‘Lego 2K Drive’ Video Game to Launch in May; Execs Tease Yoda-Like Character, Planned Updates and More

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” Paramount’s “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” HBO’s “The Last of Us” and Netflix’s “Arcane” are just the start of a new wave of movies and TV series based on popular video games and table-top gaming IP.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director SPOILER ALERT: This post discusses plot developments from “The Last Of Us Part II” video game, which will presumably serve as inspiration for Season 2 of the HBO adaptation. Video game fans knew not to fall too hard for Pedro Pascal’s Joel while watching the first season of HBO’s “The Last of Us” adaptation (although that was all but impossible given Pascal’s acclaimed performance). In the video game’s sequel, “The Last of Us Part II,” Joel is shockingly murdered in the first act of the game by Abby, the daughter of the Firefly surgeon Joel killed in order to let Ellie live. Joel’s death sets Ellie up on a mission of revenge against Abby.

First lady and the Trump. Donald Trump and Melania Trump’s love story began long before their stint in the White House.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Gordon Ramsay is looking to find a new culinary entrepreneur to financially back in his upcoming Fox competition “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars,” and Variety has your first look at the food and drink industry execs who will be competing for the celeb chef’s $250,000 investment. Among those picked as contestants for the series, which debuts May 24 on Fox after the “MasterChef” Season 13 premiere, are the masterminds behind food brands and businesses including Fat Miilk, the Pepper app, Confetti Cakes baking kits, Snow Cone King, Happy Grub, Vegan AF, Pizza Girl, Smart Cups, Luther Bob’s and more. See the full list of competitors for “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars” Season 1 below.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”Based on the world of Nintendo’s Mario video games, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” will delight the generation of viewers that grew up playing them.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch could be called upon to testify in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit suit against Fox News and Fox Corp., per a Delaware judge who says he is not against calling upon the media moguls. If the attorneys for Dominion issue trial subpoenas to force a testimony from the Fox leaders, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said at a public hearing Wednesday he, “would not quash it and I would compel them to come,” per NBC News. “It would be my discretion that they come,” Davis said. Dominion’s attorneys requested in a letter to the court Wednesday that live testimony be required from Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, as well as Fox board member and former House Speaker Paul Ryan and Fox exec Viet Dinh. Davis approved the request to compel each of them to testify, according to NBC News.

The year 2023 has become the year of video game adaptations, with “The Last of Us” and “Tetris” taking center stage in the film and television zeitgeist four months in. But there’s a new, lighter and brighter video game film swooping in to change the tone from intense gripping drama to dreamy family-friendly delight.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” gives you a wholesome prankish druggy chameleonic video-game buzz; it’s also a nice, sweet confection for 6-year-olds. Historically, the proverbial problem with live-action movies based on video games — and “Super Mario Bros.,” a leaden dud released 30 years ago, had the dishonor of being the very first one — is that they jam-pack the screen with tropes and fights and characters and landscapes right out of the game, but when it comes to molding all that gimcrackery into, you know, a story, they lose the electronic pulse that made the game addictive. Digital animation is, and always should have been, the true cousin of video games (which are essentially computer fantasies that you control). And “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” takes full advantage of the sculptural liquid zap of the computer-animation medium. Yet it also has a fairy-tale story that’s good enough to get you onto its wavelength.

Lisa Barlow is crunching down on trollish accusations that she supports Donald Trump.

The latest phase of a huge new housing development at a former RAF airfield has been given the green light. The seventh phase of Omege South has been approved by Warrington Council which will include the building of 183 homes and 12 apartments on the former RAF Burtonwood airfield site.

in an SEC filing.“As we drive greater focus across our portfolio, we are moving away from projects that do not contribute to our strategy, reviewing our real estate footprint, and restructuring some of our teams,” Wilson wrote.The company puts out EA Sports FIFA 2023, Apex Legends and perennial favorite The Sims. In January, it announced it was canceling Apex Legends Mobile and Battlefield Mobile, which had failed to meet expectations, leading to EA also missing expectations for third-quarter earnings.Per Wilson’s email, the restructuring is expected to be completed by Sept.

Times have changed. Lionel Richie revealed “All Night Long” was written about the long, sexy romps of his youth, but he can’t quite go for a full eight hours anymore.

, which tells the real-life story of the high-stakes legal battle that took place to secure the rights to the iconic game.In the film, Taron Egerton stars as Henk Rogers, a Dutch video game designer who travels to the Soviet Union in 1989 to meet the game's creator, Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Yefremov), and attempt to secure handheld rights to the game, so Tetris can be distributed alongside Nintendo's revolutionary new Game Boy system.«I always just feel if you seek to humanize somebody and make them relatable and three-dimensional, then you are doing them the right service,» Egerton says of taking on the role in ET's exclusive behind-the-scenes look at , which also includes interviews with the real-life Rogers and Pajitnov, who recall their first meetings in Russia in a secretive, dimly lit room that «definitely had some KGB guys in there.»«It was strange to watch somebody else be me,» Rogers admitted of watching Egerton, though he praised the actor for doing a «good job.»«Tetris crosses boundaries,» adds Rogers' daughter, Maya, who is now the CEO of Blue Planet Software and managing director of The Tetris Company. «It brings people of all cultures together… Not only is Tetris an amazing game, it was only possible because of this amazing friendship between Henk and Alexey.» premieres March 31 on Apple TV+.

John Mayer is continuing his successful acoustic tour!

Reverend & The Makers have shared the latest single from their upcoming album, and held an introspective exhibition featuring contributions from numerous famous faces.‘A Letter To My 21 Year Old Self’ is taken from the Sheffield band’s upcoming album ‘Heatwave In The Cold North’, which is due for release on April 28 via Distiller Music. Pre-order the album here.“‘A Letter to My 21 year old Self’ is most of my pals favourite song from the new record, it’s also the most personal one I’ve ever written,” said frontman Rev of the new track.“Put simply, I’ve made a hell of a lot of mistakes during my time as a musician.

Thania Garcia Fans at SZA’s Kia Forum tour stop on March 22 and 23 — the final shows of her long-awaited “SOS” tour — were spoiled with celebrity sightings and treated to surprise performances from Phoebe Bridgers and Lizzo. Bridgers appeared on stage sporting a hoodie and jeans to join the “Kill Bill” singer in a performance of “Ghost In the Machine,” her melodious collaboration with SZA from her chart-topping sophomore album, “SOS.” phoebe bridgers and sza performing ghost in the machine tonight! pic.twitter.com/z5Z73FCfra The cameo launched the Los Angeles crowd into a frenzy that further intensified when Lizzo showed up to sing the self-love anthem “Special,” which recently received the remix treatment from SZA. The powerhouse singers took turns belting high notes and joined forces to deliver the song’s emotive chorus: “In case nobody told you today / You’re special.” 

The stars of Ride are celebrating their new series just days ahead of the television premiere!

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery received stock upgrades from two media analyst firms Friday for, among other things, making the decision to tie bonuses for CEO David Zaslav and his team to free cash flow performance. “We threw everything and the kitchen sink at a Downside Case scenario for WBD, and it still delevers to 3x by ’25E,” Wells Fargo analysts wrote in a research note published Friday, in which they upgraded WBD’s stock to “overweight” with a price target increase from $13 to $20 per share. “We now have conviction in FCF to limit downside, while the stock has asymmetric upside.” Meanwhile, Wolfe Research moved WBD from its “peer perform” rating to “outperform” and also upped the price target to $20. (At time of publication Friday, WBD stock was trading at $14.51 per share.)

George Yang “Resident Evil 4” was first released on the Nintendo GameCube back in 2005. Since then, it’s been hailed as one of the best video games of all time. Its goofy dialogue and action-based gameplay made for an entertaining adventure with government agent Leon S. Kennedy as he rescues the president’s kidnapped daughter, Ashley, from a mysterious cult. Almost 20 years later, Capcom has now remade “Resident Evil 4” from the ground up. When it was first announced, I thought to myself, “This game holds up and it doesn’t need a remake.” I was dead wrong. This remake of “Resident Evil 4” is amazing as it manages to honor the original, but also sets itself apart from it.

Full Disclosure: Sue me but not only have I never played 80’s iconic video game Tetris, I had never heard of it before encountering this new film, Tetris, which world premiered tonight at SXSW and comes from Apple Original Films, I realize that probably makes me a bit of an oddity to the Gameboy generation, but I can only say my lack of knowledge on this product did not hurt one bit in being wildly entertained by a movie that tells its origin story. In fact it seems to be part of an encouraging, but unlikely, new genre this young year: movies all about the backstory of well known products – Blackberry from IFC and Paramount; Flamin’ Hot from Searchlight; and now Tetris from Apple. All three have been on display this week at SXSW (Blackberry actually premiered at Berlin), and if you think watching the emergence of a smart phone, a Cheetos brand, and a single player video game is , well uh, less than compelling, think again.