We at ComicBookMovie are excited to announce this casting announcement! Twitch’s Emmy-winning sci-fi series Artificial has added Dante Basco (Hook), and he’ll be making his debut during this Thursday’s upcoming episode.

If you’re unfamiliar with Artificial, it is a live audience-interactive scripted sci-fi series on Twitch. New episodes stream every Thursday, allowing the audience to participate in the decisions made by characters. It contains a choose-your-own-ending element without the ability to go back and change your decisions.

Dante Basco is best known for his portrayal of Rufio, the leader of the lost boys in Steven Speilberg’s Hook. On the voice-acting side of things, he is celebrated for his performance of Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender which recently marked its 15th anniversary.

In the below image for Week 5: Designing for Dante, the full breakdown of the upcoming episode is included along with instructions on audience participation and how to help create and influence Basco’s character. Check it out!

Check out a teaser for last week’s episode called Likelihood of Being Liked below, and be sure to share your thoughts on this exclusive announcement in the usual place!

Season 3 follows Elle (Christy St. John), a brand new character in the world of “Artificial.” Elle is a wildly idealistic and brilliant young scientist who is leading a live-streamed experience to help an artificial intelligence, “SV3” (Tiffany Chu), become human, using the help of the Twitch audience to do so. She’s vibrant, bold, and a bit quirky: a perfect match for Twitch.

Still licking the wounds suffered from the fall of Sophie Version 2 (“SV2”), who the audience decided should be deactivated, Sebastian (Stephen Chang) and his organization see an opportunity to relaunch a new Artificial Intelligence being using the technology that Dr. Matt Lin (Tohoru Masamune) first used to bring Sophie to life.

After installing a blank slate consciousness into Sophie’s old shell, “SV3” is activated and quarantined to a single home. Not wanting to repeat the same mistake of AI homicide that her predecessor Sophie (SV2) made, Sebastian rules that no humans are allowed to physically interact with SV3. He hires Elle, a cognitive science graduate student, to help raise this isolated SV3 in front of a live Twitch audience. 

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Nearly three decades after first gracing the silver screen, Steven Spielberg’s eternal classic Jurassic Park has, uh, found a way back to the top of the domestic box office. 

With a weekend haul of approximately $517,600 from 230 locations, the original dinosaur blockbuster won the weekend, barely edging out another Spielberg classic, Jaws, which earned around $516,300 from 187 locations across the United States. The rerelease of both catalog titles actually proved to be quite a bit more lucrative for Universal, improving on last weekend’s top two films: The Invisible Man ($383,000) and Trolls World Tour ($275,700).

Jurassic Park‘s original opening on June 11, 1993 was followed by a three-week reign atop the box office, making this weekend the fourth time in cinematic history the film has held the #1 position. To date, Jurassic Park has earned over $1,033.4 billion worldwide ($404.3M domestic; $629.1M foreign).

At the moment, a vast majority of major theater chains remain shut down, but with many expected to reopen within the next few weeks and new films slated to arrive near the end of July, including Disney’s Mulan on July 24 and Warner Bros.’ Tenet on July 31, business should start picking up in a significant manner relatively soon. However, with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic remaining an imminent threat in the United States, there is a possibility moviegoers will see further delays in the coming weeks.

Here’s last weekend’s box office top ten: 

1. Jurassic Park (Uni) 230 (+98) theaters, 3-day: $517,600 (+226%),lifetime cume: $404.3M /wk no. 1,411
2. Jaws (Uni) 187 theaters, 3-day: $516,300, lifetime cume: $263.9M/wk. no. 2,349
3. The Invisible Man (Uni/Blumhouse) 157 (+10) theaters, 3-day: $201,300 (-47%), cume $68.4M/Wk 17
4. Trolls World Tour (Uni) 289 (+41) theaters 3-day: $160,000 (-42%), cume: $3.9M/Wk 11
5. The Hunt (Uni) 95 (+12) theaters, 3-day: $136,700 (-40%), cume: $8.4M/Wk 15
6. Back to the Future (Uni) 122 theaters (+91), 3-day: $131,600 (-50%)/Running lifetime cume: $214.3M/wk 1,825
7. Followed (Atlas) 42 theaters, 3-day: $127,231/Wk 1
8. E.T. (Uni) 100 theaters (+22), 3-day: $126,100 (-35%)/lifetime cume: $435.4M/Wk 1,985
9. Jumanji: The Next Level (Sony) 97 theaters (+5) 3-day: $117,900 (-44%), cume: $323.2M/Wk 28
10. The Goonies (WB) 170 theaters (+34) 3-day: $110,850 (-28%), lifetime cume: $65.6M/Wk 1,829

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These days, a lot of comic book fans express a certain amount of fatigue when it comes to DC Comics’ Dark Knight and the fact he receives more attention on the big screen than perhaps any of the publisher’s other equally iconic characters. However, when Batman was released in 1989, a new take on Bruce Wayne was welcomed, especially as most casual viewers still perceived the character as that campy do-gooder from the swinging sixties. 

It wasn’t an easy journey to bring this new take on the Caped Crusader to theaters, and director Tim Burton only managed to get the movie greenlit after Beetlejuice proved to be an unexpected hit. Even then the odds were stacked against him, especially after Keaton’s casting as Batman resulted in a huge amount of backlash (at the time, he was best known for his comedy roles, and there were many who doubted he could pull of a serious character like this). A-Lister Jack Nicholson, meanwhile, was happy to come on board as The Joker…providing he got to call the shots with his shooting scheduled, received a huge payday, and received top billing above The Batman himself. 

Despite a few challenges behind the scenes like a rapidly increasing budget, Batman soon started taking shape, and earned widespread critical acclaim along with a whopping $400 million at the box office (making it the fifth highest grossing movie in history at the time). It was by no means perfect for a lot of fanboys – the change made to The Joker’s origin story proved to be particularly divisive – but it still ushered in a new era of storytelling for Batman and put Keaton on the map. A sequel – Batman Returns – would soon follow, and while it was all downhill for the Dark Knight after that (well, until 2005’s Batman Begins came along), the film remains a classic to this day. 

Now, over thirty years after Keaton first suited up as the DC Comics icon, he’s in talks to reprise the role in The Flash two years from now. Assuming those talks work out, he will join the DC Extended Universe as a Batman who has spent decades protecting Gotham City and a mentor to new characters like Batgirl and, presumably, Terry McGinnis. The possibilities are endless, and it’s impossible not to be excited about seeing him back in the role. 

As for Batman, it set a benchmark for the character on screen many fans feel still hasn’t been reached, and if you grew up with The Dark Knight Trilogy or Batfleck, then going back and checking these out – if you haven’t already – should be a priority.

What are some of your favourite Batman moments?

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The Wrap has updated its initial report (which has now been backed by all the major Hollywood trades) to include more details about Warner Bros.’ plans to bring Michael Keaton’s Batman back to the big screen. The site explains that the general plot of The Flash will revolve around the Multiverse, with “Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne [still] viewed as the future of the franchise.”

In other words, it’s sounding increasingly likely that The Batman will be a standalone franchise not all that different to Joker. Regardless, The Flash will reportedly see the Scarlet Speedster travel back in time to prevent the death of his mother, an act which leads to the creation of another universe.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because that was essentially the plot of the Flashpoint comic book series. 

They go on to explain that this new reality is protected by Keaton’s version of Batman, and both Batman Forever and Batman & Robin will be forgotten about, with The Flash revealing what this Dark Knight has been up to in the thirty years since we last saw him face The Penguin in Batman Returns.

It seems likely that this newly created world will be here to stay, especially as it’s being widely reported that Keaton’s Batman will stick around, acting as a mentor to a number of heroes (including Batgirl). 

This would also explain the disappearance of Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight, but will leave the main DCEU with a Batman who has probably retired. It’s an interesting, and exciting, move, that’s for sure…

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Taika Waititi directed the season finale of The Mandalorian, and The Hollywood Reporter has now shared some must-see behind the scenes photos from the episode (unfortunately, they’re copyrighted, but can be found by following the link in the Tweet below). 

The Thor: Ragnarok director took his time with Baby Yoda very seriously while working on the Disney+ series and admitted that he would often hold The Child while taking breaks between shooting scenes. “He reminded me so much of my babies when they were 6 months old. I couldn’t help it, I had to hold it in the same way. It would be pretty heartless not to.”

In the same interview, Jon Favreau talked about what makes The Mandalorian so special, and explained the importance of keeping the fans in mind while working in a Galaxy Far, Far Away. 

“The fact of the matter is, as much as we love working on Star Wars, we love even more making Star Wars for other people,” the executive producer explains. “And when other people are excited by it, dig what we’re doing and are appreciative, that’s as good as it gets for us.”

It’s clear that the team working on The Mandalorian knows what makes the Star Wars franchise work, and with Waititi now working on a movie for Lucasfilm, that’s very good news indeed. 
 

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Chris Evans recently revealed that had he been able to choose, he would’ve played Spider-Man. The web-slinger was his childhood hero, though he did admit that, “I would have hated to wear Spider-Man’s mask. I’m very claustrophobic, and I doubt whether I could have worn that kind of full suit and mask for hours a day on a set.”

He later said that “I much prefer my Captain America outfit, which I think is cooler anyway,” but fan artist Bosslogic has now shared a piece revealing how Evans could look suited up as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man. 

It works surprisingly well, and seeing as Evans previously played the Human Torch before suiting up as Captain America, it’s not that hard to picture him as another Marvel superhero! For now, the role remains Tom Holland’s, and unless the actor joins the DC Extended Universe, his time as a comic book character on screen is likely at an end. 

Steve Rogers becoming Spider-Man would make for a fun episode of Disney+’s What If?, though!

Click HERE for more Spider-Man news from CBM!
 

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It’s clear that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is expanding in a big way over the next few years, and rumours relating to characters who will soon be added to Marvel Studios’ shared world continue to persist. That’s no great surprise when the rights to both the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises were recently placed in Kevin Feige’s hands, giving him hundreds of new heroes and villains to play with.

Among them is Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight. Closely tied to Wolverine, the group first appeared in the pages of 1979’s Uncanny X-Men #120, and they’re essentially Canada’s Avengers. Now, a new rumor claims that the studio has plans to introduce the team in a future project.

Alpha Flight works for Department H, and are a formidable, diverse group of heroes who would definitely bring a lot to the MCU. Marvel Studios has never really explored the concept of an international team like this (Captain Britain, for example, still hasn’t appeared despite a number of MCU stories being set in London), so it would be something fresh for this shared world.

As always, it’s important to take a rumour like this with a pinch of salt, but there have been a number of iterations of this team, including one which was led by Captain Marvel. 

We’ll have to wait and see when and where this group appears, but there are any number of projects they could make a mark in over the next few years both on the big and small screens. Heck, Marvel Studios could even introduce Wolverine as a member of the group before he joins the X-Men…

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