Iron Lung, the debut feature film from successful YouTuber Mark Fischbach, will be available to watch on YouTube from May 31, reports Deadline. Fischbach, who is known to his YouTube viewers as Markiplier, revealed the film’s home viewing premiere date during a panel discussion at Cannes.

It was confirmed the release will be exclusive to YouTube, with Fischbach referring to the service as his home.

“I’m pretty loyal to it,” he said.

Iron Lung, which was written, directed, and edited by Fischbach (who also self-financed and starred in the film), was released in cinemas in January this year. Based on the 2022 video game by developer David Szymanski (Dusk, Gloomwood), Iron Lung is the story of a convict who is sealed inside a submarine and forced to navigate his way through an ocean of blood on a desolate moon. The mission comes in the wake of an unexplained phenomenon that has seen all stars and planets in the universe disappear, leaving the only humans remaining those who were aboard space stations or spacecraft at the time.

While the critical response to Iron Lung was mixed, the film was a commercial success, grossing more than $50 million on a budget of $3 million. IGN’s review noted that while it was clear Fischbach “really loves Iron Lung… his sluggish movie adaption of the game feels interminable rather than serving as a compelling interpretation of this world.”

Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.

As part of its 30th anniversary celebrations, IGN Entertainment has launched a new audience survey designed to uncover what makes its global community distinct from the wider entertainment market.

The initiative builds on the recently completed “Generations in Play Audience Insights Study,” conducted in partnership with UC Berkeley and Kantar, which surveyed 6,250 entertainment consumers across North America, Australia and the UK.

Focusing on Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z audiences who grew up alongside IGN, the study explored how modern consumers discover, engage with, and place trust in entertainment content across gaming, film, TV and digital media.

Now, IGN is turning the spotlight inward. The company is inviting its own audience to participate in a dedicated follow-up survey that aims to compare IGN users directly against the broader market sample.

30 years. Millions of fans. One community made it all possible - and we want to hear your story. Take our survey via the link below and help us understand what being part of IGN really means to you:

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8729238/bf5e869eccdc

The story of the Corleone family is turning to the next page, as The Godfather is now set to continue with a new book called Connie that is set to release in 2027.

Publishing company Random House told the Associated Press earlier this week that it had officially acquired a Godfather novel written by best-selling author Adriana Trigiani. The novel has been authorized by the estate of original book series author Mario Puzo and will follow a story from the perspective of Don Vito Corleone's only daughter.

"Connie is a novel about how a woman works to forge her own way in a world that's already decided who she is, what she's about, and how she should be treated," Trigiani said in a statement. "People underestimated Don Vito Corleone and Michael Corleone at their peril. The same will be true for Connie Corleone."

The Godfather is no doubt most widely known as the film trilogy that director Francis Ford Coppola started in the '70s. Although the movies still stand as some of the most quotable films in the history of cinema decades after their release, the Corleone family's roots actually date back to Puzo's 1969 crime novel, also called The Godfather.

He went on to continue the tale with a sequel titled The Sicilian in 1984, and although a series of additional books – including The Godfather Returns, The Godfather's Revenge, and The Family Corleone – were published all the way up to 2012, Connie will be only the third to receive approval from Puzo's estate.

Trigiani will pick up the reins as the first estate-approved installment written by a woman. It's unclear how it will expand on the story of Connie Corleone, who was played by Coppola's sister, Talia Shire, in the movies.

"We had been looking for someone to retell the story from a new perspective," Puzo's son, Anthony Puzo said in a statement. "Adriana was knocked out when I told her that the character of Vito Corleone (played in the films by Brando and De Niro) was actually based on my grandmother. We talked about how the women ran both of our families, but behind the scenes. Adriana's vision for Connie's life blew us all away. I'm very pleased and excited to have her on board."

Connie is expected to be released in fall 2027. For more, you can read what IGN thought about EA's The Godfather video game from 2006.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Keanu Reeves is set to play the lead role in Hidari, a Japanese stop-motion "wood sculpture" samurai film whose proof of concept video blew up on YouTube three years ago.

Hidari began life as a proof-of-concept film released on YouTube back in 2023. It features eye-catching stop-motion action, with characters made from wood, an arsenal of secret prosthetic weaponry, and even a towering wooden mech. The video has amassed over 4.9 million views, with plenty of enthusiasm in the comments for it to be fleshed out.

Creator, writer, and director Masashi Kawamura had said he had a much longer story to tell, and that he had been searching for production partners and investors to help turn the concept into a full length film. Now, it looks like that dream may come true.

Cannes’ Annecy Animation Showcase: The hyped Japanese stop-motion project 'Hidari' leads this year's slate. A stylized and incredibly-shot revenge tale set in Edo-era reconstruction that raised over $100,000 with its 2023 Kickstarter. Full lineup details: https://t.co/kKzBUgtG3c pic.twitter.com/SqLa1IExBP

— Cartoon Brew (@cartoonbrew) April 20, 2026

Reeves, star of The Matrix, John Wick, and the odd samurai movie himself, voices protagonist Hidari Jingoro, who is described as “a man consumed by revenge yet unable to abandon his instinct to create.”

Here’s the official blurb:

Hidari is a stop-motion period film inspired by the legendary sculptor Hidari Jingoro, a mysterious figure whose existence remains uncertain yet who left behind countless works and tales. Brought to life through intricately carved wooden puppets that mirror his craft, the film is being co-developed by three companies: Whatever, the creative studio co-founded by director Masashi Kawamura, together with two internationally acclaimed stop-motion studios, dwarf studios and Tecarat.

Set in Edo-period Japan, Hidari weaves together real historical events and figures with original characters to tell a story of revenge.

Jingoro, a master craftsman of his time, is caught in a conspiracy during the reconstruction of Edo Castle, losing his mentor, the woman he loves, and even his right arm. Barely surviving, Jingoro is transformed into an agent of vengeance. Replacing his lost arm with a weaponized prosthetic, the tools he once used to carve wood are reborn as instruments of destruction. Accompanied by his partner, the “Sleeping Cat,” he sets out on a journey of revenge — only to find himself drawn into an even greater conspiracy.

Power struggles within the shogunate, advancing mechanical soldiers, and a transforming Edo Castle all threaten to consume him. As everything closes in, something within him begins to change. Hidari is a story of revenge and rebirth — of a man who once lived to create, only to lose himself in destruction, and ultimately rediscover both himself and the meaning of his life.

Hidari is Reeves' first role in a Japanese original production, although he is no stranger to voice work, having played Shadow in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Duke Caboom in Toy Story 4, and Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077. He's also familiar with playing samurai, having starred in 2013 movie 47 Ronin in the lead role.

“I’m thrilled by the vision behind Hidari,” Reeves said. “From the proof of concept to the developed script, the team has created something truly extraordinary. It has all the makings of an exceptional film — one I’m excited to see and eager to be part of. I believe this project has the potential to bring something very special to audiences worldwide.”

Kawamura sounds equally thrilled that he's managed to snag Reeves for the role, saying: "One of the films we referenced while creating the Hidari pilot film and developing the screenplay was John Wick. And when I made my own personal dream list of actors I hoped could someday be part of the feature adaptation, the very first name I wrote down was Keanu Reeves. I never imagined that he would actually join the project. Even now, it still feels surreal to me. But with such an incredible actor becoming part of Hidari, our entire team is more motivated than ever to create something truly special together with him."

Keanu Reeves already has plenty on his plate, including a film adaptation of BRZRKR, the comic book series he co-created, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, which will see him reprise his role as Shadow, and John Wick 5.

Image credit: Hidari / YouTube.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Ghost of Yotei developer Sucker Punch Productions has confirmed its Legends multiplayer mode will not receive any additional major updates after first launching in March.

Lead designer Darren Bridges announced the end of online support for developer Sucker Punch Productions' 2025 PS5-exclusive sequel in a message shared via the PlayStation.Blog. The post itself mostly serves to cover all of the big changes brought by the new Raid update, which launched April 10, but comes with the caveat that this content-packed patch will be the online modes' last.

"The Raid update was our last major planned update for Legends," Bridges said. "It finishes the story of the Yōtei Six in that mode. We’ve loved to see players playing it, continue to play it and enjoy it. It’s been great."

Ghost of Yotei launched for PlayStation 5 October 2, 2025, but Sucker Punch didn't go on to announce plans to add its Legends mode as a free DLC until February of this year. Its release date then followed March 10.

It's unclear why the studio has ceased support for any future major updates just two months removed from its launch. Although major content updates are coming to an end, Sucker Punch did not clarify how long Ghost of Yotei Legends will receive smaller patches for things like bug fixes and balancing.

It's especially shocking news considering Sucker Punch supported the Legends mode for Ghost of Tsushima long after its launch in October 2020. December of that same year brought PlayStation-themed skins based on Bloodborne, God of War, and more, for example. Then, in August 2021, the studio announced a standalone version of the experience, which also included a whole new game mode called Rivals when it launched in September.

Ghost of Yotei launched as a particularly popular PS5 exclusive, with Sony saying in February that it "significantly" contributed to its financial results at the time. We gave it an 8/10 review at launch.

"A predictable but well-executed story takes you through Ghost of Yotei's gorgeous landscapes and satisfying, fluid action – it may not be revolutionizing open world games, but it's a great distillation of the samurai fantasy," we said at launch.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Xbox’s recently announced Game Pass price drop was welcome news, but players can once again take advantage of a key loophole that lets you score a 10-month membership for the low sum of £77.

Previously £22.99 a month, Game Pass Ultimate was sliced down to £16.99 — which is great, though the classic EA Play trick I covered last year, as it turns out, still works. The TL;DR around how this saves you almost £100 (over the course of 10 months) effectively comes down to taking advantage of the triggered conversion that occurs when redeeming the right codes.

By buying and activating said codes in the correct order, whilst you do not have an active Xbox Game Pass subscription of any kind, this wallet-friendly loophole will take that monthly £16.99 cost all the way down to the monthly equivalent of £7.69.

To get the EA Play-to-Game Pass Ultimate loophole working, you need to carry out the following steps.

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save big on Super Mario RPG, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Super Mario RPG, Star Fox for Switch 2, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, and more. Check out our top picks for Sunday, May 17, below.

Super Mario RPG for $15

Man of Tomorrow actor Lars Eidinger has described his live-action take on Superman villain Brainiac as something that is like "an incarnation of Satan."

The man behind the DC's next big movie villain gave audiences their first tease for what he's bringing to the DCU during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Although the James Gunn-directed and David Corenswet-starring Superman sequel is still more than a year out from its theatrical premiere, Eidinger is propping up his world-conquering bad guy as a threat of biblical proportions.

"Yes, the theatrical quality has actually helped me enormously in the context of Superman, too, because it involves a different register of performance, one that isn’t primarily realistic and allows for a far more expressive style of playing," he said when asked how his work in theater has helped in onscreen. "When I watch a film like James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, I find it has a great theatrical quality — in the handling of good and evil, and in a certain tendency toward allegory. Brainiac is described as the incarnation of Satan. I find that almost Shakespearean. The king, the fool — there are so many parallels for me."

Brainiac is not only a recognizable Superman villain; he's one of the most infamous comic book characters in history. Readers and movie watchers have done their best to pick up on every little detail Gunn has dropped when it comes to teases for a DCU version of the mean, green antagonist, but the truth is, most information is probably being saved for closer to the release of Man of Tomorrow.

Eidinger says his Brainiac will give Corenswet's Clark Kent a run for his money, even if we don't know exactly how quite yet. Elsewhere in the interview, the actor opened up about how he was pulled into the budding DCU in the first place. He clarified that doing a comic book movie is "not as different" from his previous work on projects like Clouds of Sils Maria or Home for the Weekend as one might think. He even goes on to praise similar films for having "a serious philosophical ambition," adding that "they carry great allegorical weight" for him.

"Take just the word 'super' — it's used as a superlative, for something excellent, wonderful," Eidinger continued. "But 'super' really only means 'over' or 'above.' So Superman is the Übermensch. You have the Super Ego. There’s already a deep psychological dimension built in."

"Last week I was on set during rehearsals and asked if I could watch some of the filming, which had already started. And I saw an actor in the Superman costume, suspended on wires in front of a bluescreen. I looked at that image and thought: This is the essence of fiction. It’s as significant an image as Hamlet holding the skull: Superman, in that Superman pose, hanging from wires in front of a bluescreen.

"Being in the Superman universe wasn’t a dream or burning desire for me. But now that it’s happening, I can see a certain inevitability in it, something almost fated."

Superman Man of Tomorrow will continue Gunn's vision for a new DCU when it brings Corenswet back to the big screen July 9, 2027. Filming began in April, and its cast also includes Matthew Lillard, Andre Royo, Adria Arjona, and more. While we wait for updates, you can catch up on all of the latest from Supergirl ahead of its premiere in June.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Seth Rogen has pushed back on the use of AI in movies, telling writers using the technology for their scripts to "go do something else."

The comedy filmmaker behind projects like The Studio and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem shared his thoughts on the controversial technology during a Cannes interview with Brut. His thoughts on artificial intelligence are pretty straightforward:

"I don't understand what it's supposed to do. Every time I see a video on Instagram that's like, 'Hollywood is cooked,' what follows is, like, the most stupid dog s**t I've ever seen in my life," Rogen said with a chuckle. "And if your instinct is to use AI and not go through that process, you shouldn't be a writer because then you're not writing. Go do something else."

Rogen has helped the comedy scene flourish with his work on movies like Superbad and Pineapple Express since the 2000s. More recently, he's received critical acclaim as a director, writer, and star in Apple TV's The Studio, a show that spent its first season tackling many of the issues Hollywood faces today.

Now, he's promoting Tangles, an animated film about Alzheimer's disease that stars himself, Bryan Cranston, Pamela Adlon, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Rogen confirmed that the movie, which premieres at Cannes but does not currently have a wider release date, features no AI, adding that "every frame has a human touch to it."

"And if you don't want to go through the process, you shouldn't be a writer," he added. "The idea of a tool that makes me write less is not appealing to me. Because I like writing."

Artificial intelligence has become an increasingly hot topic in the movie business in the last few years. While filmmakers like Terminator mastermind James Cameron suggest they are open to experimenting with AI, others, such as Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski, have railed against it. Meanwhile, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced a set of rule changes that will limit AI's presence at the Oscars.

Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP via Getty Images.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Prime Video has published a The Boys Season 5, Episode 8 teaser trailer, revealing one last look at Butcher, Hughie, Starlight, and the rest of the crew before they set off to go "scorched earth" on Homelander.

The 30-second video mostly leaves the events of the finale up to viewers' imaginations. As shots of Hughie, Mother's Milk, Ashley, and even Ryan whiz by, the teaser trailer also hints at what looks to be a fight at the White House between Starlight and the Deep, as Butcher says that "superheroes are done."

"Can't show ya much without spoilin' the whole kit and caboodle," a description for The Boys finale teaser said. "But Wednesday, we're going all the way. No matter the cost. Til the job's f**kin' done."

Can't show ya much without spoilin' the whole kit and caboodle. But Wednesday, we're going all the way. No matter the cost. Til the job's fuckin' done. pic.twitter.com/yzbgI6WtdL

— THE BOYS (@TheBoysTV) May 17, 2026

This is the big one. The Boys Season 5, Episode 8 will deliver the Prime Video show's proper series finale this Wednesday, and if the anti-supe crew has any luck, it'll bring the end of Homelander, too. However, the events of Season 5 prove they've got their work cut out for them.

Warning! Spoilers for The Boys Season 5, Episode 8 below.

So far, this latest and last batch of episodes saw Butcher's plan to spread a superhero-killing virus fall apart after Soldier Boy shocked Sister Sage (and audiences) by giving Homelander access to immortality with V-One. The backup plan didn't exactly turn out well, either, as the newly immortal supervillain was able to quickly find where The Boys team was hiding out, resulting in the death of series regular, Frenchie.

With seemingly no other options and Homelander more powerful than ever, things aren't exactly looking too great for everyone heading into the finale. Still, Butcher's speech in the Season 5, Episode 8 teaser trailer suggests he may have a trick or two up his sleeve.

The Boys Season 5, Episode 8 will bring the series finale to Prime Video and theaters Wednesday, May 20, 2026. While we wait to see how the story ends for some comic book fans' favorite characters, you can read our 8/10 review for last week's episode. You can also check out what showrunner Eric Kripke had to say about viewers' feelings that Season 5 was mostly being used to set up Vought Rising, and you can also learn about the surprise Marvel cameo that happened in Episode 7.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Titanic and Terminator director James Cameron said he's "looking at some new technologies" to try and get Avatar 4 and 5 made "in half the time for two-thirds of the cost," but it's going to take a year just to figure it out.

The legendary filmmaker spoke about how he plans to continue his long-in-the-works sci-fi saga during an interview with The Empire Film Podcast. When asked what's next for Cameron following the premiere of Avatar: Fire and Ash and his Billie Eilish concert movie, he told The Empire Film Podcast he's hoping to alter his process to, hopefully "more efficiently," dive back into Pandora.

"You know, I'll be doing some writing. I've got a number of projects that I'm cooking," he said. "And Avatar 4 and 5 are still floating out there. We’re going to be looking at some new technologies to try to do them more efficiently. Because they're hideously expensive and take a long time. I want to do them in half the time for two-thirds of the cost. That’s my metric."

Cameron added that it's going to "take us a year or so" to even come up with a plan on how to more efficiently create Avatar movies going forward. In the meantime, he promised that he'll be "writing and doing a couple of other things."

Avatar first took audiences to Pandora with the launch of the original film in 2009, but its sequel, The Way of Water, wouldn't arrive until an incredible 13 years later in 2022. The three-year wait between Avatar 2 and its Fire and Ash follow-up was comparatively far less painful, but even that timeframe feels a bit on the long side for the 71-year-old director.

While it's true that all three Avatar movies have managed to cross the $1 billion mark at the box office, Fire and Ash only made $1.48 billion compared to The Way of Water's $2.4 billion, suggesting potentially declining interest amongst moviegoers. Adding to the sting is the last film's reported $400 million budget, which doesn't account for the hundreds of millions Disney would have spent on its marketing campaign.

Despite Cameron's hope to eventually bring the Sully family back to theaters, how exactly Avatar 4 and 5 will take shape is unclear, for now. We have yet to see what "new technologies" the Avatar director and writer plans to explore, but he's made it clear that he's hoping to produce the films for cheaper in the past. A report from last month suggested as much, too, though it appeared much was still moving behind the scenes at Disney.

Disney has currently scheduled tentative release dates of December 21, 2029, for Avatar 4 and December 19, 2031, for Avatar 5. A recent update from producer Rae Sanchini promised that scripts are in hand as the team continues to move "full speed ahead."

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Coming-of-age video game Mixtape is packed with licensed music from artists like Devo and The Smashing Pumpkins, but publisher Annapurna Interactive and developer Beethoven and Dinosaur have told fans not to worry about the game potentially being delisted down the road.

Creative director Johnny Galvatron kept concerns about the game's future from spinning out of control during a recent interview with Kotaku. Despite featuring a full playlist of tracks from recognizable groups throughout its foot-tapping story, he said that the team paid extra to maintain licenses for each track in perpetuity.

Annapurna followed up the interview with its own statement in an X/Twitter post. It said, "We heard some people say MIXTAPE would be delisted due to music licenses expiring. That was a lie."

We heard some people say MIXTAPE would be delisted due to music licenses expiring.

That was a lie.

Have a great weekend, everyone. https://t.co/C3VesfWPpz

— Annapurna Interactive (@A_i) May 16, 2026

Fears that Mixtape could, at some point, be pulled from digital shelves aren't exactly unfounded. Plenty of games have suffered similar fates due to expired licenses in the past, including Rock Band 4 late last year and the original Alan Wake in 2017. Even Grand Theft Auto 4 replaced a few tunes after some licenses expired in 2018.

It's clear Beethoven and Dinosaur wanted to put in the effort to make sure its story and the music woven throughout it remained intact for years to come. One example of a "boundary test" idea that was floated but didn't pan out involved asking Pink Floyd for a song, but the team's supervisor cautioned that the classic rock band wasn't likely to give them the track they were after. That said, when it came to getting the other tunes they wanted, Galvatron told Kotaku the team never ran into any real horror stories and got "pretty much everything [they] asked for."

"There's just so many points in the game where Stacy turns the screen and says 'This is the Smashing Pumpkins, and it's fucking sick,'" he added. "You send that to [Smashing Pumpkins frontman] Billy Corgan and he goes, 'This is the Smashing Pumpkins and it's fucking sick, yeah, they can do that. That’s fine.'"

Mixtape launched for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S May 7, 2026. IGN called it a "Masterpiece" in our 10/10 review.

"A musical delight from start to finish," we said at launch last month, "Mixtape sets a new standard for coming-of-age stories in video games and does so with a masterful sense of style."

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save big on Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Super Mario RPG, Star Fox for Switch 2, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, and more. Check out our top picks for Saturday, May 16, below.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment for $49.99

Xbox seems to have rebranded…to "XBOX."

You'd be forgiven for not noticing the difference, but yes, newly appointed CEO Asha Sharma took to X/Twitter to confirm Microsoft's gaming branch has been given an all-caps makeover. The lack of an update on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and YouTube makes it a bit unclear how serious this supposed rebrand is, but the big change to XBOX can at least already be seen on its X account and even Sharma's LinkedIn profile.

The CEO shared the update following a social media poll, where she asked fans to choose between the standard Xbox and its larger version. After returning results that put XBOX in the lead with an almost shocking 64.8% of the votes, the change has officially been acted upon.

👀 pic.twitter.com/4MHzmLsXNm

— Asha (@asha_shar) May 15, 2026

Xbox has undergone a laundry list of changes, big and small, since Sharma replaced Phil Spencer as CEO in February of this year. Highlights include leadership switch-ups earlier this month, the end of the "This is an Xbox" marketing campaign in March, and a drop in price for Game Pass subscribers in April.

It's unclear how successful some of these changes have been for Microsoft as Sharma works to get Xbox into a better place. The all-caps makeover for the Xbox name, though, definitely seem to fall more in line with smaller adjustments we've recently seen, such as the new boot up sequence revealed a few weeks ago or the classic logo facelift from April.

For now, fans aren't sure exactly how to feel about an all-caps XBOX. As some have pointed out, the change is at least a fun nod to the early days of the console's logo and name. Considering the update seems to be inspired directly by fan input, some have even begun to call on Sharma to make more changes, such as reverting the name back to its classic, rough-edged font. Others aren't so willing to entertain the XBOX idea until they see if it will actually stick.

what’s the purpose of this rename bruh https://t.co/DUyRmevBlJ pic.twitter.com/nYUqFqOIp4

— nicki ☘️ (@s1nicki) May 16, 2026

"I was expecting something pointless and stupid, but gosh they have still managed to surprise me," one Reddit user said.

"HUGE IF TRUE," another joked.

We'll hopefully have a better idea about how committed Microsoft is to XBOX in the near future. Until then, you can see what Sharma had to say about her past gaming history. You can also see read about the recently leaked Xbox Cloud Gaming controller.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Upcoming action movie prequel John Rambo has reportedly added James Franco to its cast.

Details on what is set up to be the controversial actor's first notable big-studio part in years came from Variety, which said that he has joined the film for a "small role." Production on the film in Thailand is said to have wrapped.

Franco was well-known for parts in movies like the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man trilogy, The Disaster Artist, 127 Hours, and Pineapple Express before being cast out of Hollywood after five women accused him of sexual misconduct in 2018. Of those women, four were students at his now-defunct Studio 4 acting school, while another described him as a mentor. Franco denied the allegations at the time.

A lawsuit regarding the allegations then emerged in 2019 before being settled for more than $2.2 million in 2021. Franco admitted to sleeping with students and said his actions were "wrong" later that same year. Outside of a few somewhat smaller films, the events were enough to keep him out of the public eye and even damage his working relationship with longtime collaborator Seth Rogen. Franco went on to tease his plans to do a "big studio movie" and respond to rumors that he had been hiding away during an interview with Deadline at Cannes Film Festival last week.

"It’s not true I’ve been hiding out," he said. "I've been here the last three or four years running, selling things and they treat me well and I get to go and see great movies."

Franco joins Noah Centineo (To All the Boys I've Loved Before), who has been picked to play a younger version of Sylvester Stallone's First Blood character, John Rambo, and David Harbour (Stranger Things), who recently boarded to take over the role of Commanding Officer Major Trautman. Yao (Sinners), Jason Tobin (Warrior), Quincy Isaiah (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), Jefferson White (Civil War), and Tayme Thapthimthong (The White Lotus) are all also attached to the movie. Sisu filmmaker Jalmari Helander is directing the project.

John Rambo has no release date, and no plot details outside of the promise to tell an origin story for the action icon have been released. For more, you can read about how Marvel Studios veterans Joe and Anthony Russo are involved.

Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

In the Grey is now playing in theaters.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Henry Cavill met in Guy Ritchie’s trailer on the first day of filming their new thriller In the Grey, and cheered each other on throughout the improv-heavy production. Ritchie, who wrote and directed the movie, is known for his constant script changes and focus on discovery while filming. In an exclusive interview with IGN, Gyllenhaal says that process allowed him and Cavill to hone their characters in real time.

“With Guy, there's a lot of improvisation, a lot of discovery,” Gyllenhaal says. “Lines change in the moment, scenes shift on the day. We had a scene where we got the lines maybe a few minutes beforehand. All I did was root for Henry to remember his next line, and when he got through it, I was terrified I had to remember mine. That kind of thing keeps you incredibly present.”

In The Grey, which also stars Eiza González (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), Carlos Bardem (Assassin’s Creed), and Fisher Stevens (Succession), follows “a covert team of elite operatives who live in the global shadows. When a ruthless despot steals a billion-dollar fortune, the team is sent to steal it back on what would be for anyone else a suicide mission. What begins as an impossible heist gets much worse, spiraling into an all-out war of strategy, deception and survival.”

Although both Gyllenhaal and Cavill had previously worked with Ritchie, In the Grey marks their first joint on-screen appearance. According to Gyllenhaal, the two actors didn’t have much time together before being dropped right into the action.

“What's funny is that Henry and I hadn't met before day one,” Gyllenhaal says. “We encountered each other in Guy's trailer on the first morning of filming. So, there wasn't much time to workshop a shared reference point. Guy had a very clear sense of who these two (characters) were in relation to each other from the start, and that gave us a strong foundation to build from.”

After previously appearing in Ritchie’s 2023 film The Covenant, Gyllenhaal says teaming up with the director on another film was an easy decision.

“It feels like one big film in a way, because you're really in his world,” Gyllenhaal says. “He comes back and says, ‘You want to come dive in again?’ And you go, ‘Yeah, sure. I love it in there. The water's warm.’ What's also unique is that he's constantly editing as he goes. He's shaping the story, showing you cut scenes and then you're shaping the next scene together. It doesn't work the way normal movies do, which is why it's very hard to communicate what it's really like. Everyone's on their toes. And if you enjoy that, which I do, it's a hell of a time.’

In the film, Gyllenhaal plays Bronco, an ex-special forces agent who joins Gonzalez’s character on a mission after she previously broke him out of prison. From far-flung locales, to the intense action, Gyllenhaal says that the spectacle of In the Grey is what makes it special.

“You've got to go see this one in the cinema because it's meant for the cinema,” Gyllenhaal says. “It's a huge spectacle full of fun, the way we've loved movies for decades. Guy is making it for that. And what's remarkable is that it's also completely original. It's very hard to do something truly original now; to find a new way in, to do it differently, with a unique voice. That's pretty much an impossibility. And yet you know when you're going to see a Guy Ritchie movie that you're going to see something original.”

Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment at IGN, leading entertainment content and coverage of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He's spent 20 years working in the games and entertainment industry, and his adventures have taken him everywhere from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him on Bluesky @MichaelPeyton

The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke has said that the recent nods to the Vought Rising spinoff show in Season 5 were not the result of "craven commercialism."

Fans of the gory Prime Video superhero show seem to be split about where the story is heading ahead of next week's series finale, but one of the prevailing talking points surrounding recent episodes involves how it's handled side characters like Soldier Boy and Bombsight. While some viewers fear they only played a role in Season 5 to pique interest ahead of the upcoming Vought Rising prequel series, Kripke has said that this isn't the case.

The Boys showrunner opened up about his team's process during a recent interview with The Watch. While Vought Rising will turn back the clock to the 1950s to explore the origins of some of the show's most evil characters, Kripke said he was more focused on giving the characters from the main series a fitting sendoff when developing Season 5.

Warning! Spoilers for The Boys Season 5 follow.

"How do you do enough that you can touch on it, but not so much that you feel like it's homework or you feel like it's just a commercial?" he said when asked about balancing The Boys with Vought Rising. "Where it really came from, honestly, was we had this notion of this V-One McGuffin, and we knew Soldier Boy was going to be a character this season.

"Why is he immortal? Why is Stormfront immortal? What is it about whatever they had, right? Once you come up with V-One… we didn't start it like, 'We gotta get Bombsight in there, guys! We gotta set up our thing!'"

Vought Rising was announced in 2024 as a prequel show that would feature Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy and Aya Cash's Stormfront, two characters who have shown up for past seasons of the mainline series. Casting for additional supes, such as Mason Dye as Bombsight and Elizabeth Posey as Private Angel, was then revealed in August 2025. Some were happy to see Dye make his first on-screen appearance as his character in The Boys Season 5, Episode 6, but others felt Kripke and company were trying a little too hard to force Vought Rising into the conversation.

Kripke clarified that bringing in Bombsight, specifically, was a collaborative effort between The Boys team and Vought Rising showrunner Paul Grellong. When he heard what Grellong was doing with Bombsight, they found a way to bring both shows together in a way they felt made sense.

"So, when the question comes up in our room of like, 'Who ultimately has the V-One? Is it just some rando old hero that you never will see again, or should it be one of those characters, because those characters are so bad ass?'" he added. "That’s how it kind of evolved. It was pretty organic.

"There wasn't a lot of craven commercialism in there. It came from a spot of, it's a full universe, and we have these pieces, so if we're able to use them, why not?"

The Boys is currently in the midst of its fifth and final season and will come to an end with its finale next week, May 20. Vought Rising is expected to premiere in the first half of 2027.

While we wait for updates, you can read about the Marvel actor who snuck in for a quick cameo in Episode 7. You can also check out what Kripke had to say about some of the other recent criticisms the show has faced.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 director Jeff Fowler has published a first look at Metal Sonic as filming on the latest movie comes to an end.

The filmmaker took to social media to share a behind-the-scenes picture of a life-sized version of the iconic Sega villain today. It comes with the news that filming for the next chapter in Paramount Pictures and Sega's series of game-to-movie adaptations wrapped with a little less than one year to go before its March 19, 2027, theatrical release date.

This sneak peek at Metal Sonic mostly serves to further entice Sonic fans rather than offer any sort of big reveal. If the sleek antagonist's presence in the last film's mid-credits scene wasn't enough of a tease, fans already figured he'd play some sort of role in Sonic the Hedgehog 4 after bringing his menacing aura to the teaser trailer published in March.

"And that's a wrap on #SonicMovie4!!!" Fowler said. "On behalf of this amazing cast/crew, we have filmed the BEST Sonic Movie yet and can't wait to share."

Still, this first look at Metal Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog 4 shows that Fowler is on track to continue the Blue Blur's story next spring. Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which premiered in 2024, last saw Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (Idris Elba) team up to fight off Doctor Eggman (Jim Carrey) and live-action newcomer Shadow the Hedgehog (Keanu Reeves).

While that movie's mid-credits scene helped bring Metal Sonic into the mix, it also helped warm up viewers to the idea that pink hedgehog Amy Rose would soon join the Sonic team, too. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter in February, she'll be played by The Good Place and Frozen alum, Kristen Bell.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is scheduled to spin into theaters in March 2027. While we wait for an official trailer and more news about how Metal Sonic fits into the big picture, you can check out the image featuring Amy's Piko Piko hammer that Fowler posted earlier this year. You can also read about who fans think the upcoming spinoff movie will focus on.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

Recently, in the span of three weeks, three entirely disparate TV shows on two different networks/streaming services had a surprising connection. One is a superhero series, the other a shocking (former) teen drama, the third a faux-reality comedy. Both in tone and execution, they couldn’t be more different. Yet when The Boys, Euphoria, and Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat needed a go-to sight gag to indicate their characters are absolute loser villains, only one car could do: the Tesla Cybertruck.

Does driving a Cybertruck make you an absolute loser villain? That’s up to [gestures] society to decide, as well as you, the reader of this article. But on TV at least, the trend is clear, with a relatively minor number of exceptions.

In fact, Tesla’s boxy monstrosity has been the subject of mockery on TV for a while now, including appearances on HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones, Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and kicking off this big, bad year for Elon Musk’s brainchild, Chad Powers on Hulu. It’s the latest in the long line of quick and easy jokes to pervade television, but the preponderance and specificity of this particular trend points to a larger shift in cultural conversation that you may be able to intuit yourself.

We’ll get to that in a second, but to lay out A Brief, Incomplete History of the Cybertruck on Television, let’s actually start with a little timeline about the Cybertruck itself. First introduced as a prototype in 2019, the truck hit the streets in 2023, but arguably didn’t become a flashpoint for cultural conversation until Musk became a prime booster of the Trump campaign in 2024.

TV production schedules, though, take time. For example, the first big salvo in TV’s War Against Cybertrucks wouldn’t air until March of 2025, in HBO’s Righteous Gemstones. The fourth and final season was filmed between May and October of 2024, so by the time the fourth episode, “He Goeth Before You Into Galilee,” aired, we were already well into both the Cybertruck era and the era of Trump 2.0 con Elon – making the appearance of the vehicle perhaps more pointed than it was meant to be back when production started.

The episode in question kicks off with a long tracking shot of all the characters unloading their various cars, ending with a kicker: the reveal of a Cybertruck parked on the water. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher until the very end of the episode, when we discover the truck belongs to Baby Billy (Walton Goggins), easily the worst and most huckstery of an entire clan of hucksters. He’s a character who constantly buys into (or sells) pyramid schemes and scams, so you can draw your own conclusion about what the show means to indicate, given he eschews the massive Escalades of most of the rest of the clan for the Cybertruck.

Soon after in July of 2025, FX aired the It’s Always Sunny episode "Thought Leadership: A Corporate Conversation." (The 17th season of the series was filmed from October through December of 2024). An extremely loose parody of HBO’s Succession, the episode found the Paddy’s Pub gang drinking water (probably for the first time) and, along with glimpses of a few corporate clips on YouTube, going all in on business speak and wearing fleeces. That included a total obsession with the Cybertruck, which found them spewing catchphrases like “I love that truck. I’m furious that all cars don’t look like that,” and in a backhanded compliment, “It’s like a rhombus on wheels.”

While the Cybertruck in It’s Always Sunny is more of a plot point than a throwaway gag, it’s clear that the show sees the vehicle (which Glenn Howerton’s Dennis effuses about the sexual aggression of) as the epitome of everything wrong with silicon valley/corporate culture. It also tracks that the unequivocally terrible Gang at the center of the show would become obsessed with it, while other characters like the much-lumped-upon Waitress (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) would be less enthused. When she finds out they’re giving away a truck in exchange for winning a slap fighting championship, Charlie (Charlie Day) proudly clarifies “a Cybertruck” to which she replies with a withering “eh.”

The Fall of 2025 was a big moment for the electric crew cab, appearing on three different TV shows between September and October. On Hulu’s Chad Powers, the vapid former football star played by Glen Powell drives a Cybertruck, which the show tells us only adds to his general douche-osity. Still, the truck is more than a one-and-done, as it becomes not just a place for Chad to have some awkward backseat sex, but also ends up getting a character to the hospital after a health scare. Similarly, Paramount+’s Tulsa King straddled the line in a third season episode that found Tyson Mitchell’s gangster purchasing one and touting its bulletproof hull, as well as that it’s “how a gangster’s supposed to roll,” while Martin Starr’s marijuana dealer shoots back, “Yeah, in Blade Runner. Real life we don’t drive around in a refrigerator.” Later on, someone tries to shoot up the Cybertruck with a tommy gun, and indeed, the bullets can’t pierce the exterior of the car, saving lives.

The third series is Netflix’s Nobody Wants This Season 2, where one of the characters delightedly scratches a Cybertruck that almost ran over a baby in a stroller, while Adam Brody and Kristen Bell’s characters look on in horror. That’s not even to mention episodes of Apple TV’s Platonic, which found Seth Rogen’s character pairing the rise of Cybertrucks with the ruining of a Los Angeles neighborhood, or an episode of Apple’s Loot that depicts D’Arcy Carden’s con-man Ashlee rolling in a hot pink Cybertruck with the license plate “SPAGHET” while chugging energy drinks and singing (badly) to System of a Down. But let’s take a little step backwards to talk about the first two, since there’s more meat to dig into there.

While Chad Powers was filmed pre-election, Tulsa King was post; and the connection between both shows is that inasmuch as a TV series has political leanings, both series lean more right than the left-leaning series mentioned above. Chad Powers frequently throws around the r-word, is set in a conservative football town, and features broad gay stereotypes, among other characters. Tulsa King is part of the Taylor Sheridan Extended Universe (TSEU), and Sheridan has purposefully been obtuse about his politics, even leaving Paramount (reportedly) over being told to infuse his shows with more politics. Both series make jokes of Cybertrucks, then prove they’re actually pretty cool in retrospect.

Trucks, we might want to point out, do not have feelings; but owners of truck companies do, and Musk has proven time and again to be overly touchy about how people treat his vehicles, while telling others to have a sense of humor and stop being so sensitive. It’s hard not to view the disparity between how Tulsa King and Chad Powers treat the rhombus on wheels as bridging a political divide, or at least passing an olive branch over to the other side, while still getting some laughs about how silly the mode of transportation looks. It’s also not unimportant to note that both of these shows have characters who err toward being losers, but are not necessarily villains driving the Cybertruck… In a certain sense, the truck goes on a similarly redemptive arc in both cases as do the characters who drive it (with the lone exception being a wild, nihilistic swerve in the closing minutes of Chad Powers, but that’s another article entirely).

Digression for Cybertruck positivity over, that brings us to the impetus for talking about this at all: the past month or two of Cybertrucks on TV (tm). Prime Video’s Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat, the second season of the faux-reality show, introduced its corporate stooge villains from a private equity group called Triukas driving – what else – a Cybertruck. A little over two weeks later, HBO’s premiere of Euphoria Season 3 found Jacob Elordi’s Nate Jacobs – moving from a high school uber-male to an over-his-head and way-in-debt real estate developer with a doomed wedding on the horizon – driving, you guessed it, a Cybertruck. And to cap things off, three days later the third episode of the final season of The Boys featured an extended sequence with the biggest loser on the series, The Deep (Chace Crawford), driving a Cybertruck that, to add on the embarrassment, was blasting Limp Bizkit.

The short-winded explanation here is that the makers of TV think the Cybertruck looks dumb, and believe only dumb people drive the car. Is that actually true? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s an easy visual indicator that tells you everything you need to know about a TV character in a simple way, whether they’ve got hot pink paint or merely pilot the silver, basic model… The Cybertruck, as far as these shows are concerned, is an exemplar of crass taste and poor decisions, a modern car that looks like, to borrow a popular meme, it hasn’t finished rendering. There’s also clearly the post-election correlation of the Cybertruck with Elon’s connection to DOGE, government gutting, and the political divide between those who support MAGA and those who do not. Not to make broad, unsupportable statements, but for the mostly liberal-leaning Hollywood it seems likely that one could equate a character driving a Cybertruck with the word “bad.”

But perhaps more than that, it’s an easy punching bag because, like the DeLorean before it (which was made cool by Back to the Future, though arguably was used as a joke “future” car there, too), it’s not selling well. At all. A recent report from Bloomberg revealed that not only have Cybertruck registrations fallen over 50%, but 18% of sales both in the final quarter of 2025 and first quarter of 2026 have been to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Meaning Elon’s Tesla is essentially selling cars to itself.

This raises (and perhaps answers) another question: Why is Tesla allowing the Cybertruck to be constantly mocked on TV? It could go back to that old adage that all press is good press if these are media tie-in deals or product placement; in which case, Tesla has approved of the use of the Cybertruck. You could posit that the same people who miss the not-at-all-subtle idea that Homelander (Antony Starr) is the villain of The Boys might see The Deep driving a Cybertruck blasting “Rollin’” and think, “Cool, I gotta get me one of those.”

Far more likely, these shows have just gone ahead and purchased or rented Cybertrucks themselves, which they’re allowed to do under the umbrella of free speech. Per a report from the LA Times, generally car companies don’t like to do product placement deals when those driving the cars are villains, or the cars are wrecked in stunts. With the exception of Tulsa King, one would think Tesla would be hesitant about letting out the Cybertruck to be driven by, say, a homicidal, sexually abusive fish-man.

Ultimately, like the hucksters, con-men and villains who drive Cybertrucks on TV, there’s the underlying thread that perhaps the truck isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. As Dee admits late in the episode on It’s Always Sunny, “I gotta come clean… I think the truck is ugly.”

Whether you think it’s ugly, or the coolest thing on four wheels, for now, at least, it’s an easy way for writers to let the viewers know: This character sucks.

Tesla did not respond to repeated requests for comment on this article. Representatives for The Righteous Gemstones, It’s Always Sunny, and Jury Duty declined to comment, while nobody on Nobody Wants This wanted to do this.

You can chat with Alex Zalben on BlueSky @azalben.bsky.social, or find him regularly yapping on the Comic Book Club podcast.

There's a new flagship TV that's giving all other premium TVs a run for their money. Last year, Hisense pioneered the first RGB Mini-LED TV with its Hisense 116UX model. Granted it was only available as a massive 116" screen that retailed for about $20,000. But this was the first time an LED TV could actually compete - and in some ways surpass - OLED technology.

In April of 2026, Hisense released its second generation iteration of RB Mini-LED tech, the UR9. It's available in more mainstream sizes (65", 75", 83" and 100") and at prices that consumers can actually afford. Hisense couldn't have timed it better; just recently the company has partnered with Terry Crews to be the official sponsor of the World Cup and - short of being in the stadium - what better way to watch the games than hosting them with friends on a stunning big-screen TV.

The Hisense UR9 RGB Mini-LED TV Gives OLED a Run for Its Money