In a defining moment for Hollywood’s gender problem, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman grossed a winning $103.3 million from 4,165 theaters in its domestic box-office debut over the weekend, the biggest opening ever for a female director, according to revised Monday numbers.
That’s up from Sunday’s estimate of $100.5 million.
And overseas, Wonder Woman also won the weekend with $125 million from 55 markets for a global bow of $228.3 million, including a No. 1 debut in China with $38.2 million. (Sunday’s foreign estimate was $122.5 million.)
Hollywood studios are notoriously loath to hire female directors, not to mention for a big-budget tentpole featuring a marquee superhero. Wonder Woman’s performance could put even more pressure on film companies to make more job offers to women filmmakers.
Sony did a fantastic job this year with their press conference. There has been a lot of rumbling and worries that they weren’t going to have enough to show, but there was no need for concern. They killed it!
Having said that, the start of the show was a little underwhelming, with an orchestra playing for a couple of minutes before the curtain even opened. Bear McCreary is an amazing composer, but there was no flash without any visuals.
The dreary music eventually led into the God of War reveal trailer, which definitely got people excited.
They kept the good times going with Days Gone, a very cool new IP. Dystopian zombie apocalypse? That’s my jam!
I was a little less excited about this next one, but the anticipation of The Last Guardian actually coming out at some point must excite someone.
Horizon: Zero Dawn is my most anticipated game of Sony’s lineup. It gives me console envy. There is so much awesome in this video.
I wasn’t familiar with this game. I actually found the trailer to be a little disturbing, which is rare. Detroit: Become Human is dark. I’m curious to see how this one sells after this trailer.
Sony is now rolling out a fairly impressive list of VR capable games. I’ll let the videos create that list for you. I’ll simply say this: I will never get tired of hearing Mark Hamill voice The Joker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWnLKZuBz3s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEnSVG4PWW0
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare looks fantastic. It always looks fantastic.
I’m slightly more excited to see the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remaster though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Rp5U14Mls
And now for something completely different… Crash Bandicoot! Crash, Crash 2 and Crash Warped will all get remasters on PS4. In addition, Crash will also appear in Skylanders: Imaginators.
And, in another hard left, we switch back to a darker title. Death Stranding reunites Hideo Kojima and Norman Reedus. It’s unclear what the premise of this game is, but is more than likely some sort of survival horror, which would give them to finish what they started with the ill-fated Silent Hills.
Spider-man, Spider-man. Only on the PS4… man. It looks like a fun game. Hopefully it will sell a bijillion copies!
Which brings us back to Days Gone. This time, we get quite a bit more gameplay footage, and there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that!
Thank you for joining us for these Press Conference recaps! Adulting caused some delays with putting them together, so we appreciate your patience!
It’s official and it’s pretty! Welcome to the family, Xbox One S!
The system is 40% smaller than the standard console and feature 4K video playback and a new controller, which now has wi-fi and bluetooth and an extended range.
Microsoft is launching a new program, Xbox Play Anywhere, that allows you to buy once digitally on either Xbox One or PC and play it on both, keeping progress, achievements, etc.
Gears of War 4 will be a Play Anywhere title and will be cross-play across all co-op modes. Presumably, they are specifying co-op because they will keep VS servers separate.
MS is releasing a limited edition Gears of War 4 Elite Controller.
And Killer Instinct is adding General Raam as a playable character.
Next up, Forza Horizon 3. It’s gorgeous. It’s not like this series was all of a sudden going to lose it’s amazing visuals, right? It is now set in Australia and features a 4-player campaign co-op mode. Play Anywhere and Cross-Play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTSUgXkfooA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXQ3sPqlhA
A new Re-Core trailer was shown today. This one shows a bit of gameplay and also introduces the cast of characters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnKT9ZCGgBE
Square-Enix is on stage with Final Fantasy 15. I’m not a fan of the series, but even so, this game would have to be more exciting to actually play than how it appears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sRNz1YJjow
The Division: Underground DLC, coming 6/28, looks to bring even more action to the game, with randomly generated missions and new underground areas.
Battlefield 1 is launching 10/21, but players who are @EAAccess and Xbox Live Gold members get access on Oct 13th. Nice! Love this trailer!
Microsoft launching more new features and services. Adding new local servers, enabling more cross-network play, background music, language region independence, Cortana, Clubs on Xbox Live (create your own communities), Looking for Group on Xbox live (find other players to group with) and Arena on Xbox Live (Discover and join tournaments, support with EA Sports Games).
Minecraft gets cross-play across all platforms via The Friendly Update. This update also introduces Realms, dedicated servers that your friends can come play in. Texture packs are also available and add-ons arrive this fall.
Microsoft brings you Xbox Design Lab, where you can customize an Xbox One controller to your color specifications. It costs more, of course, but still pretty awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGxxXkDqRS8
Indie game Inside, from the creators of Limbo, arrives 6/29. Limbo is free, starting today!
We Happy Few is available on Xbox Game Preview. It looks so cool!
Gwent, the card game from The Witcher, is now a stand-alone, cross-play title that will release in September.
Tekken 7! The game will ship in early 2017 and will feature a robust story mode. Tekken Tag Tournament available free this week to XBL Gold members
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwH8NAyO8os
Dead Rising 4 is back and the newest iteration ships holiday 2016.
New Scalebound footage. For whatever reason, this one still doesn’t grab me, but it’s also Play Anywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-ZVMU_KA-M
I’m very excited for Sea of Thieves, probably my most anticipated title. And gameplay footage after the trailer! If only i could get my knucklehead friends together to crew a ship! (Play Anywhere)
State of Decay 2 is also going to be exclusive and Play Anywhere. The trailer is pretty bloody!
Halo Wars 2 is Play Anywhere and is releasing 2/21/17 and has a beta launching today.
And, of course, the big news of the day is the official unveiling of Project Scorpio. Super sexy specs! Project Scorpio will be fully compatible with all Xbox One games and accessories.
Thanks for your time! We’ll have the Sony recap up in a bit!
Wow! Bethesda killed it today! They had some very impressive things to show and they did a great job delivering it.
They started off with Quake: Champions, a new arena shooter designed for competitive play.
This one will be PC only, but it’s great to see a new Quake title after all of these years. This reveal was a great way to start off their show.
Next up is The Elder Scrolls: Legends, a collectible card game coming to iOs, PC and Android later this year. The game is currently in public beta and announced that they will be inviting more people in soon, so sign up! https://legends.bethesda.net/?locale=en
Fallout 4 is definitely the game that has received most of my limited gaming time. I’m currently on a Survival playthrough and it is no joke. I was happy to see that more content is coming my way… and I haven’t even played Far Harbor yet!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLbXrwsAXvE
On top of that, you will find a little Fallout: Shelter update in there, including quests and the news that the game is coming to PC. How will the PC version handle the drug dealeresque nature of the mobile notifications?
While this next bit was heavily anticipated and rumored to be announced, it was still great to see the confirmation. Elder Scrolls Skyrim is coming to PS4 and XB1, complete with mod support and updated visuals.
Bethesda then announced a new? IP. I don’t believe that this has anything to do with the previous Prey titles. It looks interesting, but we’ll see.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1C3Od8-Dmo
More Elder Scrolls news! Actually, it’s not so much news as just more about a known thing, but whatever. We’re always glad to see it.
They also announced One Tamriel, an addition to the current ESO that will allow players of any level or faction to play together.
This next bit has no video, but Doom and Fallout 4 are being shown off in VR at the show and those titles are coming to the HTC Vive platform next year.
And last, but certainly not least, is the big chunk of Dishonored 2 info. First is the trailer:
And then some gameplay footage!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJL3gCKeQCA
I wasn’t a fan of the original, but I know that it was an extremely popular title. I’m proud to know someone that got the achievement for beating the game without killing anyone. It may have been our very own Erin!
We’ll catch you tomorrow with news from Microsoft, Ubisoft and Sony!
It’s that time again, folks! E3 2016 is almost underway. In the meantime, we will recap the major press conferences for those that aren’t able to watch live. I am live tweeting as many shows as I can at @LobbycastGeoff. Here is the recap for Electronic Arts:
The show contains a lot of good news for fans of EA games. The news about the Titanfall 2 single-player mode leaked early, but it’s worth mentioning again here. On of the major complaints about the first game was it’s lack of a dedicated single-player experience.
But wait, there’s more! Here is the multi-player trailer:
Everything looks great. It makes me miss the original game and all of the fun I had at it’s launch. Hopefully the sequel will have longer legs for me.
Next up, EA brings out some Madden 17. It looks gorgeous!
I’m not typically a player of their sports titles, but the juggernaut that is EA Sports is undeniable. The other sports game that they brought out was FIFA 17, the best-selling sports title worldwide.
This is for their “Journey” mode. I’m not a fan of the drama, but this mode isn’t made for me anyway. This next game is more my speed.
Mass Effect: Andromeda looks amazing. I’m a big fan of this series and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us. This bit of behind the scenes footage shows some in-game footage as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-erTzcggBk
EA also talked about their EA Originals program, which brings funding and security to Indie Game Developers. I like seeing these types of initiatives. I hope that they keep this up. The title that they featured today was Fe, an Indie adventure game.
Jade Raymond took the stage to talk Star Wars games. There are a couple of unnamed titles coming from Motive Studios and Visceral that are sure to do well with all of the new or renewed fans that The Force Awakens created.
The last of the show was filled with Battlefield 1. It is crazy impressive! The team is brought in dynamic weather that changes the way that you have to approach objectives, as well as access to large vehicles like the airship, a battleship and an armored train. They’ve ratcheted up the dynamic destruction as well, in order to make sure that “no two games will be the same.” I’m really looking forward to this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFa-qF0mX60
We will back later tonight with coverage of the Bethesda Softworks Press Conference. See you then!
