More than 63,000 country music fans, young and old, gathered this past weekend in Indio, California for the annual Stagecoach Music Festival.

Headliners included Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Don McLean, and other veteran acts.

But in addition to being there for the music, everyone showcased their best festival fashions — from cowboy boots to American flag everything.

More than 63,000 people gathered in Indio, California for this year's 3-day Stagecoach Country Music Festival.

It takes place on the same grounds as the Coachella Music Festival and just one weekend later.

Cowboy boots are a must for festival-goers.

HBO's new satire "Silicon Valley" is extremely funny to anyone who has spent time in or near Northern California's tech culture.

There's an inside joke hidden within almost every scene, character and line of dialogue.

And it looks like the jokes won't be stopping anytime soon. HBO last week said it was picking up "Silicon Valley" for a second season.

So, to help you better enjoy the humor, here's an insider's guide to the what some of the jokes really mean.

Peter Gregory is inspired by real-life billionaire investor "Peter Thiel."

Thiel is a co-founder of PayPal, whose wealth skyrocketed from his early Facebook investment.

He's known for his outspoken libertarian political views. Like Gregory on the show, he encourages young genius geeks to leave school and start businesses.

However, he doesn't drive a strangely narrow smart car.  He's been known to drive a luxurious Mercedes SL500.

Hooli CEO Gavin Belson is inspired by billionaire Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff.

On the show, the CEO of the fictional company Hooli is Gavin Belson, a hard-driving business man who hangs out with his spiritual guru.

While commuting on the Hooli bus, the startup founder and CEO protagonist, Richard Hendriks and his childhood best friend, Big Head, see a promotional video of Hooli. It shows Belson talking up the vision of Hooli while simultaneously saving children in Africa.

That's taken from the playbook of real-life billionaire philanthropist Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of Salesforce.com.

Benioff is known for his love of yoga and meditation. He also loves to talk about his vision for his company, the future of tech and the joy of the 1-1-1 model of philanthropy he created, where companies donate 1% of their equity, time and products to charity.

Benioff is even been known to speak out against other tech billionaires' philanthropic efforts that don't follow his 1-1-1 model.

Erlich's partying ways is a nod at a real-life Valley legend

Erlich Bachman represents the entry-level rung of the Silicon Valley venture fund world.

He sold a startup for enough money to buy a house and now rents his house out as a hacker hostel. Bachman takes a percentage of each company housed there.

Hacker hostels are a real-life concept best represented by a firm called ChezJJ. At ChezJJ, founders of early-stage startups share a house, pay cheap rent, and live and work together.

Erlich's favorite pastime, partying, is a reference to real-life entrepreneur and Valley legend Sean Parker.

Parker founded Napster and helped discover Facebook, joining as its first president. His stake in Facebook pushed him into the billionaire ranks.

Parker was once known for being a party animal.

Peter Gregory's creepy GPS tracking company is a reference to real tech

During the first episode, when Thiel's assistant, Monica, meets Richard outside the doctor's office. Richard asks her how he located him.

She says, "Peter Gregory has invested in a company that uses GPS and phones to track people."

Richard replies, "That's creepy."

Monica nods and says, "You don't know the half of it."

In real life, Peter Thiel has invested in a company called Palantir that's also funded by the CIA's investment arm. It helps agencies monitor for criminal activity and identify people through facial recognition software.

At one point, speculation circulated that its software was used by the NSA's Prism program, but Palantir denies that.

"Brogrammers."

That's the word that Richard utters under his breath when two Hooli employees approach him in the break room.

A "brogrammer" is a macho dude programmer, not one of the more nerdy types who run around five-person packs on the Hooli campus.

A rock-star culture

In the Valley, the "rock stars" are the guys who built their own multibillion companies, not actual musician rock stars.

In Episode 4, Richard's lawyer picks up a guitar and proudly shows that it was autographed by both of the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

That's also a reference to an April's Fool joke about Brin deciding to learn how to play blues guitar. He was said to be given lessons by music icons like Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Ralph Macchio, TechCrunch jokingly reported in 2012.

Flash back to the opening scene in Episode 1 where an actual rock star, Kid Rock (played by himself), was singing at a private party, and being completely ignored.

"Making the world a better place"

The Silicon Valley ethos is that fabulous new technologies are developed in equal parts to save the world and get rich.

It's very uncool to say, or even to think, that making money is the company's primary goal, even though vast sums of money float around the tech industry for salaries, perks and acquisitions of unproven startups.

There's one scene where Erlich puts himself into a drug-induced meditative hallucination to come up with a better name for Richard's startup than Pied Piper.

But all he he winds up doing is chanting: "Making the world a better place. Making the world a better place."

The symbolism in that scene, with real Valley logos floating in the background, is hilariously right on the money.

SEE ALSO: This is what happened when I tried to use Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX tablet for work

SEE ALSO: This guy was fired and sued by his employer, so he launched a startup and got sweet revenge

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Today marks Prince William and Kate Middleton's third anniversary.

After three years together, the couple have adopted a dog, moved into their own home at Kensington Palace, and have welcomed their first child.

Though the couple shine at red carpet galas, fundraisers and tours, some of the best moments between the two are candid shots of them laughing and smiling.

Relive some of the couple's most memorable moments.

April 29 2011: Kate and William kiss on their wedding day.

May 24, 2011: The royals meet the Obamas at Buckingham Palace before attending a special lunch hosted by Queen Elizabeth.

(Source: People)

July 7, 2011: Kate and William show off matching cowboy get up while visiting Canada during their first joint overseas tour.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1987 sci-fi action film "Predator" is today most remembered for one amazing line: “Get to the choppa!”

You've probably heard the movie line before, but why are we still saying it today?

Schwarzenegger, who played Major Alan “Dutch” Schaeferd in the movie, actually said the line straight as he yells it to character "Anna" to quickly board the helicopter after the rest of his team has been killed by the Predator. But with the actor's thick European accent, it unintentionally came across as comical.

Since then, the line has become a part of our general lexicon.

According to Urban Dictionary, "Get To Da Choppa!" means "that one is saying that they must attain whatever goal it is that is set forth. 'Getting the choppa' is the act of succeeding in this goal and is the highest possible recognition." The entry adds that "It's used when there is no need to mention where you're going, you all already know where you're going. So you just yell 'GET TO DA CHOPPA!!!!'"

In the game World of Warcraft, "Get to the Choppa" became an achievement badge "which could be unlocked once the player obtains a Mechano-hog or Mekgineer’s Chopper, both motorcycles," according to knowyourmeme.

The phrase was also featured as an unlockable title in "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" once the player completes the “Chopper Gunner I” challenge by calling in 3 Chopper Gunner helicopters.

In April 2009, the quote was  even featured in a U.S. Library of Congress report titled “Wise Guide to Helicopters.”

During a recent "Tonight Show" appearance, host Jimmy Fallon made Schwarzenegger partake in a QVC cooking show skit in which the actor had to say his infamous line over and over again.

According the the below Google Trends chart, the phrases "get to the chopper" and "get to the choppa" have only become more searched since the film's 1987 release.

"Predator," which was made for $15 million, has since gone on to earn over $98 million worldwide. It even snagged an Oscar nod in 1988 for Best Visual Effects.

SEE ALSO: How ‘Indiana Jones’ Finally Forced Hollywood To Create The PG-13 Rating

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The 2014 Tony Awards nominations were announced on Tuesday morning by actors Lucy Liu and Jonathan Groff, with Hugh Jackman crashing the ceremony.

A few TV stars were nominated, including Bryan Cranston for "All The Way" and Neil Patrick Harris for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."

"A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder" leads the pack with 10 nods, followed by "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" with 8 nominations.

The Tonys will air on June 8 on CBS.

Check out the list of nominees below:

Best Play

Act One
All the Way
Casa Valentina
Mothers and Sons
Outside Mullingar

Best Musical

After Midnight
Aladdin
Beautiful
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Best Revival of a Play

The Cripple of Inishmaan
The Glass Menagerie
A Raisin in the Sun
Twelfth Night

Best Revival of a Musical

Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Les Miserables
Violet

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Samuel Barnett- Twelfth Night
Bryan Cranston- All the Way
Chris O’Dowd- Of Mice and Men
Mark Rylance- Richard III
Tony Shalhoub- Act One

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Audra McDonald- Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Gril
Tyne Daly- Mothers and Sons
Estelle Parsons- The Velocity of Autumn
LaTanya Richardson Jackson- A Raisin in the Sun
Cherry Jones- The Glass Menagerie

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Ramin Karimloo- Les Miserables
Neil Patrick Harris- Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Jefferson Mays- A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Bryce Pinkham- A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Andy Karl- Rocky

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Idina Menzel- If/Then
Mary Bridget Davis – A Night with Janice Joplin
Jessie Mueller- Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Kelli O’Hara- The Bridges of Madison County
Sutton Foster- Violet

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Reed Birney- Casa Valentina
Paul Chahidi- Twelfth Night
Stephen Fry- Twelfth Night
Mark Rylance- Twelfth Night
Brian Jacob Smith- The Glass Menagier

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Sarah Green- The Cripple of Inishmaan
Celia Keenan-Bolger- The Glass Menagerie
Sophie Okonedo- A Raisin in the Sun
Mare Winningham- Casa Valentina
Anika Noni Rose- A Raisin in the Sun

Best Book of a Musical

Chad Beguelin – Aladdin
Douglas McGrath – Beautiful
Woody Allen – Bullets Over Broadway
Robert L Freedman – A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Best Score

Jason Robert Brown- The Bridges of Madison County
Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey- If/Then
Steven Lutvak and Robert L. Freedman- A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Alan Menken and Chad Beguelin- Aladdin

Best Director of a Musical
Warren Carlyle- After Midnight
Michael Mayer- Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Leigh Silverman- Violet
Darko Tresnjak- A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder

Best Director of a Play
Tim Carroll- Twelfth Night
Michael Grandage- The Cripple of Inishmaan
Kenny Leon- A Raisin in the Sun
John Tiffany- The Glass Menagerie

Best Book of a Musical

Aladdin- Chad Beguelin
Beautiful – The Carole King Musical - Douglas McGrath
Bullets Over Broadway- Woody Allen
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder- Robert L. Freedman

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Aladdin- Music: Alan Menken, Lyrics: Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin
The Bridges of Madison County- Music & Lyrics: Jason Robert Brown
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder- Music: Steven Lutvak, Lyrics: Robert L. Freedman & Steven Lutvak
If/Then- Music: Tom Kitt, Lyrics: Brian Yorkey
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Samuel Barnett, Twelfth Night
Bryan Cranston, All The Way
Chris O’Dowd, Of Mice and Men
Mark Rylance, Richard III
Tony Shalhoub, Act One
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, A Raisin in the Sun
Cherry Jones, The Glass Menagerie
Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill
Estelle Parsons, The Velocity of Autumn
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Ramin Karimloo, LES MISERABLES
Andy Karl, Rocky
Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Mary Bridget Davies, A Night with Janis Joplin
Sutton Foster, Violet
Idina Menzel, If/Then
Jessie Mueller, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Kelli O’Hara, The Bridges of Madison County
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

Reed Birney, Casa Valentina
Paul Chahidi, Twelfth Night
Stephen Fry, Twelfth Night
Mark Rylance, Twelfth Night
Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

Sarah Greene, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun
Anika Noni Rose, A Raisin in the Sun
Mare Winningham, Casa Valentina
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

Danny Burstein, Cabaret
Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway
Joshua Henry, Violet
James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin
Jarrod Spector, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

Linda Emond, Cabaret
Lena Hall, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Anika Larsen, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Adriane Lenox, After Midnight
Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Best Scenic Design of a Play

Beowulf Boritt, Act One
Bob Crowley, The Glass Menagerie
Es Devlin, Machinal
Christopher Oram, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Christopher Barreca, Rocky
Julian Crouch, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Alexander Dodge, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Santo Loquasto, Bullets Over Broadway
Best Costume Design of a Play

Jane Greenwood, Act One
Michael Krass, Machinal
Rita Ryack, Casa Valentina
Jenny Tiramani, Twelfth Night
Best Costume Design of a Musical

Linda Cho, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway
Arianne Phillips, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Isabel Toledo, After Midnight
Best Lighting Design of a Play

Paule Constable, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Jane Cox, Machinal
Natasha Katz, The Glass Menagerie
Japhy Weideman, Of Mice and Men
Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Kevin Adams, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Christopher Akerlind, Rocky
Howell Binkley, After Midnight
Donald Holder, The Bridges of Madison County
Best Sound Design of a Play

Alex Baranowski, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill
Dan Moses Schreier, Act One
Matt Tierney, Machinal
Best Sound Design of a Musical

Peter Hylenski, After Midnight
Tim O’Heir, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Mick Potter, LES MISERABLES
Brian Ronan, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical

Best Direction of a Play

Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
Michael Grandage, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Kenny Leon, A Raisin in the Sun
John Tiffany, The Glass Menagerie
Best Direction of a Musical

Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Michael Mayer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Leigh Silverman, Violet
Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
Best Choreography

Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Steven Hoggett & Kelly Devine, Rocky
Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin

Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway

Best Orchestrations

Doug Besterman, Bullets Over Broadway
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Steve Sidwell, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical
Jonathan Tunick, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder

Recipients of Awards and Honors in Non-competitive Categories

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre - Jane Greenwood

Regional Theatre Award - Signature Theatre, New York, N.Y.

Isabelle Stevenson Award - Rosie O’Donnell

Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre - Joseph P. Benincasa, Joan Marcus, Charlotte Wilcox

SEE ALSO: 24 Awesome Photos From The Stagecoach Country Music Festival

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Warner Bros has prevailed in a lawsuit claiming it stole the idea for The Matrix trilogy. U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner today granted summary judgment to defendants WB, Andy and Lana Wachowski and Joel Silver, ruling that Thomas Althouse’s The Immortals screenplay was not similar in “plot, characters, theme, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, or sequence”, according to the ruling (read it here).

“In The Immortals, Hitler and the Nazis are cryogenically frozen and then reanimated at a time when their cohorts have successfully created an immortality drug. The protagonist, Jim, must fight the now-immortal Nazis who seek to oppress and destroy all ‘Short-lifers.’ In contrast, in The Matrix Trilogy, machines harvest humans’ energy while trapping their minds in a virtual reality known as the “matrix.”

The protagonist, Neo, seeks to free humans from enslavement by the machines and protect a group of rebels who live freely in the real world. The basic premises of The Matrix Trilogy and The Immortals are so different that it would be unreasonable to find their plots substantially similar”, Klausner wrote.

Warner Bros contends that the Wachowskis began working on The Matrix trilogy in 1992 and completed a first draft of scripts for all three films by 1993. Althouse claims he submitted his Immortals script to the studio in 1993. He filed suit in January. A Warner Bros spokesman said the studio had no comment on the court ruling.

SEE ALSO: The Matrix Probably Wasn't Even Necessary In ‘The Matrix’

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Sprint and Spotify announced a partnership today that will give Sprint subscribers discounted access to the streaming music service.

Sprint customers on the "Framily Plan" will be able to get six free months of Spotify premium, which lets you listen to Spotify on your mobile device and download songs for listening offline. After the six-month trial, it'll cost $7.99 per month if you have up to five people on your family plan. If you have five to 10 people on your plan, Spotify will cost $4.99 per month. Spotify Premium normally costs $9.99 per month.

If you don't have a family plan with Sprint, you can try Spotify Premium for free for three months. After that, it'll cost the normal $9.99 per month.

Spotify has made similar deals with international carriers over the years, but this is the first time it's been done with a U.S. carrier. 

It's an important deal for Sprint too. The carrier has been bleeding subscribers lately. A partnership with a popular streaming service like Spotify is a good way to add value to customers' plans and keep them from abandoning Sprint for another carrier.

In its earnings report today, Sprint said it lost 231,000 postpaid subscribers and 364,000 prepaid subscribers. Sprint blamed service disruptions as it upgrades its network for many of those losses. Meanwhile, rivals AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are either growing or maintaining their subscriber bases.

AT&T has its own music deal with Beats Music, a streaming service that's very similar to Spotify. AT&T gives you unlimited streaming for up to five devices and up to 10 devices for $14.99 per month. The Beats Music app also comes preinstalled on a lot of Android phones AT&T sells. 

Sprint and HTC also introduced a special version of HTC's flagship phone, the One, that has special audio hardware built by Harman/Kardon for improved quality. The phone will come with a free pair of Harman/Kardon earbuds that normally cost over $100.

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Godzilla won't be the only monster storming around when the movie comes out this May.

A new international trailer shows a clear look at another monster in the upcoming Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures film.

We previously pointed out what looked like other multiple monsters in the upcoming reboot.

"Godzilla" is in theaters May 16.

Here are a few better looks at the other monster fighting godzilla.

We've previously seen a look at a monster other than Godzilla in another recent trailer:

Here's one final look at Godzilla. It's probably the best one we've seen yet.

SEE ALSO: "Godzilla" reboot origin story was scrapped because of Superman

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For the first time in 9 years a Pixar film will not be on the summer movie schedule.

Fans will have to wait until next year's "The Good Dinosaur" to enjoy the vibrant colors and heartfelt story that has helped make Pixar an animation giant for over a decade.

But how did Pixar come to dominate the industry in the first place?

Most will recall the studio taking off after 1995's "Toy Story," but that was only one film. Without a lineup of great films to follow, Pixar could have easily been one and done.

That is why one lunch meeting at the Hidden City Café in Point Richmond, California may be one of the most important moments in Pixar's history.

The Lunch

In the summer of 1994, director John Lasseter, writers Andrew Stanton, Joe Ranft, and Pete Docter were putting the finishing touches on Pixar's first feature, "Toy Story" when, during a lunch meeting, a big question was raised: "What is Pixar going to do next?"

"'Toy Story' was almost complete and we thought, well geez, if we're going to make another movie we have to get started now," Staton later recalled of the lunch conversation.

According to the New York Times, Lasseter, Staton, Ranft, and Docter then started a brainstorming session sketching the outlines and characters that would make up four of the studio's greatest films (1998's "A Bug's Life," 2001's "Monsters, Inc.," 2003's "Finding Nemo," and 2008's "WALL-E") on nothing more than the napkins on their table.

"There was something special that happened when John, Joe, Pete and I would get in a room," Stanton told the Post and Courier. "Whether it was furthering an idea or coming up with something, we just brought out the best in each other."

The story of the famed lunch became something of legend (the story even made it into the teaser trailer for "WALL-E"), but for Staton there was much more to the creation of those films than just a mythical lunch.

"Well, I'm trying to dispel a little bit of it, before it turns too mythical," Staton later told the Times-Picayune of the lunch. "The truth is, there are people who worked really hard at making things like 'Monsters' and 'Nemo' really turn into the great stories they were way after those lunches."

One Lunch, $1 Billion Box Office

Since that lunch, Pixar has gone on to be one of the biggest and most critically acclaimed studios in the history of animation.

Pixar's 14 films have brought in $3.5 billion at the domestic box office. Of that, the four films created at the table that day have brought in nearly $1 billion combined. Those four films have also spawned two sequels (2013's "Monsters University" and the upcoming "Finding Dory") and have been nominated for a combined 15 Academy Awards, winning 3.

Those at the lunch would go on to other great things themselves. Lassester went on to direct "A Bug's Life" before becoming the Chief Creative Officer at Disney. Docter would go on to direct "Monsters, Inc.," Staton would direct "Finding Nemo" and "WALL-E," and Joe Ranft would also go on to create other features at Pixar before dying in 2005.

As for the place where the fabled lunch took place, the Hidden City Café (which was actually included in "Monsters, Inc." as seen above) closed its doors in 2012.

SEE ALSO: 12 Places In Pixar Movies That Actually Exist In Real Life

MORE: How ‘Indiana Jones’ Finally Forced Hollywood To Create The PG-13 Rating

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When it came to its smash hit "Frozen," there was one thing that Disney couldn't let go.

Speaking with NPR's Terry Gross, husband-and-wife duo Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez — the Academy-award-winning songwriters behind "Frozen" — said that Disney wasn't the "sanitized place that you might imagine it to be," but did draw the line at using the word "God."

"It's funny. One of the only places you have to draw the line at Disney is with religious things: the word God," said Anderson-Lopez.

"You can say it in Disney but you can't put it in the movie," Lopez explained.

Gross then went on to suggest that a possible reason why Disney was so strict with the word is because Lopez was a co-creator of the immensely popular religious satire Broadway musical, "The Book of Mormon."

Lopez explained further on NPR:

Terry Gross: I'll point out, Robert Lopez you co-wrote "The Book of Mormon," which is a satire about the Mormon faith.

Robert Lopez: And it's as equally a satire of Disney as it is of the Mormon faith.

Terry Gross: Yes. Right. Yes, strike two. Yeah.

Robert Lopez: I mean, it really is.

Even though Disney enforced the "no God" rule, Lopez did say that it was a place where creative people could inject adult aspects into movies for children.

"I don't think Disney has any problem with employing people who have, you know, done off-color stuff in the past," Lopez commented.

"Frozen" has grossed over $1 billion worldwide and is the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

SEE ALSO: Parents Are Shelling Out Big Bucks For 'Frozen' Swag On eBay

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It's official! After months of speculation, Disney and Lucasfilm have announced the cast for "Star Wars: Episode VII."

Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford will all reprise their roles as Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo in the film.

Joining them will be newcomer John Boyega, who will appear in FOX's upcoming "24: Live Another Day" miniseries; Oscar Isaac ("Inside Llewyn Davis"); and Adam Driver ("Girls").

Boyega was among the actors rumored for the lead in the sequel. Driver is expected to play the main antagonist. His character has been described to be "in the vein of iconic Darth Vader."

Previously, it was reported Peter Mayhew would return as Chewbacca. Kenny Baker and Anthony Daniels will join him reprising their roles as R2-D2 and C-3PO, respectively.

Daniels let it slip last October he may return for "Episode VII" at New York Comic Con.

Not much is known about the film's plot; however, it's rumored that Harrison Ford will have quite a large role.

Lucasfilm announced last week the new movies will deter from the expanded "Star Wars" universe. So, all the books, comics, and video games, cartoons, etc. released since “Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi” that explain what happens after the film will have little to no impact on the sequels and spin-off movies going forward.

"Star Wars: Episode VII" will be released Dec. 18, 2015.

Here's the release:

The Star Wars team is thrilled to announce the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII.

Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.

Director J.J. Abrams says, "We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud."

Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015.

SEE ALSO: The "Star Wars" expanded universe will be completely separate from the new movies

AND: What you should know about the young actor just cast in "Episode VII"

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Activision and Bungie released a 7-minute gameplay trailer for highly-anticipated videogame "Destiny" Monday. 

It's the first real look we're getting at the next game from the creators of "Halo."

Bungie has been working on the game prior to 2009, before the release of 2010's "Halo: Reach."

Here's the brief description for the game:  

"In Destiny you are a Guardian of the last city on Earth, able to wield incredible power. Explore the ancient ruins of our solar system, from the red dunes of Mars to the lush jungles of Venus. Defeat Earth’s enemies. Reclaim all that we have lost. Become legend."

The gameplay video shows off a co-op mission called "Strike," one of many activities featured in the game.

The first-person shooter and multiplayer online game arrives this September on the PlayStation 3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. A beta test version will be available come summer on both the PS3 and PS4.

The game takes place hundreds of years in the future in a post-apocalyptic universe.

Aliens have inhabited the Earth and other planets.

You play as a Guardian from the last city on Earth.

The cast of "Star Wars: Episode VII" was just announced. 

While many actors will reprise their roles, including Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill, the film will be filled with new stars including John Boyega. 

The 22-year-old British actor is best known for playing Moses in 2011's teen monster movie, "Attack The Block."

He was also featured in Spike Lee's 2011 TV movie "Da Brick." Next, he will appear in Fox's upcoming miniseries "24: Live Another Day."

Boyega was widely rumored to star as the lead in "Episode VII." He was reportedly up against other young stars including Jesse Plemons from TV hits "Breaking Bad" and "Friday Night Lights."

Boyega's exact role in the film is still unknown.

He will star alongside another newcomer, Daisy Ridley,  as well as Adam Driver ("Girls") and Oscar Isaac ("Inside Llewyn Davis").

The casting of both Boyega and Ridley fits along with J.J. Abrams' rumored decision to want to cast relative unknowns.

This follows the casting decisions of the original film, “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope” which cast relative unknowns Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford.

"Star Wars: Episode VII" is slated for a December 18, 2015 release.

SEE ALSO: IT'S OFFICIAL: 'Star Wars: Episode VII' Cast Announced, Original Stars Returning

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You may not know Daisy Ridley's name now, but you will soon.

The young British actress was just cast in a mystery role in "Star Wars: Episode VII."

Disney and Lucasfilm announced the official cast for the film today. Ridley will be joining a lot of stars from the original "Star Wars" trilogy including Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford.

Ridley has had a lot of brief roles in British TV series and shorts. The actress has appeared in British TV show "Casualty" and "Youngers" along with short film "Blue Season" last year. 

She is represented by Jonathan Arun Limited. 

Artist Films has since pulled the actress' showreel from YouTube.

SEE ALSO: See who's cast in "Star Wars: Episode VII"

AND: What you need to know about the actor just cast as the lead in "Episode VII"

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Don't get too excited about Popcorn Time, a controversial new streaming app the tech industry has called the "Netflix for pirated movies." While it's a clever idea and hasn't been prosecuted yet, the legal outlook isn't good.

Popcorn Time lets users search and stream a vast selection of pirated films right in the program. The free, open-source media player is a hybrid between a bittorrent client and typical streaming technology. Unlike traditional torrenting, however, the downloaded media files disappear from users' computers when they exit the program. And unlike many streaming sites, Popcorn Time provides an easy-to-use and non-spammy viewing process.

The app was up-and-running in late March. "Popcorn Time as a project is legal. We checked. Four Times," its anonymous developers declared. Later that month, however, they shut it down,saying they feared "legal threats" that made them "feel in danger for doing what we love."

A few weeks later, Popcorn Time was back up again, run by different anonymous developers at YTS. In an email exchange with Business Insider, the new crew said they "don't see a reason to contact a lawyer." The current website also states it "will never be taken down" in a bold banner.

But the team "probably should contact a lawyer," according to professor Jim Gibson, director of the Intellectual Property Institute at the University of Richmond law school.

"Their biggest legal problem is that they appear to be encouraging users to stream movies illegally," Gibson told Business Insider. 

Uploading or posting unlicensed content online is illegal — even if it's free, according to Gibson. "That's the most basic part of copyright — protection of your work. When someone uploads a video online, they're literally making a copy," he said. 

Online streaming sites and apps like Popcorn Time try to avoid copyright infringement by not hosting their own content. (Read more about that process here ») Instead, these sites act as search engines for links to streamed content. 

"Popcorn Time is not hosting anything. Popcorn Time serves only information. And it's not forbidden to collect and serve public, open-for-all, information. You can look for the same information on Google," the site's team told BI via email.

In technological copyright cases, however, legal liability can be determined using a test known as the "inducement rule," which holds companies or websites accountable for distributing unlicensed content if they clearly encourage users to infringe copyright. The company would also be considered illegal if it provides access only to infringing content and no other legal content.

"I think there’s a case to be made that by the way Popcorn Time is set up, it might run afoul of one of those two liabilities," Gibson said.

For the site to encourage copyright infringement, it might have a most popular list, for example, Gibson explained. Well, Popcorn Time does — as shown in the above image. And most, if not all, of the featured films are copyrighted. Since Popcorn Time clearly highlights its access to these licensed films, it likely violates the first part of the inducement rule.

On the other hand, YouTube is a completely legal site. While users are free to upload copyrighted content, the site receives hundreds of take-down orders from big media companies daily, according to Gibson. And it usually complies.

"It does very much depend on the marketing and the uses [these sites] are encouraging .... With Popcorn Time, the devil is in the details," Gibson said.

The legal issues, however, may take a backseat to practicality. As previously mentioned, Popcorn Time uses open-source software — if one site offering the download shut down, another could pop up just as quickly. While copyright-holders or law enforcement probably could stop the software if they dedicated enough resources, they'd have a hard time locating those responsible.

And while we don't encourage downloading Popcorn Time, users shouldn't worry. The app does download media files to your computer — but only temporarily. Copyright-holders and law enforcement probably wouldn't waste time and effort going after minor private users anyway, Gibson explained.

SEE ALSO: How Sketchy Streaming Sites Really Work — And Why Some Are Illegal

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George R.R. Martin has created a swords and sorcery world that people can't get enough of: The "A Song of Ice And Fire" series has sold 24 million copies in print, while the HBO adaptation has been a huge hit, too — the premier of season four brought in 6.6 million viewers, the most for a premium channel since "The Sopranos" went off the air. 

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Martin shared details on his creative process. Strikingly, they mirror lots of entrepreneurial wisdom. Here's a look behind the scenes at how Martin works.

It's not about ideas. 

When asked where his imagination came from, Martin replied that "ideas are cheap." 

"I have more ideas now than I could ever write up," he says. "To my mind, it's the execution that is all-important." 

This is the same philosophy held by the late tech innovator Steve Jobs, who said thinking that a great idea is 90% of the work is completely wrong. "There is just a tremendous amount of craftsmanship in between a great idea and a great product," he said.

It's not about originality.

Creativity isn't about having the most orginal idea ever. Instead, it's a matter of combining what already exists. 

"You look at Shakespeare, who borrowed all of his plots," Martin says. "In 'A Song of Ice and Fire,' I take stuff from the Wars of the Roses and other fantasy things, and all these things work around in my head and somehow they jell into what I hope is uniquely my own." 

Apple, again, provides a killer example. The iPod wasn't the first mp3 player; it was just the most beautiful one. Like "Steal Like An Artist" author Austin Kleon says, creative theft can be incredibly positive, so long as it's honoring instead of degrading, crediting rather than plagiarizing, and transforming instead of intimidating.  

If you can't shake it, you have to do it. 

When Martin was starting on "A Song Of Ice and Fire," he was still working in Hollywood. Between the screenplays and the writer's rooms, he just couldn't shake the need to write the book. 

"I still pitched shows in Hollywood," he says, "but this 'Ice and Fire' thing wouldn't leave my head. I kept thinking about it and scenes for these characters. It was just never far from me. I realized I really want to tell that story." 

You see the same pattern in entrepreneurs. Pencils of Promise founder Adam Braun knew he wanted to start an education nonprofit since he spent his early 20s backpacking around the world. Even though he was on the fast-track at elite consultancy Bain & Company, he left to launch an education nonprofit — one of the most innovative in the world. 

It is about inspiration. 

Sometimes, inspiration does come on its own. As Martin tells Rolling Stone, the opening scene of the book came to him in a vision: 

It was the summer of 1991. I was still involved in Hollywood. My agent was trying to get me meetings to pitch my ideas, but I didn't have anything to do in May and June. It had been years since I wrote a novel. I had an idea for a science-fiction novel called Avalon. I started work on it and it was going pretty good, when suddenly it just came to me, this scene, from what would ultimately be the first chapter of A Game of Thrones. It's from Bran's viewpoint; they see a man beheaded and they find some direwolf pups in the snow. It just came to me so strongly and vividly that I knew I had to write it. I sat down to write, and in, like, three days it just came right out of me, almost in the form you've read.

The greatest leaders are visionary: Elon Musk imagined an infrastructure for electric cars, now he's building it (and civilian space travel, too). Richard Branson imagined an airline that took care of its customers and helped make it into reality. Lyft CEO Logan Green wanted to make a better form of public transit. The company is on its way. 

It is also about friendships.

When Martin was making the "Song of Ice and Fire" universe real, he had a big question: How magical should this fantasy world be? Lots of spells or not too many? Then the big question: Should there be dragons? 

As brilliant minds like Charles Darwin and Kanye West did, Martin decided to ask a friend. 

"Should the Targaryens actually have dragons?" Martin recalls. "I was discussing this with a friend, writer Phyllis Eisenstein — I dedicated the third book to her — and she said, 'George, it's a fantasy — you've got to put in the dragons.' She convinced me, and it was the right decision. Now that I'm deep into it, I can't imagine the book without the dragons."

Who you know is more important than you might think. 

SEE ALSO: How James Patterson Sells More Books Than J.K. Rowling Or Stephen King

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DreamWorks Animation announced it will take a $57 million writedown on its latest movie, "Mr. Peabody & Sherman," during its Q1 earnings Tuesday afternoon.

The movie, based on the characters from "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show," received generally positive reviews making $260.8 million worldwide.

The animated picture cost DWA an estimated $145 million to make.

This is the latest in a string of underperforming movies for the studio.

Last year's "Turbo" — a film about racing snails — took a $13.5 million writedown after a poor summer performance.

Prior to that, the company posted an $83 million loss in Q4 2012 because of "Rise of the Guardians."

"The box office shortfall of Mr. Peabody & Sherman is evidence of the current challenges we face within our feature film segment, and restoring the strength in our core business is my number one priority today," said DreamWorks Animation CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg, in a statement.

This summer, DreamWorks Animation will release the sequel to its popular series, "How to Train Your Dragon." With no Pixar film slated for this year, the feature should be a strong win for the studio. 

"How to Train Your Dragon 2" is set for a June 13 release and is expected to make north of $75 million opening weekend at this point.

SEE ALSO: 15 movies to see this summer

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Spoilers ahead.

Two weeks ago, fans of the HBO show "Game of Thrones" watched with a mixture of surprise, horror, and satisfaction as one of the TV show's best villains, the young King Joffrey, died a horrible death when poisoned at his own wedding.

Using details from the books the show is based on, the American Chemical Society decided to track down this mystery poison. For the latest of their "Reactions" video series, the ACS asked scientists: What was that poison made of, and could it be real?

Tracking down a fictional poison

There are a few things in the book and show that could help these scientists on their quest: the descriptions of what the poison does and how it is prepared.

In the books, the poison is called "the strangler." It's rare and unknown to most of Westeros, the fictional land that the series is set in. But there are a few clues in the text. The poison is made "from the leaves of a plant" that grows on an island in the "sea of jade."

With plant leaves as a starting point, chemist Raychelle Burks of Doane College in Nebraska has a few ideas. The video explains that there are three plant-based poisons that make good candidates and feature prominently in murder mysteries: belladonna, also known as deadly night shade; poison hemlock; and strychnos nux-vomica, the strychnine tree.

All of the above plants are deadly, but Joffrey's reaction to the poison makes one plant a far more likely culprit.

Burks matched these poisons up with the details of Joffrey's reaction when dosed — a painful, suffocating death. Onscreen, he clutches his throat, falls to the ground, and his face turns purple. As he dies, he starts bleeding from the eyes and nose.

Two of the three plants make muscles relax, which wouldn't cause the throat-closing asphyxiation response that killed Joffrey. The chemical derived from the third of these plants — strychnine — causes a different reaction that's more similar to The Strangler than the others.

It affects the muscles in the face and the neck first — which matches Joffrey's reaction, causing neck muscles to clench up.

Ancient chemistry

A note in the book says that the deadly compound is extracted using a "wash of lime" and treated with a "rinse of sugar." Does that match up?

Using a "wash of lime" to extract strychnine doesn't make sense if you interpret lime as the fruit. If instead, "wash of lime" refers to a limestone product, calcium oxide, it makes perfect sense. Calcium oxide is used in one of the processes that can extract alkaloids (like strychnine) from plants.

There's a simple explanation for the sugar rinse in Martin's books. Alkaloids are bitter. For Joffrey to not taste the poison, it needs to be disguised. And what better way to hide a bitter taste than sugar? The sugar could even be responsible for the crystal that disguised the poison.

Here's Burks with more details on the three poisons above:

SEE ALSO: Here's A Ton Of Party Tricks To Fool Your Friends And Family

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Snapchat co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy both made Time Magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

At a gala Tuesday night celebrating the honorees at Lincoln Center, Spiegel and Murphy posed for photos but declined to speak with any press.

After the duo made their way down the red carpet and before they could step into the awaiting elevator, I handed Spiegel my iPhone — with the Snapchat app open — and asked him and Murphy to take a selfie. They obliged and even had fun with it.

Here is the result of what Spiegel handed back to me:

I played around with it for a bit:

And ultimately decided on this:

Here's what Spiegel and Murphy looked like at the event when they weren't making funny faces:And here they are inside the party with Rupert Murdoch and honoree David H. Koch.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was also at the event. Dorsey wrote about Spiegel and Murphy in their Time magazine profile, saying the two deserved the honor because they "created something radical in its straightforwardness and speed."

"The visual, personal and ephemeral nature of Snapchat creates a freedom for people around the world to just be themselves, sending 400 million snaps daily," Dorsey added. "Snapchat is a perfect expression both of Evan’s and Bobby’s personalities."

SEE ALSO: Sheryl Sandberg Explains Why Beyoncé Deserves Time's 'Most Influential' Cover

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The Xbox One is officially coming to China in September.

Re/code reported the news first.

Microsoft will officially make the announcement on its Xbox blog Tuesday evening.

This is a big deal because it will make the Xbox One the first foreign gaming console to be released in China since 2000. For the past 14 years, the country has had a ban on selling gaming consoles in the country. It was put in place to protect youth from the potentially harmful effects of video games, according to Kotaku.

China's State Council temporarily lifted the ban in January allowing foreign game consoles such as the Xbox One, Sony's PlayStation 4, and Nintendo's Wii U to be sold in the country. The only catch is that foreign companies must work with a local partner and operate from Shanghai's Free Trade Zone.

According to the release, Microsoft will bring the Xbox One consoles to China through a partnership with BesTV. The two formed a joint venture, E-Home Entertainment Development Company Ltd., back in September 2013.

Through the partnership, E-Home Entertainment will invest "in an innovation program that will enable creators and developers to build, publish and sell their games on Xbox One in China and in other markets" where the console is available. 

The launch of the Xbox One in China later this year should help give a boost to Microsoft's console sales which are currently lagging behind Sony's rival PlayStation 4. 

Earlier this month, Sony Corp. announced sales of the PS4 console surpassed 7 million. 

Microsoft recently announced it has sold more than 5 million Xbox One units in 13 countries.

Come September, the console will be available in 42 total markets worldwide.

Microsoft CVP of devices and studios Yusuf Mehdi claims there are more than a billion gamers in China in a video that will be posted to Xbox Live's blog later this evening.

A Microsoft spokesperson refused to comment on the number of Xbox One units planned to be released in the country. 

Watch the announcement below:

SEE ALSO: 11 Gorgeous images from this year's most anticipated video game, "Destiny"

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