Greta Gerwig's follow-up to Barbie, an adaptation of one of C.S Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia books, will be exclusively viewable in theaters for four weeks before it hits Netflix on Christmas, according to a new report from Puck. Netflix is historically anti-theater, but it seems like it can set that aside for the right filmmaker.
Theaters will have a four-week exclusive window on the film globally — longer than the week Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery got — but it will only be available to watch on IMAX screens to start. IMAX is guaranteeing the film will be shown in the format for two weeks, according to Puck, and is willing to add another week if there's demand. After that, the film could come to non-IMAX theaters, too.
Netflix, while owning a few theaters itself, is philosophically-opposed to theatrical exclusivity. It'll put Netflix movies in theaters for the amount of time required to qualify for awards season, but otherwise avoids them like the plague. That might be nice for subscribers who've become accustomed to watching everything at home, but most filmmakers want their films to be seen on the big screen. For example, Netflix reportedly lost the chance to distribute Saltburn director Emerald Fennel's next film, an adaptation of Wuthering Heights, because it refused to give the film time in theaters, according to The New York Times.
Rumors circulated that IMAX, Gerwig, and Netflix were discussing a deal in October 2024, and it seems the director got her way. It's strange to have to fight tooth and nail for what could be a blockbuster movie to be seen by a paying audience. There's plenty of evidence that putting films in theaters makes money, but it's a lesson that even company's like Disney have had to relearn after the streaming boom. Moana 2 started as a Disney+ filler before it was tweaked and turned into a theatrical release that made over $200 million in December 2024.
It's impossible to say if this decision signals a longterm change at Netflix, but future filmmakers working with the company now have interesting precedent to point to for their own theatrical deals.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/greta-gerwigs-narnia-movie-will-get-up-to-four-weeks-in-theaters-203920581.html?src=rss©
© REUTERS / Reuters
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, the just-launched port of the 2010 Wii game, doesn’t include individual members of the original Retro Studios development team in the credits, as reported by GameSpot. Since the discovery, however, Nintendo has commented on the omission, giving a statement to Eurogamer.
“We believe in giving proper credit for anyone involved in making or contributing to a game’s creation, and value the contributions that all staff make during the development process,” the statement reads, which is sourced only to Nintendo and not to a specific individual. The game’s credits reveal that the port was done by Forever Entertainment.
Crediting is an industry-wide issue, and this isn’t the first time Nintendo has come under scrutiny for its crediting decisions. Some developers who worked on the original Metroid Prime — another Retro Studios game — were unhappy that Metroid Prime Remastered’s credits didn’t include the full original credits. And external translators have expressed frustrations with being left out of credits for some major Nintendo games, Game Developer reported last year.
As of late, Nintendo has also been somewhat cagey about things like voice actors and the specific studios developing its games.
A new rule requiring all vehicles to have automatic emergency braking is “flawed” and should be repealed, a new lawsuit filed by the auto industry’s main lobbying group says.
The suit was filed in US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by the Alliance of Automotive Innovation, which represents most of the major automakers, including Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Hyundai, Volkswagen, and Toyota. The group is asking the court to overturn the new rule, which was finalized last year, requiring all vehicles to have automatic emergency braking (AEB) by 2029.
Under the rule, all vehicles will be required to be able to “stop and avoid contact” with other vehicles at speeds of up to 62mph. In addition, AEB systems must apply the brakes automatically “up to 90 mph when a collision with a lead vehicle is imminent, and up to 45 mph when a pedestrian is detected.” Vehicles must also be able to detect pedestrians in both daylight and darkness. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says the new rule will help prevent hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of injuries every year.
But after the rule was finalized, the alliance petitioned NHTSA to “reconsider” it, arguing that current technology was insufficient to meet the high standards outlined by the regulation. The group also claimed that its suggestions were rejected during the rulemaking process, and urged NHTSA to reconsider several key provisions in order to make it more achievable by the target date.
But NHTSA denied the group’s petition, stating that the requirements were “practicable” and that the overall aim is to “force” the industry to adopt new technology in order to meet the goals of saving lives and preventing injuries.
“NHTSA acknowledged that the final rule is technology-forcing,” the agency said in its response, “but emphasized that the standard is practicable and no single current vehicle must meet every requirement for an FMVSS to be considered practicable under the Safety Act.”
The auto alliance says that it has spent “more than a billion dollars” developing AEB over the years, but doesn’t want this lawsuit to be seen as undermining its own technology. And it says it much prefers the “voluntary agreement” that preceded the mandate.
“This litigation by Alliance for Automotive Innovation should not be interpreted as opposition to AEB, a lack of confidence in the technology, or an objection to AEB’s widest possible deployment across the U.S. vehicle fleet,” the group says in a press release. “Rather, this litigation is about ensuring a rule that maximizes driver and pedestrian safety and is technologically feasible.”
But consumer and safety advocates aren’t buying it.
“The AEB Rule is the most impactful regulation for roadway safety issued in years,” said Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, in a statement. “Considering that automaking is America’s largest manufacturing sector, employs 10 million Americans, generates five percent of the U.S. GDP and drives $1 trillion into the economy annually, it is remarkable that it would be unable to meet the requirements in the AEB Rule by September 2029.”
And William Wallace, Consumer Report’s director of safety advocacy, said, “It is profoundly disappointing that automakers are suing to block this lifesaving automatic emergency braking rule. Car companies have brought impressive safety technology to our roads, but AEB performance among new vehicle models is uneven. This rule is needed because everyone on our roads should be able to benefit from automatic emergency braking systems that meet reasonable minimum standards.”
Most of the user-facing health and exercise features on the Pixel Watch are powered by the Fitbit Wear OS app and an update is rolling out today.
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Read.cv, a social media platform for professionals that competed with LinkedIn, has been acquired by AI-powered search engine Perplexity. As part of the deal, Read.cv will begin to wind down operations Friday. Users will be able to export their data, including their profiles, posts, and messages, until May 16. “We’ve long admired Perplexity and believe […]
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The Supreme Court has upheld a ban on TikTok. Before the app goes dark on Sunday, you’re probably wondering how to back up the dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of videos you may have on the platform. Whether you want to save your favorite videos or videos you posted yourself, here’s how to do it. And […]
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Castlevania: Nocturne season 2 gets philosophical about what it means to be a monster who loves.
Apple discontinued AirPods Max with Lightning when AirPods Max with USB-C debuted last fall. However, you can still easily find the original version new in stores if you shop the right places. There are three reasons why this made be the right move for you.
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Character AI, a startup that lets users chat with different AI-powered characters, is now testing games on its desktop and mobile web apps to increase engagement on its platform. The games are available to Character AI’s paid subscribers and a limited set of users on the free plan. For this initial release, the company developed […]
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Bluesky on Friday published its moderation report for the past year, noting the sizable growth the social network experienced in 2024 and how that affected its Trust & Safety team’s workload. It also noted that the largest number of reports came from users reporting accounts or posts for harassment, trolling, or intolerance — an issue […]
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The seven-year wait is finally over. Nintendo has officially revealed its next console, the Switch 2. Now that the reveal has actually happened, after months of speculation, we can all move onto something else, right? Not so fast. The short introduction video actually created more questions than answers. There’s a whole lot we don’t know about Nintendo’s forthcoming hybrid console, so let’s get into it.
We don’t know! Nintendo has a Direct livestream planned for April 2, in which we’ll probably get that information. It’ll be sometime after that, but during 2025. Maybe they’ll do a quick turnaround and have it ready for sale by the end of April, but a summer release is far more likely. It’s also possible the company will wait until the beginning of the lucrative holiday season. Folks will be able to play it in the near future, however, as Nintendo is holding in-person events throughout the world in April through June.
This is another mystery. The introduction video merely showed the exterior of the console, along with the updated controllers. There was no mention of internal specs. Of course, there are plenty of rumors regarding the power of Nintendo’s next console, but nothing concrete. Some analysts predict the console will include an eight-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal eMMC storage, while others say it’ll be powered by an NVIDIA-produced Tegra239 SoC (system on a chip). Most people seem to agree that the system will include some version of NVIDIA’s DLSS “deep learning supersampling" upscaling tech.
We’ve seen the screen in action, likely running some version of an upcoming Mario Kart game. The video gave us some insight into the size of the display, as it looks to be around 30 percent larger than the current model. This tracks with rumors indicating an 8-inch screen. However, we don’t know the type of display that accompanies the console. Rumors vary here. Some analysts predict a Mini-LED screen, while others expect a traditional LCD. It probably won’t be an OLED, as the company will likely save that for a future upgrade.
There aren’t even any credible rumors on this one, but there was some speculation last year regarding the company’s adoption of a performance mode feature with the Switch 2. Nintendo likes to hit that mass market sweet spot, so I’d be very surprised if the battery life didn’t match the Switch OLED’s 4.5 to nine hours of playtime per charge. The console will be more powerful than the OG Switch, certainly, but it’s also bigger. That extra room can house a beefy battery.
This is yet another unknown. Nintendo will likely reveal pricing information on April 2. The original Switch launched at $300, as did the Wii U. However, inflation is real and supply chains are rickety. Rumors have been circulating that the price could shoot up to $400, or even higher. Nintendo does tend to increase base level console prices every couple of generations. The GameCube originally cost $200 and the Wii was $250.
There’s been a long-standing rumor that the Switch 2 will incorporate mouse-like functionality via optical sensors on the Joy-Cons. We don’t have exact confirmation on that, but the introduction video sure seems to imply it. Eagle-eyed viewers probably spotted a segment that featured the Pixar-like controllers moving around a table like, well, two computer mice. If true, Nintendo will likely develop some wacky software that combines mouse and controller inputs. In any event, this addition will certainly make stuff like Civilization VI easier to play. It could also hint at a new Mario Paint.
Viewers also likely spotted a new button on the bottom of the right Joy-Con. This was previously rumored to be a “C” button, but it's unmarked in the introduction video. We don’t know what it does, so your guess is as good as ours. Maybe it calibrates controllers or initiates voice chat. We’ll probably find out on April 2.
Yes, the Switch 2 is backwards compatible with original Switch games. This is fantastic news, but the intro video did note that "certain Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2." We don’t exactly know what that means or how many titles it will impact. It’s a fair bet that it refers to some of the wackier stuff from the previous generation, like Nintendo Labo or Mario Kart: Home Circuit.
We’ll have to wait and see on that one, but the reveal video did take some time out to show a joystick doing cute little full circles. Previous leaks have indicated that Nintendo has learned its lesson regarding stick-drift and the new console will include Hall effect joysticks. We sure hope so.
The Switch’s user interface, for better or worse, is extremely minimal and bare-bones. This carries over to the online shopping experience. We don’t know if the Switch 2 will incorporate some Nintendo-grade wackiness when it comes to the UI. My hope is that it brings back its long-forgotten social network Miiverse. It was silly and fun. Modern social media apps are a lot of things, but I wouldn’t exactly call them silly or fun.
From the headache-inducing 3DS to the, well, equally headache-inducing Virtual Boy, Nintendo has always marched to the beat of its own drum. The Switch 2, however, seems to be an extremely conservative release for the company. It's a more powerful and slightly bigger Switch.
Will there be any of that Nintendo weirdness that saved the company in the age of the Wii and nearly ruined it during the Wii U era? We don't know yet. It's entirely possible the aforementioned optical sensors or "C" button could lead to wild and wacky gameplay experiences. It's also possible that there are features yet to be announced. This is Nintendo we are talking about here.
This is a total unknown, though fans hoping for a new Mario Kart certainly got a jolt by that reveal video. It included a fair amount of footage from what looked to be a brand-new Mario Kart, complete with revamped character designs and the potential for 24-person races.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/everything-were-still-dying-to-know-about-the-nintendo-switch-2-195606756.html?src=rss©
© Nintendo/Engadget
Photography enthusiasts pay a lot for their very powerful cameras. How much more should they pay to put them to much, much easier work as a webcam? However many hundreds of dollars you paid, Canon thinks you should pay $5 per month—or, heck, just $50 per year—to do that.
Roman Zipp detailed his journey from incredulousness to grim resignation in a blog post. He bought his Canon PowerShot G5 X Mark II for something like $900 last year. The compact model gave him the right match of focal length and sensor size for concert pics. What it did not give him was the ability to change anything at all about his webcam feed using Canon's software. (The "$6,299 camera" referenced in Zipp's blog post title is his indication that all models of Canon's cameras face this conundrum, regardless of price point.)
Ah, but that's because Zipp did not pay. If you head to Canon's site, provide a name and email, and manage to grab the EOS Webcam utility when Canon's servers are not failing, you can connect one camera, with one default scene, at 720p, 30 frames per second and adjust everything on the camera itself if you need to. Should you pay $5 per month, or $50 per year, you can unlock EOS Webcam Utility Pro (PDF link), which provides full 60 fps video and most of the features you'd expect out of a webcam that cost hundreds fewer dollars.
© Canon
Falling debris from the SpaceX Starship explosion yesterday created what looked like a meteor shower, or a colorful fireworks show based on videos shared by people in the area, but it also delayed flights.
Eight and a half minutes after launch yesterday, the upper stage of the SpaceX Starship “experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” following the separation from its booster and the start of its ascent to space.
The footage of the explosion’s aftermath was shared to social media and Reddit. Some of it was recorded inside planes flying nearby, and many flights were diverted around the debris field, or delayed until all the fragments touched down.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it had “briefly slowed and diverted planes around the area where space debris was falling,” according to Reuters.
The 7th test flight of Starship was at least a partial success, marking the second time SpaceX successfully caught the Super Heavy booster with its launch tower. It was also the first time one of the booster’s Raptor engines was reused from a previous flight.
The launch was a testbed for a redesigned propulsion system, an improved flight computer, and the craft’s heat shield. It’s unclear if any of these were factors in the failure, but SpaceX says that, according to “initial data,” the explosion was potentially the result of a fire that developed in the ship’s rear section.
The company says that “Starship flew within its designated launch corridor” and “any surviving pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated hazard area.” The falling debris put on a show in the evening sky over the Caribbean and was captured by several tourists who seemed both amazed and slightly anxious about what they were witnessing.
@cnnbrk @CNN @cnni @Pardon_Me_22 appears to be a meteor shower over Turks and Caicos this evening.. Wow!!! Flew right over @ClubMedTurkoise pic.twitter.com/OL7vq8vbkH
— Joshua Johnson (@JoshAJohnson10) January 16, 2025
Just saw the most insane #spacedebris #meteorshower right now in Turks and Caicos @elonmusk what is it?? pic.twitter.com/a7f4MbEB8Q
— Dean Olson (@deankolson87) January 16, 2025
This just happened in the sky over #turksandcaicos ☄️ ♀️ #Aliens #meteor #firework??? pic.twitter.com/OwodvImSVC
— Sally Alington (@sallyethos) January 16, 2025
— andres (@_thatonedolphin) January 17, 2025
After SpaceX Starship’s rapid unscheduled disassembly, our most tracked flights are all aircraft holding or diverting to avoid any potential debris. https://t.co/CzXnD5YvZg pic.twitter.com/4FTa4zI24V
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 16, 2025
A screenshot shared by the flight tracking website FlightRadar24 to its X account yesterday showed several aircraft in holding patterns or being diverted following the incident, while another showed flight departures from Miami and For Lauderdale airports being delayed by 45 minutes.
The last time SpaceX lost the Starship was during its third test flight last March. Although it was the first flight where the Starship completed its full-duration ascent burn, SpaceX lost contact with the spacecraft shortly before it was expected to splash down in the Indian Ocean.
Now that TikTok has finally reached the end of its legal options in the US to avoid a ban, somehow its future seems less clear than ever.
The Supreme Court couldn’t have been more direct: the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, as applied to TikTok, withstands First Amendment scrutiny and can take effect on January 19th. The court agreed that the government had a compelling national security interest in passing the law and that its rationale was content neutral. The solution proposed — forcing Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok or see it ousted from the US — was ruled appropriately tailored to meet those ends.
Yet the government’s response hardly feels like a victory lap. In fact, despite being still under ByteDance’s control, it’s not clear that anyone in the US government will even act like TikTok is banned on the 19th.
“TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement after the Supreme Court ruling today. “Given...
