After his heavily divisive DCEU debut in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Ben Affleck stepping down from directing a standalone movie after months of negative speculation, Batman fans needed a palate cleanser - something to refresh the character in the mainstream after a dour, complicated run of releases. That palete cleanser came from a rather unexpected source: those plastic bricks best known for the excruciating pain you get stepping on one....

As a publisher, Bethesda’s E3 presentation could be seen as a moderate success. The much-wanted reveal of more Doom Eternal gameplay went down a treat, while some of the publisher’s other developers were on hand to showcase new titles such as the time-bending Deathloop and the supernatural GhostWire: Tokyo. As a game creator in its own right, though, Bethesda was found wanting. There’s a reason why Bethesda’s press conference is seen by some as a disappointment, and that’s because Bethesda’s most popular game franchises did not appear in the way that fans would have expected....

If appearances are to be believed, Bernadette Rostenkowski is the sweetest, most tenderhearted character on The Big Bang Theory. Between her cute floral-dress-and-cardigan combo, the glasses, and that voice like a bluebird in a Disney movie, how could we think anything different? Foolish humans. That’s like mistaking Freddy Krueger for Snow White. While Bernadette can display a soft side, those occasions are blue moon-level infrequent. Most of the time, her husband and friends are faced with Krueger-Bernadette, who (emotionally) picks everybody off one by one, using verbal evisceration instead of a razor-blade glove....

The Big Bang Theory’s series finale gave Penny and Leonard a touching ending with the reveal that the couple are expecting a baby. However, the show could have done a much better job in crafting the pregnancy storyline, particularly since so much of the sitcom’s final season was devoted to the couple’s kid/no kid arc - which now feels somewhat redundant. Uneven storytelling was a recurring problem especially in the latter seasons of The Big Bang Theory, with majority of the attention zeroed in on Sheldon’s story....

BlacKkKlansman is, unbelievably, based on a true story, but how much of Spike Lee’s tale of a black detective who infiltrated the KKK over the phone and had a white officer play him in person actually happened? In short, a surprisingly large amount. Starring John David Washington and Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman takes a very comedic approach to its storytelling, constantly pointing out the ridiculousness of the investigation. The movie even opens with a tone-setting claim that “Dis joint is based on some fo’ real, fo’ real sh*t”....

The well-known payments company Block (formerly known as Square) has always offered solutions for merchants who use iPads as sales terminals. However, this time, Block is now introducing a new iPad stand that comes with a built-in NFC reader for payments. Update: Block has now officially unveiled the next-generation Square Stand for iPad. The new Square Stand is now available for $149, but it only works with the entry-level iPad (7th generation and later), the 3rd-generation iPad Air, and the original 10....

BOE resumes production of iPhone 13 OLED panels ahead of iPhone 14. This will be an important week for the Chinese display maker BOE, as it expects Apple to evaluate its OLED panels aimed for the upcoming iPhone 14 series. If everything goes right, mass production could start soon. The report by The Elec shows that BOE is in a different position than it was a few weeks ago, as Apple had stopped the iPhone 13’s OLED panel production with the Chinese company due to it changing the circuit width of the thin film transistors on the OLED panels....

Welcome to the Screen Rant Box Office Prediction. Every week we put together an informal list of box office picks for the upcoming weekend to offer readers a rough estimate of how new releases (and returning holdovers) will perform in theaters. For a recap of last week’s box office totals, read our box office wrap-up from Daddy’s Home’s opening weekend and scroll to the bottom of this post to see how our previous picks measured up....

From humble origins in Brooklyn to the battlefields of World War 2, to the modern day and even to the distant Kree and Skrull Empires, Steve Rogers aka Captain America has fought more than his share of enemies. Cap has been a symbol for not just American patriotism, but for all that’s good in the world, too: freedom, democracy, and fighting the good fight. It stands to reason that in all his long years, he’s encountered some of the most terrible evils in the Marvel Universe....

When fans think of Star Wars, the things that spring to mind encompass the best parts of the galaxy far, far away. Jedi and the Dark Side. Droids and Stormtroopers. Lightsaber duels and space battles. Strange planets and even stranger creatures. John Williams fanfares and opening crawls. Then there are the parts of the narrative fans prefer to forget. While the prequel trilogy — 1999’s The Phantom Menace, 2002’s Attack of the Clones, and 2005’s Revenge of the Sith — features many of the things that made fans fall in love with Star Wars from the time the very first movie premiered in 1977, they also made missteps....

Chucky creator Don Mancini rejected an offer from MGM to executive produce the upcoming Child’s Play reboot. Mancini has joked about the remake in the past, but now it seems there is genuine frustration from him. MGM announced the Child’s Play reboot over the summer, and since then the film has locked down its cast and production on the project has begun. The film will feature a technologically advanced Buddi doll, and while no one from the original classic is involved, this new film will have a similar plot....

Netflix’s Daredevil star Charlie Cox says that Ben Affleck’s performance in the 2003 film Daredevil “is fantastic.” A dozen years after Affleck disappointed fans by playing Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Fox’s feature film debut of Daredevil, Cox finally gave the Marvel faithful the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen they were hoping for with Netflix’s Daredevil, which brought the gritty edge to the character that Affleck’s film failed to provide. His turn as Murdock/Daredevil in 2015 was definitely a breakthrough role for Cox, who went on to reprise the character for a second seaso nin 2016 opposite Elodie Yung as Elektra Natchios and Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/The Punisher; and again in 2017 for The Defenders with Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage and Finn Jones as Danny Rand/The Iron Fist....

Although the film rights for the DC Comics library are held by a singular movie studio, Warner Bros., the same can’t be said for Marvel Comics. The rights of various Marvel superheroes are split between three film houses: 20th Century Fox holds the rights to mutants and the X-Men - including characters like Deadpool and Gambit - while Sony is in charge of Spider-Man and a number of connected characters; The Avengers, as well as other Marvel Comics superheroes, remain with Marvel Studios under the Disney umbrella....

Warning: SPOILERS for Black Panther Vs. Deadpool #2 The fight between Deadpool and Black Panther just got kicked up to a new level, now that Wade Wilson has decided to upgrade the severed limb he used to call an arm… with something far more horrifying. The shocking case of Deadpool body modification comes in the latest issue of Black Panther Vs. Deadpool, the Marvel Comic pitting the two least likely Avengers against eachother over the fate of Wakanda - and the life of a neighborhood mailman....

Deadpool’s marketing is some of the best in recent years. Along with the expected trailers (which captured the film’s irreverent tone perfectly), there was a long-running viral campaign with Ryan Reynolds appearing as the Merc with a Mouth in all manner of humorous skits that made it seem almost like an anti-superhero flick; exactly what you’d expect from a film that got green-lit based on leaked test footage. That the film itself was so different to what audiences expected from a formulaic superhero movie certainly helped, but this long lead-in is an essential part of what made it such a box office success....

Dell has unveiled a lineup of new monitors today at CES. Headlining the new products is the 32-inch 6K UltraSharp Monitor with powerful 140W charging for laptops, impressive I/O hub, 4K webcam, 99% DCI-P3 colorspace, and more. After Samsung announced a compelling alternative to Apple’s Studio Display yesterday, Dell is out with the details on its new monitor that’s got many of the same features of Apple’s Pro Display XDR and goes beyond it with a number of specs....

Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid movie is rumored to have offered the lead role of Ariel to Disney Channel actress and singer Zendaya. Over the last decade, Walt Disney Studios has had great success in adapting their animated classics to live-action movies. Whether the live-action films put a new spin on the material - like Maleficent and Alice in Wonderland - or were nearly straight adaptations of the animated movies, such as Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, Disney has found a way to tap into the nostalgia of its longtime fans while telling these stories anew for younger generations....

UPDATE: Read our breakdown and live-action to animation comparison of The Lion King trailer. Disney has released the first teaser trailer for its The Lion King re-imagining. The Mouse House’s trend of remaking its classic animated features as CGI/live-action films started with Alice in Wonderland in 2010, but has really taken off over the past few years. 2019 alone will feature modern re-imaginings of three beloved Disney animated movies, in the forms of Tim Burton’s Dumbo, Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin, and Jon Favreau’s The Lion King....

Neill Blomkamp recently started his own studio, but that hasn’t stopped him from planning to return to the world of District 9. The director made his critically acclaimed directorial debut eight years ago with District 9, and people have been clamoring for a sequel ever since. Instead of immediately returning to the D9 world, though, Blomkamp decided to follow-up his success with two original films: Elysium and Chappie, both of which he wrote, directed, and produced....

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could introduce Blade to the MCU - not the X-Men. As expected, Marvel used their Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 to announce their full MCU Phase 4 slate. The studio has slipped into a pattern of launching one new franchise every year, with at least one sequel as well. Doctor Strange 2 is one of those sequels that’s coming in Phase 4....