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With its encore theatrical release ahead of Doomsday, Endgame has inched past Avatar to retake the throne as the highest-grossing film with $2.925 billion, versus $2.923 billion. Endgame overtook Avatar in 2019, only for James Cameron to retake it in 2021 with a rerelease ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water.
First, it was a rainstorm. Then the cars couldn’t accelerate properly. Then everyone had to wait around for a software update. That’s how a race at the Sepang International Circuit ended up starting 90 minutes late. The new engines have proven controversial and drawn plenty of ire from drivers.
After being idle on the throttle and letting the car slow, as is the norm on a formation lap, the software bug prevented the electrical power from kicking in. Tombazis described it as being a “loop.” The computer was stuck and unable to initiate a power return. For some drivers, the only solution was to stop and reset the car to get it going again. Esteban Ocon compared it to restarting Windows on a computer.
As head of Splice, CEO Kakul Srivastava has tried to carefully thread the line on AI music tools.
Ok, let’s be honest, it’s not much of a competition. The AI songs suck, and it’s pretty easy to tell which is human and which is AI when compared side by side. But the diary-style detailing of the songwriting process for both illustrates just how low-effort AI music is.
Revisiting rumors from earlier this year, Deadline and TheWrap report the adaptation of EA’s long-running FPS series would be directed and written by frequent Tom Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie. According to TheWrap, Sony is a “frontrunner,” following a bidding war that also included Warner Bros. Discovery, Amazon MGM Studios, Universal, and Netflix.
Paramount, meanwhile, is already working on a film version of Call of Duty.
You know the deal: every dollar you spend today goes straight to the artist. I’ve got a handful of albums I’ve been eyeing for a while but haven’t picked up yet, like Sophie Birch’s latest. But my priority today is the new Gilla Band record, Pugnello, which absolutely rips.
According to Deadline, one of the shows that Vin Diesel announced during NBC’s upfronts in May is going into production. There aren’t any details yet on the status of the other three F&F TV projects Diesel had mentioned, while the 11th movie in the series, Fast Forever, is still scheduled to hit theaters on March 17th, 2028.
The company says it will “reduce the reach” of Shorts content that’s re-uploaded without significant changes in an effort to prioritize “original content.” Instagram has made similar promises — but that hasn’t stopped swarms of anonymous accounts from taking over social media feeds through a practice known as clipping. I wrote about the ecosystem in May.
The budget-friendly Volt Gen 2 and Volt Max lineups still feature a built-in emulation of UA’s classic 1176 compressor. But add an emulation of the LA-2A compressor as well as three different preamp modes for Warmth (tube), Focus (solid-state), and Shine (British Class-A) that let you do a lot of tone shaping before you even hit your DAW.
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The free DLC, which launches today, also adds some new missions, a New Game Plus that lets you wear the various unlockable outfits wherever you want in the game, and a harder 00 difficulty. Seems like some great updates for an already excellent game.
The latest trailer for Disney Plus’ upcoming VisionQuest series gives use our best look yet at Ruaridh Mollica’s Tommy Shepherd — the reincarnated son of Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany’s Vision. It seems like he (and that curious accent) are going to be a big part of the show when it premiered on October 14th.
The former NFL coach went deep on his extremely detailed Minecraft project in a nearly 20-minute video that was published yesterday. I love how much he thinks about lighting and good views.
The studio is ending development, according to a post today. Earlier this year, the team launched a Witcher-themed version of Reigns. And if you haven’t played Card Shark, you should!
Remedy just put out version 1.4.0 of the game, and it includes a huge list of updates, which are detailed in these very extensive patch notes. The highlight is the New Game ++ mode, but there are bunch of other quality of life improvements. My favorite? “Dylan now audibly reacts to doing Tasks.” Same, buddy.
It adds bubbles on the player page for supported audiobooks showing which character and voice actor is speaking, along with “spoiler-free character cards” with more details on the performers. Audible’s also introducing an Interactive Stories feature for chatting with AI versions of book characters, starting with Dracula’s Renfield.
Mike Flanagan’s first Amazon series is a (mostly) excellent update of the classic Stephen King tale.
A confident return for one of Xbox’s most iconic franchises is coming during a period of dramatic upheaval.
The latest episode of South Park — sorry, South America — is overrun by “billionaire weenies” and their data centers. Worse, it’s a dangerous new strain who “like to go on podcasts and get into public arguments with Mark Ruffalo.” This clip should give you an idea of the problem:
If you’re looking for a match-3 game to play on your phone that isn’t Bejeweled or Microsoft’s own Candy Crush, you can try Microsoft Jewel on iOS and Android. The game includes Xbox achievements, and if you sign in with your Microsoft account, your progress stays synced between the iOS, Android, and PC apps.
The former Pittsburgh Steelers coach will be showing off his “Minecraft City” in a YouTube video premiering tonight at 8PM ET. The description calls it an “episode,” so perhaps this is the first in a series.
Tomlin says he’s been working on the city, which he called his “secret obsession,” for 12 years. (Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, in a reply: “Well done Coach.”)
Chase Bliss has made the unfortunate decision to discontinue the instrument because of production costs. But it has decided to open-source the entire project, including the hardware, and even released a new, simplified firmware as a jumping-off point for any would-be tinkerers. This also means you could build your own Chompi if you really wanted.
The feature was initially launched for Xbox Insider testers but is now available for all.
Go watch the ultra-low-budget black-and-white slapstick insta-classic Hundreds of Beavers, which Dropout’s Sam Reich calls “a masterclass in visual comedy.” Dropout mostly streams original content, but is increasingly licensing indie comedy; it launched the Don Hertzfeldt Collection last month.
Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest will debut on June 6th, 2029, Variety reports. Owen Harris, an executive producer and director for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, is set to direct the film.
The projects are in the “very early stages” and both will “expand the canon of The Last of Us beyond Part I and Part II,” according to studio head Neil Druckmann.
He also says that the studio won’t give a “proper look” at its next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, until 2027.
[Naughty Dog]
There are a lot of complaints about a Spotify outage on Downdetector, and when we checked ourselves, cached playlists seem to work just fine, but logging in fresh or trying to stream new music and playlists popped up error messages pointing us to try songs stored offline.
The @SpotifyCares support account has confirmed developers are looking into the problems, but there’s no word on when service might be fully restored.
[Downdetector]
It’s been a solid year for crime thrillers with the likes of Furious, and now Apple TV is entering the fray with Nocturne. It’s hard to gather too much from the new trailer — though Stephen Graham is shaping up to be a very fun serial killer — but the show starts streaming on October 30th.
The box office success of Avengers: Endgame’s re-release has apparently emboldened Sony, which is considering turning Spider-Man: Brand New Day around for a second run at cinema screens (and box office records) with new footage, The Wrap reports. It’s not clear if that means teases for future movies, or just deleted scenes.
The first episode in Developing Hell II, a followup to its excellent documentary about the first Hades, is out now. Can’t wait to see future episodes.
The Samsung Art Store’s first cinematic collection includes 38 stills from A24 films that users can display like art on The Frame and other compatible TVs, including shots from I Saw the TV Glow and Midsommar.
He’ll play a character named Joey who wasn’t in the games. Ian Alexander, who voiced Lev in The Last of Us: Part II, will play opposite him as another original character, Paco. Laura Bailey, who voiced Abby in the game, will join the cast as Elizabeth, a leader of the Seraphites cult.
Following backlash, YouTube posted on X that when the trailer was “submitted as an ad, it was temporarily restricted by our system. Following review the ad has been cleared to run.” Meta spokesperson Alex Dziedzan said, “This was an error,” and will now run the ads.
Update September 26th: Added statement from Meta.
