By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) --Universal Pictures is going back to its roots – monsters.
The studio on Wednesday debuted footage from its upcoming adventure film "The Mummy," which opens a monster universe drawing on Universal's vault of classic properties like "Bride of Frankenstein," ''Invisible Man" and "Creature from the Black Lagoon."
Tom Cruise stars in the Alex Kurtzman-directed "The Mummy," which is equal parts action and horror as Cruise's explorer Nick Morton attempts to combat an ancient evil that has been unlocked and threatens to destroy the world.
Sofia Boutella is the Mummy, once an Egyptian princess who turned to the dark side when denied the throne.
Kurtzman and the cast, including Boutella, Annabelle Wallis and Jake Johnson, discussed Cruise's famous commitment to eye-popping stunts.
"I think I was brought onto this movie to be afraid to do stunts with Tom Cruise," Johnson said. "Tom does it all and he makes his co-stars do it too. And I do mean 'make.'"
Johnson laughed that when he would complain when he got hurt or bruised, Cruise would quip back: "Yeah, we jumped off a building dummy. It hurts!"
Cruise, who is on location for a shoot, delivered a video message to the audience.
"My love for this began with universal classic films," Cruise said. "To usher in a new age of gods and monsters is something that makes me very proud and excited."
Audiences can meet "the original monster" June 9.
Nintendo reports lower profits as demand drops for its aging Switch console
Nintendo, the Japanese video game maker behind the Super Mario franchise, said Tuesday that its profit fell 60% in the first half of the fiscal year, as demand waned for its Switch console, now in its eighth year since going on sale.
Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. reported a 108.7 billion yen ($715 million) profit for the April-September period, as sales slipped 34% from the previous year to 523 billion yen ($3.4 billion).
More than 74% of its sales revenue came from overseas, according to Nintendo, which didn't break down quarterly numbers.
Global Switch sales during the period dropped to 4.7 million machines from 6.8 million units the previous year.
But Nintendo said in a statement that Switch sales were still growing and vowed to stick to its goal of selling a Switch console to each and every individual, not just one Switch per every household.
Nintendo stuck to its earlier projection for a 300 billion yen ($2 billion) profit for the full fiscal year through March 2025, down nearly 29% from the previous fiscal year.
Annual sales were forecast to drop 23% to1.28 trillion yen ($8.4 billion).
It also lowered its Switch sales projection for the fiscal year to 12.5 million units from an earlier forecast to sell 13.5 million.
Nintendo and other game and toy makers rake in their biggest profits during the Christmas shopping season, as well as New Year's, a holiday celebrated with fanfare in Japan, when children receive cash gifts from grandparents and other relatives.
Nintendo has not yet announced details on a successor to the Switch.
Among its million-seller game software titles for the fiscal half were "Paper Mario RPG," which sold 1.95 million units since going on sale in May, and "Luigi Mansion 2... Read More