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    Activision Blizzard To Create, Develop and Market Feature Film, TV Series

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1789 Views
    Katia Schiele, dressed as Leyara from the video game World of Warcraft, pauses for photos at BlizzCon, Friday, Nov. 6, 2015, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

    Video game maker planning "Call of Duty" movie, "Skylanders" show

    By Derrik J. Lang, Entertainment Writer

    ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) --

    Activision Blizzard Inc. is moving deeper into the film and TV business.

    The video game maker unveiled plans Friday at an investors meeting during the annual BlizzCon fan convention to create and release its own film and TV series.

    The first projects from the newly formed Activision Blizzard Studios will be based on the "Call of Duty" military shooter franchise and kid-focused "Skylanders" toy-game series.

    Activision Blizzard Studios co-president Nick van Dyk noted that the division will be directly involved in the creation, development and marketing of movies and TV series based on Activision Blizzard properties.

    "We'll have a fraction of the overhead of the typical studio since we're starting with a blank page and building an organization that is right-sized for our intended creative output and for the future of the industry," van Dyk told investors.

    The first TV series from Activision Blizzard Studios will be "Skylanders Academy." The computer-generated show is set to debut in 2016 and will feature the voices of Justin Long, Ashley Tisdale and Jonathan Banks.

    The studio also is working on a "Call of Duty" film series, with the first installment likely ready for deployment in 2018 or 2019, according to van Dky.

    "Our releases will be consistent with the high adrenaline, bad-(expletive) action that fans expect from this franchise, but we're going to deliver this intellectual property to the broadest movie-going audience," van Dyk said. "This will be tent-pole action-adventure of the widest appeal."

    The move follows Activision Blizzard partnering with Legendary Pictures for a film based on Blizzard's "Warcraft" fantasy franchise. The movie centering on the battle between the game's orcs and humans is set for release June 10 and will be distributed by Universal Pictures.

    "Warcraft" filmmaker Duncan Jones was on hand Friday with the film's cast to debut a trailer for the movie at BlizzCon, a two-day celebration of Blizzard series at the Anaheim Convention Center.

    "(Activision Blizzard) seems to feel pretty confident that video game movies might actually work," said Jones backstage. "That's a win for 'Warcraft.' I think as long as they get the right people involved, I'm sure they'll be incredibly successful."

    The formation of a devoted studio is similar to Activision rival Ubisoft establishing a film and TV division in 2011. That studio is responsible for the Nickelodeon series "Rabbids Invasion," as well as an "Assassin's Creed" film based on the historical series starring Michael Fassbender, due Dec. 21, 2016.

    A similar venture didn't work out for Microsoft. After two years, the company closed its Xbox Entertainment Studios in 2014. The division had been tasked with creating series based on such Microsoft game franchises as "Halo," ''Forza" and "Gears of War."

    Activision Blizzard announced earlier this week that it is acquiring "Candy Crush Saga" publisher King Entertainment for $5.9 billion.

    Category:News
    Tags:ActivisionCall of DutySkylanders Academy



    Growth Brings Growing Pains–and Bots–To Bluesky

    Sunday, December 22, 2024

    Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk's X, which they view as increasingly leaning too far to the right given its owner's support of President-elect Donald Trump, or wanting an alternative to Meta's Threads and its algorithms.

    The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter, championed by its former CEO Jack Dorsey. Its decentralized approach to social networking was eventually intended to replace Twitter's core mechanic. That's unlikely now that the two companies have parted ways. But Bluesky's growth trajectory — with a user base that has more than doubled since October — could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms.

    But with growth comes growing pains. It's not just human users who've been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites.

    The skyrocketing user base — now surpassing 25 million — is the biggest test yet for a relatively young platform that has branded itself as a social media alternative free of the problems plaguing its competitors. According to research firm Similarweb, Bluesky added 7.6 million monthly active app users on iOS and Android in November, an increase of 295.4% since October. It also saw 56.2 million desktop and mobile web visits, in the same period, up 189% from October.

    Besides the U.S. elections, Bluesky also got a boost when X was briefly banned in Brazil.

    "They got this spike in attention, they've crossed the threshold where it is now worth it for people to flood the platform with spam," said Laura Edelson, an assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University and a member of Issue One's... Read More

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