high likelihood of the show's annual festive status quo staying intact.
Focusing on the here and now, though, with Toby Whithouse's recently-announced two-part story (which, in case anyone here missed the news, will form Episodes 3 and 4 of Season Nine) apparently having completed filming last week, the production team are moving on to shoot the opening instalment of this year's season, better known to anyone who watched "Last Christmas" on Christmas Day 2014 as "The Magician's Apprentice", as part of Block 2 of their production schedule. Whilst executive producer (and in this case screenwriter) Steven Moffat hasn't been forthcoming with regards to details surrounding the plot of his latest season opener to date, that isn't likely to prevent the show's fanbase from discussing Episode 1's potential contents; indeed, the first production image (above) depicts a electronic screen behind director Hettie MacDonald (who also served as the helmer of Moffat's much-loved 2007 Who tale "Blink")'s clapper-board which sports a considerable number of ominous red dots, an enigmatic teaser that's sure to serve as the subject of countless speculative analyses in months to come, not least since the iconography doesn't look completely dissimilar to objects commonly associated with the show's foremost fictitious military agency, U.N.I.T. (a.k.a. the Unified Intelligence Taskforce). In other words, let the hysteria begin...
Doctor Who will return to BBC One for a new series of high-octane adventures taking place throughout the realms of time and space this Autumn.
UPDATE - As filming continues on "The Magician's Apprentice", CultBox are currently reporting that Jemma Redgrave has been spotted by fans on the set of Season Nine's première instalment. Unless they're mistaken, then, Redgrave will seemingly reprise her role as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (or Kate Stewart for short), a character who was recently confirmed to be receiving her own spin-off series in the form of UNIT: Extinction - an official Who spin-off created by Big Finish so as to allow Kate and UNIT face off against the Autons - the cover for which can be found below. If and when the BBC officially announce Kate's first appearance on the show since 2014's "Death in Heaven", On-Screen will convey all of the relevant details right here soon afterwards.
Want no-nonsense and quick-fire verdicts on the latest video previews for upcoming entertainment releases? Look no further!
Call us presumptuous, but we'd wager that a fair proportion of entertainment consumers must justifiably struggle nowadays to stay atop of the myriad of teaser trails, trails-for-teasers-for-trails and trails-for-teasers-for-miniature previews-for-trails which seem to surface on the interwebs on a near-daily basis, such that they're uncertain as to which trails warrant their attention.
Yet in contrast to most entertainment news outlets, the On-Screen team knows the value of sorting the cream of the crop from those works of entertainment which'll most likely find themselves creamed from the get-go, and it's for that reason amongst others that we're kicking off a new feature going by the name 'Much Ado About Trailers' on this crisp Wednesday evening with the central intent of both presenting and evaluating the various industries' latest respective output. Rather than promising to publish new editions of this particular ilk of article at regular intervals, though, we'll instead strive to launch round-ups along the lines of that which readers will see below if and when the major film, TV and video game production companies decide to launch an onslaught of supplementary promotional material in our (and therefore your) direction.
Without further ado, then, here's a comprehensive look at the trails which have justifiably made waves in the last few days as well as those which have achieved much the same feat for all the reasons that studios might have originally hoped to avoid...
1. MINIONS - If Despicable Me 2 proved anything when it landed in cinemas worldwide during the Summer of 2013, it was that no animated franchise is infallible in an age when shared universes dominate the film industry. Thankfully, though, as its name suggests, Minions is placing the focus back on the yellow tykes who afford the series the majority of its appeal and unless Sandra Bullock's human antagonist is continually portrayed in the pantomime-esque light in which the audience sees her depicted her, this long-awaited spin-off should prove to be just what the Despicable saga requires in order to return to its former glory.
2. HITMAN: AGENT 47 - Even if IO Interactive fail to produce a sequel to their hit 2012 video game Hitman: Absolution this year, we'll still at least have this potent second instalment in the film franchise of the same name. Known to those intrigued enough to follow the project as the reboot which ditched Timothy Olyphant in favour of casting The Young Victoria's Rupert Friend in the role of the titular hired assassin, Agent 47's teaser trailer showcases some hilariously overblown action set-pieces, but whereas that trait might seem cause for concern in any other instance, such sequences will no doubt go down a storm with the teen audience at which this Summer thriller is almost certainly targeted.
3. CINDERELLA - Perhaps some day Walt Disney Pictures will come up with a premise for a live-action film that doesn't prompt the creation of a tiresome and near-soulless retread of a classic animated romp, but unless the Cinderella marketing team are trying to conceal each and every one of the finest scenes featured in Kenneth Brannagh's latest contribution to the world of cinema and are deceiving the world at large with regards to the seemingly pretentious dialogue which awaits us in March, then that day hasn't arrived just yet. Indeed, whilst Oz: The Great and Powerful and Maleficent weren't exactly masterpieces, at this rate the Lily Collins-starring reboot could soon become widely known as one of the weakest non-animated productions in its studio's critically uneven history. What's worse? Contrary to popular belief, Disney aren't fools either - if they were, then they wouldn't have attached the much-anticipated short film Frozen Fever in order to guarantee that everyone and their grandmothers will purchase a ticket as soon as they become available.
4. PITCH PERFECT 2 - Creatively inspired or jam-packed with gags which are on a par with the surprisingly brilliant original film this second "global trailer" for the sequel to 2013's Pitch Perfect mightn't be, but even so, tantalising glimpses into musical numbers involving hit tunes such as "Poison", "Run the World" and various others as well as a hilarious (albeit overly clichéd) set-piece involving the private bodily areas of a certain Australian a cappella artist - not to mention one or two humorous cameos from director Elizabeth Banks as a endearing but somewhat dim-witted a cappella championship commentator - should more than compensate for any concerns Pitch fanatics might have in the run-up to its début performance in UK auditoriums this May.
5. THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT - Believe it or not, we'd love to confirm that with its second instalment, Insurgent, the Divergent Series is finally looking set to cure itself of Hunger Games syndrome. On the basis of its "Fight Back" trail, though, the odds aren't necessarily aligning themselves in the film's favour, not least since the hopelessly derivative dialogue and many of the plot points mooted here either seem similar to Lionsgate's four-part dystopian saga or are simply lacklustre in their own right. Dedicated followers of On-Screen may recall that we awarded Divergent a decent 3* score around one year ago, but if Insurgent hopes to either depart the realms of mediocrity or even to simply match its predecessor, then we're going to need some more compelling evidence come release day. That said, credit where credit's due - plenty of franchises don't provide explanations for aesthetic changes befalling their lead stars between films, yet in this instance, art will seemingly mirror life as Shaliene Woodley's Triss receives a much-needed hair-cut so as to enable Woodley not to have to spend the duration of the running time donning an unconvincing wig.
With great Spider-power comes great financial responsibility, or something along those lines.
Hot on the heels of confirming the return of Spider-Man to their shared narrative universe, Marvel Studios additionally took to their official website yesterday to announce a series of revisions recently made to the release schedule for their third phase of superhero blockbusters.
Initially revealed to the world via a dedicated fan-laden event which took place last October, Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase Three sub-franchise has until now been due to kick off with Captain America: Civil War in April 2016 before moving onto origins tales such as Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel as well as much-anticipated sequels including Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Thor: Ragnarok. Yet much as the studio, who commenced work on building a decade-spanning continuity with just a single film in the form of Iron Man in 2008, would doubtless have loved to keep their original release schedule intact without any alterations, the imminent integration of everyone's favourite wall-crawler is sure to have countless ramifications for the manner in which the MCU operates from here on out, hence why the Phase Three line-up currently looks a little different.
It's worth bearing in mind that everything's subject to change, especially when series devotees still have two more instalments of Phase Two - Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man - to feverishly anticipate this year, but even so, barring any more colossal changes on the scale of Spider-Man's sudden re-integration into the cinematic version of Marvel's House of Ideas, this is a rough idea of what fans can expect from Marvel Studios between 2016 and 2019 (and regardless of the order, one thing's for certain - this should be one heck of an exhilarating ride for anyone with even a passing affinity for Detective Comics' most noteworthy rival):
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR - April 29th, 2016
DOCTOR STRANGE - October 28th, 2016
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2 - April 28th, 2017
UNTITLED SPIDER-MAN SOLO FILM - July 28th, 2017
THOR: RAGNAROK - November 3rd, 2017 (originally July 28th, 2017)
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR PART 1 - May 4th, 2018
BLACK PANTHER - July 6th, 2018 (originally November 3rd, 2017)
CAPTAIN MARVEL - November 2nd, 2018 (originally July 6th, 2018)
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR PART 2 - May 3rd, 2019
INHUMANS - July 12th, 2019 (originally October 26th, 2018)
As anyone who hasn't taken to residing underneath a sizeable boulder in recent months will surely know, however, next up on the Marvel Cinematic Universe release slate is Avengers: Age of Ultron, the UK release date of which is April 23rd. Feel free to join us in our prayers for the next three months or so to fly by faster than we can say "puny god" (and believe us, we've tried proclaiming that pair of words on numerous occasions already)...
There's a reason why #SpiderManIsHome is still trending today, you know...
Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures have this week announced the development of several new big-screen storylines for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, each of which will play host to none other than Spider-Man.
The wise-cracking fictitious web-slinger, who made his first printed appearance in an issue of Marvel Comics' Amazing Fantasy back in the 1960s, originally had the rights to future film adaptations based on his comic-book antics sold to Sony towards the end of the 20th Century, a move which sparked the release of three flicks starring Tobey Maguire as the Webbed Wonder (Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004) and - no prizes for predicting the next one, unfortunately - Spider-Man 3 (2007)) as well as two further instalments that took place in a part-rebooted, part-shared universe (The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)), but as of next year, the character's on-screen paradigm will purportedly shift dramatically.
Under the new agreement conceived by the two studios earlier this month, Peter Parker (who'll once again adopt his iconic mantle if Sony President Doug Belgrad's assertion that the deal represents "the perfect way to take Peter Parker's story into the future" is anything to go by)'s high-flying superheroic alter-ego will feature in one Marvel Cinematic Universe motion picture in an unknown capacity - meaning that his presence could amount to anything from a cameo in this Summer's Avengers: Age of Ultron to a fully-fledged supporting role in April 2016's Captain America: Civil War - before subsequently taking on a leading role in his own solo outing, the latter of which will see Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige serve in the role of producer and will ideally feature other MCU characters if Sony have anything to say on the subject.
Since we're huge fans of the Webbed Wonder's deliciously over-the-top printed exploits here at On-Screen (not to mention the Maguire trilogy, though Andrew Garfield's recent take on the beloved literary construct left us apathetic towards the franchise in its current state), the news has predictably come as a overwhelmingly pleasant surprise, particularly given that talks between Marvel and Sony seemed to come to an abrupt halt last Autumn when hordes upon hordes of the latter company's emails found their way online via a still-to-be-prosecuted leaker. Whether the presence of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes' most talkative member in future Avengers-related works of cinema will bode promisingly for the Marvel Cinematic Universe or indeed for the state of the big-screen superhero genre is up to debate for the time being, of course, but as with just about any major entertainment industry watershed moment, the real fun should lie in discovering the truth for ourselves...
"The new Spider-Man", as Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios are currently branding the latest incarnation of the character, will make his début in a MCU blockbuster set to launch before 2017 (so Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War or Doctor Strange, then), then will swing into cinemas worldwide with a MCU-infused standalone film of his own on July 28th, 2017.
Isla Nublar rebuilds itself once more this Summer, brick by primary-coloured brick!
TT Games have this week unveiled the teaser trailer (below) for their recently-announced action-adventure platforming video game LEGO Jurassic World. Adapting the events of the impending Chris Pratt-starring flick of the same name along with the original Jurassic Park trio, this block-tastic compilation will be distributed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in time for young fans to ride the cultural wave of the franchise's comeback during the Summer months.
As is virtually always the case with AAA products' marketing campaigns nowadays, the latest in a long line of LEGO-themed teaser trails gives all but nothing away regarding the specific narrative content, new (or indeed rehashed) game-play perks or the like, instead opting to depict the classic sequence from the 1993 original wherein a T-Rex created ripples in two previously static glasses of H20 by simply stomping in their vicinity, the difference here being that the aforementioned prehistoric monstrosity is rendered in a more comedic light by its jaw quite literally dropping off after letting out a sizeable roar for its onlookers to hear and - in theory - tremor at. TT's trademark humour is wholly intact, it seems, though here's hoping that next time around they're a little more informative when it comes to revealing how fans of all things Isla Nublar can expect to spend their time in the fictitious setting should they feel inclined to take the developers on their presently-vague word and place their pre-orders...
LEGO Jurassic World will awaken from its multi-century-spanning slumber on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo WiiU, Nintendo 3DS and PC this June.
The team behind World at War and Black Ops are back for more overblown set-pieces...
Activision have just announced the development of a new instalment in their long-running Call of Duty series. Whilst way back in 2003, this budding first-person shooter franchise of video games appeared set to thrive by simply launching a further sequel or spin-off every two years or so, once Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare sent metaphorical tremors throughout the entire genre in 2007, the publishers seized their chance to transform COD into an annual mainstay, launching products with main campaigns set in every conflict from the Vietnam War to a futuristic confrontation between humanity's strongest warriors and...Kevin Spacey (those unaware of how these events came to be would probably be best off remaining as such).
Indeed, twelve years on from the series' première, we're - for better or for worse - now due another COD outing from Treyarch, the development team best known for their work on projects including 2008's Call of Duty: World At War, 2010's Call of Duty: Black Ops and 2012's Call of Duty: Black Ops II (by all means halt our trail of thought if there are any signs of a trend developing here). According to VideoGamer.com's David Scammell, Activision are promising a title that's "loaded with innovation" and could serve as "one of [their] best games yet". Now, as ever, officially-endorsed statements such as those can't be fully scrutinized until the final product ships (or indeed until full game-play footage is presumably released at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in July), although if Ghosts' mediocre critical reception - the 360 version scored just 73% on average from critics according to Metacritic, a rather meagre figure when contrasted with Modern Warfare's 92% - is any indication of the current mainstream consensus on one of the industry's most audacious FPS frontrunners, then Treyarch may yet have to pull out all the stops so as to carry out on the promises which some would argue have been broken by the franchise's helmers countless times already.
Regardless of whether it's in the series' best interests or not, however, Call of Duty will return later this year - stay tuned to On-Screen for further details on launch platforms, game-play mechanics and the competition it'll be up against come this year's semi-cathartic Autumn of Gaming season. In the meantime, scroll down just an inch further to check out the launch trailer which accompanied Treyarch's most recent contribution to the series, Black Ops II, as the product bombarded its way into retailers worldwide just three years ago.
And no, we're not referring to Eddie Redmayne (maybe next time, though)...
Variety have this week reported the supposed identity of the actress set to take on a leading role in the first of Walt Disney Pictures' upcoming standalone Star Wars motion pictures. Intended to accompany Episode VII, Episode VIII and Episode IX as new instalments in the Expanded Universe-cleansed official cinematic canon, the spin-off outing will nevertheless boast a narrative which doesn't require the audience to have seen this December's The Force Awakens in order to work out whether or not the droids presented on-screen are indeed the droids they're looking for.
With that clumsily-inserted yet admittedly irresistible pun out of the way, let's first make something abundantly clear: Variety's report (which can be accessed by clicking here) does not feature a direct quotation from any members of The Force Awakens' production team or Disney CEO Bob Iger and therefore cannot necessarily be considered genuine until such a time when the studio at the new-found helm of a galaxy far, far away have issued an official press release confirming the news. By all means grab a pinch of salt, pepper or whatever condiments are presently available, then, as we proclaim that if the website's Justin Kroll is to be believed, then Felicity Jones of Cemetery Junction, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and The Theory of Everything fame will lead the sure-to-be potent cast ensemble for next year's high-octane sci-fi yarn. After her frankly spellbinding portrayal of Jane Hawking in Theory, the world should surely be in little doubt regarding Jones' abilities, although as we say, it'd probably be worth everyone's time keeping their fingers crossed and holding off on the bunting until Disney gives the official go-ahead to pull out the party poppers, particularly as Orphan Black's Tatiana Moseley's acquisition of the lead star position here was thought to be a given just last week in certain sectors of the interwebs.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (the teaser trailer for which lies below) will leap out of hyperspace and into UK cinemas everywhere on December 18th, 2015, while the first standalone chapter in Disney's take on George Lucas' pseudo-operatic space-faring saga - which has been written by Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz and will be directed by Godzilla's Gareth Edwards - will make its début on December 16th, 2016.
A finer opportunity to wash the rotten taste of Unity out of PC gamers' mouths there will never be.
Ubisoft have today revealed the official release date for the PC version of their 2014 open-world action-adventure video game Assassin's Creed Rogue. A spiritual successor to 2013's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag as well as a spiritual predecessor to both 2012's Assassin's Creed III and 2014's Assassin's Creed Unity (feel free to shudder at the thought of the latter bug-ridden title), Rogue tasked players with taking on the mantle of an Irish Assassin whose faith in his Creed becomes questioned in the lead-up to the American Revolution that he switches sides in order to join the Templar Order and restore balance to the soon-to-be United States.
360 and PS3 owners will most likely know the drill, of course, since the seventh consecutive annual current-generation instalment in the long-running saga of Animus-fuelled trips through the realms of time first launched on Microsoft and Sony's aforementioned hardware last November. Even so, however, that Rogue earned itself a mighty 9/10 score from On-Screen - in no small part due to its tonally subversive storyline, intelligent integration of Black Flag's game-play mechanics and most of all its writers' bravery in providing a succinct main campaign rather than having Shay McCormack's valiant quest for revenge outstay its welcome in a detrimental manner - is no mean feat under any circumstances, and what with the lack of AAA blockbuster titles on the horizon in February and March, now could be the perfect time for those who found themselves despondent as a result of the glitches plaguing Assassin's Creed Unity to pick up Rogue so as to experience the ultimate palette cleanser.
The PC version of Assassin's Creed Rogue will launch on March 10th in all good European high-street and digital video game retailers. Glance below for a first look at the tailor-made launch trailer for this long-awaited port.
Did Colin Baker's incarnation of the Doctor truly succumb to death by exercise bike? Scandalous revelations are on the horizon.
Big Finish have today announced the recording of a new Doctor Who audio drama which will chronicle the final escapades of the Sixth Doctor. Originally portrayed by I'm A Celebrity! Get Me Out of Here's Colin Baker between 1984 and 1986, this part-flamboyant, part-enigmatic incarnation of the centuries-old time traveller who gives the show its name was tragically well-known by many fans - not least by this writer - for only having the opportunity to utter the hollow final sentiments of "carrot juice, carrot juice, carrot juice" in 1986's "The Trial of a Time Lord" before Baker was booted out of the production team and his successor, Sylvester McCoy, was subsequently asked to don a blonde wig so as to act out the regeneration into the Seventh Doctor himself.
Yet as the press release - which comes via a Gallifrey Guardian article published in the just-released 483rd issue of Doctor Who Magazine - in question reveals, after having resumed the role of arguably one of the more controversial Doctors to date in recent years for Big Finish's audio output, Baker will now step back into the TARDIS for four one-hour episodes - "The End of the Line", "The Red House", "Stage Fright" and "The Brink of Death" - before bowing out in what the studio are calling a "heroic exit" at the end of the collection, the title of which is a fitting one: Doctor Who: The Last Adventure. If nothing else, this final quartet of time-travelling voyages - all of which will star Michael Jayston as the mysterious Valeyard, suggesting the "Trial" antagonist's character arc could finally receive a resolution of some kind after its continuation in Big Finish's Trial of the Valeyard - should more than serve their purpose in giving Baker's Doctor the "heroic" sacrifice many would, we'd wager, claim that the character deserved back in 1986, and if recent Who audio dramas such as Starlight Robbery and The Light at the End are anything to go by, the journey to this particular swansong should prove just as satisfying as the sure-to-be emotionally rigorous denouement.
Doctor Who: The Last Adventure will launch both as a multi-disc commemorative CD box-set and as a digital release this September. Before then, though, why not discover just why the Sixth Doctor evidently deserves better by watching McCoy's jumbled regeneration sequence from 1986's "Time and the Rani" (which, for those wondering, ranks as perhaps our most scorned Who serial of all-time for a myriad of reasons, amongst which this dreadful opening scene was a notable contender)?
