Microsoft Closes $69B Acquisition Of Activision Blizzard, Creating Video Game Behemoth

A live orchestra is set to perform the scores of some of the most played and beloved video games in a live show in Manchester.

NBC is developing a U.S. version of The Underdog, the Truman Show-style guessing game format that sees social media influencers compete in a popularity contest alongside one person without an online following.

Cornerstone has closed sales on multiple territories including North America and the UK for writer and director Daniel Kokotajlo’s folk horror Starve Acre.

Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival has announced that Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla will be the closing film of this year’s festival, where it will receive its South Asian premiere on November 3 at the PVR Maison in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). 

Refresh for latest…: Universal/Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy’s is gaming its way to an estimated $130.6M global opening, higher even than we had it yesterday as this phenom is now eyeing a $52.6M bow from 64 international box office markets. As Anthony has chronicled, the domestic $78M opening is a stunner — and amid the day-and-date Peacock bow. Overseas, the play is purely theatrical and has set a number of records.

Mister Smith Entertainment has hired Augusta Charlton as Director, International Sales & Acquisitions. 

Train services have been cancelled and roads closed as downpours return to marred Perth and Kinross once more.

Meghan Markle is zeroing in on a “make or break” new podcast deal.

Marta Balaga DR Sales has been racking up sales for Danish drama series “Prisoner.” Starring Sofie Gråbøl, David Dencik, Youssef Wayne Hvidtfeldt and Charlotte Fich, it has been picked up by BBC (UK and Ireland), Canal+ Group’s channel Polar+ (France), MHz Networks (U.S.), SBS (Australia), NPO (Netherlands) and BeTV (French-speaking Belgium). Revolving around four desperate prison guards, forced to deal with everything from rampant drug trade to their personal problems and imminent closure of the prison, the show was created by Kim Fupz Aakeson.

The late Queen's maid of honour Lady Glenconner has said that Meghan Markle expected life in the Royal Family to be different to how it was following the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes' shock exit from the Firm back in 2020.

Thania Garcia Gratitude and light rain poured over a crowd of thousands during RBD’s — that’s Rebelde, the fictional band turned real-life superstars — final date of North American shows in Los Angeles on Oct. 22.

UPDATED, 8 AM: “Attention all players. It is now time for the next game.” So begins the new trailer for Squid Game: The Challenge, dropped today by Netflix ahead of the reality series’ November 22 premiere. It’s an extended look at the competition series inspired by the hit Korean dystopian drama series, with some of the contestants showing surprise when they are “fake shot”, “Oh s**t” says one of the contestants when she takes an air bullet to the chest. There’s also surprise when contestants are told they need to eliminate two of their own. Check out the new trailer above.

It might seem like an unlikely friendship between a member of the Royal family and a DJ, but Mike Tindall and James Haskell go way back.The pair are not only former rugby players for England but have each starred in the hit ITV show I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, and now even have a hit podcast together. James went into the Australian camp in 2019 while Mike took on bushtucker trials in 2022, and it appears the 38-year-old who is married to Chloe Madeley gave the royal star a few words of advice before heading in.

The Big Brother reboot has been taking over our lives as of late - and if we're being honest - we're not about to change that any time soon. Since the fresh batch of new housemates entered the iconic Big Brother house earlier this month, plus new hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best took to the job like a duck to water, our evenings have been filled with enormous amounts of entertainment.

Game Of Thrones.In his memoir, Putting The Rabbit In The Hat, published two years ago, the Succession star addressed a number of near misses in his career, which included the opportunity to play Robert Baratheon in the HBO fantasy series.READ MORE: ‘Succession’ season four, episode one recap: deals, drama and divorce“I’m often asked if I was offered a role in Game of Thrones – reason being that every other bugger was – and the answer is, yes, I was supposed to be a king called Robert Baratheon,” he wrote.The actor explained that he turned down the role because the money wasn’t great and the character got killed off early.“There’s always been a tendency of American productions to treat British actors differently from American actors,” he said. “In other words, to get them cheap.”Cox also rejected the part of the governor in Pirates Of The Caribbean, a role that eventually went to Jonathan Pryce.

Frontier Developments, the developer of series like Elite, F1 Manager and RollerCoaster Tycoon, has announced that there will be an unknown number of redundancies to reduce annual operating costs.The news broke through the London Stock Exchange on October 17, stating that a period of “disappointing financial performance” had led to the decision.As a result of the layoffs and a new constrained spending strategy, Frontier Developments aims to cut annual operating costs by up to 20 per cent.“The organisational review and resulting actions are expected to conclude by early 2024, placing Frontier in a strong position to deliver efficiently on its strategic plan over the medium term, and capitalise on future opportunities,” read the statement.Redundancies will be subject to consultation and for that reason it has not been disclosed how many developers and other employees of Frontier will be affected. This reorganisation is expected to wrap up in early 2024.It has been a tricky year for Frontier, with a year-on-year drop in revenue from £114million to £104.6million for the financial year ending in May 2023.Furthermore, Frontier shuttered its third-party publishing label Frontier Foundry in June, which led to “£28.7 million of non-cash intangible asset impairment and accelerated amortisation charges” impacting the total operating profit.According to VideoGameLayoffs.com, a website managed by developer Farhan Noor, more than 6,000 jobs in the games industry have been lost over the course of 2023.Epic Games cut over 800 roles in order to cut costs, and Embracer Group closed Volition only two months after celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Amazon is entering The 1% Club.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Any new show by producer Frank Doelger – whose credits include “Game of Thrones,” “The Swarm,” “John Adams” and “Rome” – must rate as an event. That event takes place Oct. 17 at Cannes Mipcom trade fair, with the world premiere of “Concordia,” on which Doelger serves as executive producer and showrunner.

Manchester United supporter group The 1958 have vowed to continue to protest against the Glazers for as long they own shares at Old Trafford following news of Sir Jim Ratcliffe's desire to buy a minority stake at the club.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cineflix Rights has closed multiple international deals across its slate, including returning seasons of “Last King of The Cross” and “Reginald the Vampire,” as well as the movie “Sugar.” “Last King of The Cross” charts the rise of John Ibrahim from poverty-stricken immigrant to the most infamous nightclub mogul in Sydney’s Kings Cross. Season 2 of the show, which has been acquired by Sky (U.K.), Warner Bros.