Here's everything we know about 'Westworld' — HBO's mysterious new sci-fi series
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Here is the best cosplay of the 2016 New York Comic Con
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19 famous movies that have been banned around the world
If you ever question the power of cinema, all you need to do is check out the movies that have been banned in different areas of the world over the past 100-plus years to reaffirm the grip the medium has on people.
Whether it be for political reasons ("The Great Dictator," "Zoolander"), religious reasons ("The Last Temptation of Christ"), or just because of the use of specific colors ("The Simpsons Movie"), all kinds of movies have been blocked from being shown based on some perceived offense.
Here are 19 well-known movies that have been banned:
SEE ALSO: The 23 best horror movies you can watch on Netflix right now
"The Battle of Algiers"
A landmark faux-documentary about the Algerian War in the late 1950s and early 1960s against the French government in North Africa, the movie was banned in France for six years due to its pro-Algerian message.
"Battleship Potemkin"
This classic 1925 silent movie dramatizing the mutiny of a Russian battleship in 1905 led to it being banned in Nazi Germany and numerous other countries at the time of its release due to fears that it would cause a Marxist revolution. Now it's taught in film courses everywhere.
"A Clockwork Orange"
Stanley Kubrick's classic movie about an ultraviolent teen went so far in showing horrific antics, including house invasion and rape, that numerous countries banned the film for decades. In fact, in the United Kingdom it was withdrawn from theaters because Kubrick and his family were receiving death threats. The film didn't play again in the UK until the director's death in 1999.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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A new horror movie you've never heard of will literally make you scream
There's a gem of a movie you probably haven't heard of coming out on Friday, that is if you don't mind feeling scared close to death.
The midnight section at the Sundance Film Festival can be hit or miss, but when the program is done right, it includes some of the best movies at the festival, and that was certainly true this year for "Under the Shadow," from a first-time Iranian filmmaker who has looked back on his memories growing up through the Iran-Iraq War in 1980s Tehran to make the chilling debut.
Horror movies have been used perfectly over the decades to comment on topical issues within the US — from civil rights in 1968's "Night of the Living Dead" to the Big-Brother-is-watching-you angle of 1988's "They Live." But only recently have filmmakers of Middle Eastern descent begun to tell such stories on an international stage in a significant way.
"Under the Shadow" director Babak Anvari will quickly be compared to Iranian-American filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour, as she also used the horror genre to explore living in Iran with her acclaimed 2014 film "A Girl Walks Home Alone." But both stories are different in tone and style, with "Alone" shot in black and white and focusing more on female isolation, while "Under the Shadow" has slick camera work and tackles a family dynamic.
"This is a personal story about what I remember as a child and what my family went through, other Iranians went through" during the war, Anvari told Business Insider at Sundance in January. "I used all those memories and put a horror twist on it."
The film focuses on Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and her daughter Dorsa (Avin Manshadi), who have a hot-and-cold relationship that only gets more challenged when Shideh's husband is sent off to serve in the war while Iraqi air raids rain down on their apartment complex.
The terror of that setting is elevated when Dorsa tells her mother that an invisible figure — or as they call it, djinn, a spirit that steals those they want to posses — keeps entering their place and has stolen her favorite doll.
The tension and scares only increase from there. As neighbors begin to leave because of the bombings, Dorsa becomes ill and Shideh realizes that what Dorsa tells her may be true.
"From day one I felt like this was a great setting for a horror," Anvari said. "Tehran at that time was very intense and dark because of the war."
Anvari, who lives in London now and hasn't been back to Iran in close to five years, remembers as a child staying up late at night to watch VHS tapes of his favorite horror movies. Anvari points out that at that time VCRs were illegal to own.
"I was influenced by horrors, but they freaked me out," he said. "My parents realized what I was doing and banned me from watching horrors."
But he was already hooked. Writing the "Under the Shadow" script on spec, he found the support of producers Emily Leo and Oliver Roskill, who were able to put together financing through their own production deal and a grant from the Doha Film Institute to shoot the film in Jordan last year.
Though there are some computer-generated scares, most of the things that will frighten you are just good old-fashioned tricks that were used by the masters, like Dario Argento ("Suspiria") and Wes Craven ("Scream").
It's been a long time since I've heard actual screams in a movie theater, and they could be heard numerous times throughout the screening of "Under the Shadow" I attended.
It certainly got buyers' attention. Netflix bought worldwide streaming rights to the movie on the first day of the festival. Then two days later, Vertical Entertainment and XYZ Films announced that they were teaming up to give the film a theatrical/VOD day-and-date release, which begins on Friday.
But Anvari is realistic about where the film can be released and where it can't — like in Iran.
"Someone will buy it off the street," he said, referring to the bootleg-movie market in Iran. "It would be great to show it there. I don't feel I offend anyone, but my guess is it will be a bootleg version they see."
"Under The Shadow" opens in theaters on Friday.
Join the conversation about this story »
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Here's how many people are watching 'Luke Cage' compared to other Netflix shows
"Marvel's Luke Cage" opened well for Netflix, but not well enough to have caused a weekend outage on the streaming platform.
"Luke Cage" executive producer Cheo Hodari Coker would love to claim Saturday's Netflix blackout was caused by "Luke Cage" bingers, but that's highly unlikely as there are four other shows that rate higher than "Luke Cage" and didn't crash the service.
In its premiere date, September 30, and the five days after, "Luke Cage" has been watched by an estimated 3.52 million adults under the age of 50, according to SymphonyAM, whose app listens to sounds from users' televisions and takes that data to extrapolate viewership.
Those numbers place the newest Marvel show in fifth place after Netflix's original series "Fuller House," the fourth season of "Orange Is the New Black," season two of "Marvel's Daredevil," and "Stranger Things," based on their respective premiere dates and following five-day viewership.
Among Netflix's Marvel series, "Luke Cage" does beat "Jessica Jones," which is in eighth place.
The next Marvel series for Netflix, "Marvel's Iron Fist," premieres March 17, 2017.
Here are the top 20 Netflix original programs, according to SymphonyAM:
DON'T MISS: The 5 most shocking revelations from Netflix's Amanda Knox documentary
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: Netflix just dropped a new 'Luke Cage' trailer and it looks incredible
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The director of 'The Girl on the Train' explains how he dramatically changed the hit book
After decades working as a struggling actor, Tate Taylor found his big break in his mid-40s as the director of Oscar winner “The Help.” Now he’s at the helm of the adaptation of the best-selling novel “The Girl on the Train.”
A steamy thriller in the vein of “Gone Girl,” the story centers on Rachel (Emily Blunt), an alcoholic whose divorce to Tom (Justin Theroux) has led her into a deep depression. And things aren’t any better on her Metro-North train commute from Westchester to Manhattan as she passes her old house, where Tom has started a new life with Anna (Rebecca Ferguson, who was in “Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation”).
Rachel has also become infatuated with Megan (Haley Bennett, “The Magnificent Seven”), who lives a few doors down from Tom's place and is often standing on her balcony wearing very little clothing. But when Megan goes missing, Rachel must figure out if, in her blackout drunk moments, she may have been involved.
The book, written by British author Paula Hawkins, was an instant hit when it came out in 2015, and Universal quickly snatched up the rights to it. But as with most adaptations, this one sometimes veers away from the source material (it's set in New York City instead of London).
Business Insider talked to Taylor about the challenges of adapting a book that is beloved by many, and looking back at "The Help" in a post-#OscarsSoWhite Hollywood.
Warning: Spoilers ahead if you’ve never read “The Girl on the Train.”
Jason Guerrasio: What's the biggest challenge of adapting a best-selling book?
Tate Taylor: My answer doesn't really come from me solving a problem — it comes from what I knew I wanted to do. When you have a book that everybody has read, and even those who read the book the first time kind of figured out it was Tom, I was like, "Okay, this is a thriller and this is what people want to see and that could be a big, big problem." Because your engine is exposed. But the great solution for that was a natural one. I was drawn to this material because of the character work and how deeply it dove into regret and betrayal and manipulation. I realized if I leaned into that — the sexuality, the violence, the mental abuse — it's not so much that it would district you from who did it, it just fills your brain with so much stuff it's truly a companion to that part versus making one stronger than the other.
Guerrasio: To show what is going on in Rachel's head, was that a jigsaw puzzle to pull off in postproduction?
Taylor: This movie was made in the editing room if ever a movie has been made. I mean, it was both scary and cool.
Guerrasio: Because I would imagine there's only so much screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson can put on the page to give you some runway.
Taylor: Yeah. I came on board and Erin had done this amazing heavy lifting starting this. But then as a filmmaker I realized that there were big holes, meaning there were things you just don't get to do in a movie. You don't get to say that Rachel suddenly remembers everything. That's when I created the character of Monica [Lisa Kudrow]. I wrote that all out. In the novel [author] Paula [Hawkins] says Rachel remembers so I'm like we don't get to do that or this is going to all unravel. So I went back to the book and Paula had written a brief little blurb in Rachel's narration that "Tom used to tell me I would embarrass him at his work parties," and I went, okay, I'm going to blow that up. And then with Megan's character, she's so sexual and I knew that she would be judged by the audience and not with much favor, so that's when I went back to the book and realized to serve this genre and serve this piece I needed to play out what happened with her baby. So it was really going through with the book as a director and writer saying this read well but this is not going to play well. Where are the holes? Where will people get up and go to the bathroom or roll their eyes?
Guerrasio: But then there's the change of location from London to New York, which could turn off die-hard fans. Was that already decided when you came on to the movie?
Taylor: That predated me by a year.
Guerrasio: Did you walk in nervous about how fans would react to that?
Taylor: To be honest, I made the mistake of checking the online chatter when I signed on to the movie and I saw that there wasn't a huge revolt at all, it was more of a why. But I think wonderful things happened because of that choice. Because of that, the day I met Emily I decided to keep her accent. I told myself, that's only going to add to her loneliness and despair. If she's in America and she has no job and lives on a mattress on a floor, she probably can't afford to go home and she's probably told them back at home the biggest lie ever. She can't go home like this. So that made it exciting for me. But the thing is I shot all these New York beauty shots and really shot the heck out of Grand Central Station, but when I put the movie together they were just kind of shoe leather. I didn't need it. And then I went back to the book and realized that Rachel just talks about London, it's not a character. So it really is universal and doesn't matter because the movie takes place between these women's ears and on a train.
Guerrasio: You guys decided on Metro-North. Did you have other ideas for the commute?
Taylor: We looked at all the lines, frankly I rode them all.
Guerrasio: I will say, I've spent most of my life riding into New York City, and I've never seen a beautiful woman standing outside on a balcony as the train goes by.
Taylor: Yeah, that doesn't happen.
Guerrasio: Movie magic.
Taylor: Yeah. [Laughs]
Guerrasio: What was your biggest fear going into postproduction?
Taylor: I had to trust that people would go with the beginning of the film. I had to trust that if people stayed with me and really got in with these characters and this mood that it would really make the movie satisfying.
Guerrasio: It is unusual how you thrust us right into Rachel's clouded mind from the start.
Taylor: You don't see it enough in movies. You may get one character that you do that, but to have three characters back-to-back? And with “The Help” I had the voices of three women, but this is the other thing that hit me like a ton of bricks: They were in scenes together in “The Help,” these women are not.
Guerrasio: You mention “The Help.” I was thinking about this, you made that and right after the James Brown biopic “Get on Up.” Right after that the #OscarsSoWhite debate really made waves in the industry. What was that time like? Finding success with “The Help,” but being a white man telling these stories.
Taylor: First it was "How dare a white guy tell black stories?" And you're going to love this, I got asked the other day, "How can you leave black people out of this movie?" I literally said, "I can't win." [Laughs] I don't know what to say about it, it's a business, man. It makes no sense. There's no rhyme or reason. The best thing from “The Help” was my best friend and roommate of five years [Octavia Spencer] got an Oscar and her life has changed forever. That's fun, that's really cool. And I think that came from pure recognition of an amazing job she did. I don't think that was a political win whatsoever. I think there's moments with the awards season where all the b------t cannot stop something inevitable. I think what “The Help” did, which excites me, is when I was going around with “The Help,” the fear was it's black-themed material, does it do well? Look what came out after “The Help.”
Guerrasio: With all the current circumstances could you, a white director, make “The Help” today?
Taylor: And I was just a nobody?
Guerrasio: Yes.
Taylor: Here's my answer, and it's not the answer you want to hear, the reason “The Help” got made was because Steven Spielberg read my script and he said, “If this guy wrote that, he's already directed the movie — let's do it.” Hopefully, I would like to think that's still in play today. I think it is. I think despite the circumstances, instincts tell you to just do this, it has happened to me on projects I've acquired. I think that will always be around.
Guerrasio: Are you uncomfortable talking about the #OscarsSoWhite phenomenon?
Taylor: I don't talk about it. I mean, you can't help but see, it's so obvious.
“The Girl on the Train” opens in theaters on Friday.
SEE ALSO: Justin Theroux on his intense role in "The Girl on the Train" and his thoughts on Brangelina
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29 actors reveal how they got their first Hollywood paycheck
Every actor who succeeds in the tough world of entertainment had to start somewhere.
Business Insider spoke to several television stars to find out what their first paying showbiz gig was.
While a few of them were lucky enough to land a huge job in the early days of their career, the majority of the stars we spoke to had pretty humble beginnings ranging from local plays to long-forgotten commercials and tiny roles.
Find out how your favorite TV stars earned their first Hollywood paycheck below:
SEE ALSO: The first paid jobs of 29 TV stars
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Donald Glover, "Atlanta" (FX)
"I was an extra in some movie about a black basketball team that was shot in Atlanta, not 'Remember the Titans.' That was my first paycheck."
Ming Na Wen, "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (ABC)
"I did 'South Pacific.' I was Liat and it was with a major regional theater in Pittsburgh. I got my equity card from it."
Ben Feldman, "Superstore" (NBC)
"I did a Broadway show. They made ‘The Graduate’ into a play on Broadway, and it was like right after I graduated college. And I did that. It wasn’t about the check — it was having a consistent pay. I was in the show for like a year, and that was insane to me. And to all of my friends, who were like waiting tables, or bartending, or whatever."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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'Westworld' star Thandie Newton defends her decision to play a brothel madam
Without auditioning, Thandie Newton was given the choice between two roles on HBO's highly anticipated new series, "Westworld."
"I picked Maeve," Newton, 43, told Business Insider earlier this week.
At face value, the choice to play a brothel madam would seem an odd choice for an outspoken women's right activist and victim of Hollywood sexual abuse.
"Maeve was bit more challenging to me, personally, with the nudity and so on," she said. "It was also very important, because ironically, the use of my body has not been my choice in a number of situations."
In an interview in W magazine in June, Newton revealed that one particular hurtful situation.
Earlier in her career, a director instructed her to fondle herself while he shot up her skirt for an audition. Years later, Newton discovered that the filmmaker was sharing the tape with friends after poker games at his house.
Produced by new "Star Wars" movie franchise director J.J. Abrams and based on the 1973 Michael Crichton movie of the same name, "Westworld" revolves around an amusement park where wealthy people pay admission to live out their fantasies with robot humans called "hosts."
Those fantasies can run the gamut of playing out a Western movie storyline where it's guaranteed they'll come out unharmed to sexual fantasies of all kinds. But a slight glitch in some hosts has the park's scientists anxious as they try to keep its customers' engaged in their fantasies.
Newton decided to take the "Westworld" role precisely because it mirrored what she and other women have experienced with sexual abuse and maintaining control over their bodies and at the same time asked the hard questions.
"My decision to play this role was a result of conversations we had about what they wanted to create with the show, the provocative material, which was going to be a conversation about what it means to be humane, what defines life, and do you value that life," she said.
"Those are all questions that I’ve been asking myself for a very, very long time. My social activism, my activism for women’s rights, which takes up a huge proportion of my time, but wasn’t my day job. So suddenly my day job was going to be turned into telling those stories and potentially go on for a number of years, I was like, ‘Count me the f--- in."
As for the role Newton turned down in order to play Maeve, the actress isn't talking.
"It’s a role beautifully played by somebody," she told us. "I don’t want to pop an idea in someone’s head that’s going to mess with what’s actually there, because what’s there is what’s real."
The ensemble cast of "Westworld," which premieres Sunday at 9 p.m., stars Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Jeffrey Wright, and Jimmi Simpson, among others.
Watch a trailer for "Westworld" below:
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The 5 most shocking revelations from Netflix's Amanda Knox documentary
Amanda Knox opened up about the events that led to her conviction and later acquittal in the murder of her roommate in Italy for a new documentary available on Netflix now.
Simply titled "Amanda Knox," the documentary features Knox carefully describing what she went through as first the police, then the media, and then the entire world debated whether she brutally stabbed her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, to death in their home on November 1, 2007.
Knox's story would've been enough for most, but the film also includes interviews with her codefendant and former lover, Raffaele Sollecito; the attorney for the man believed to have really been behind the deadly attack; and the man who led the Italian investigation.
Here are five things we learned from Netflix's "Amanda Knox":
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The weird moment the investigator first believed Knox killed her roommate.
The murder weapon was still missing. While at Knox's boyfriend's apartment, the police asked Knox to go through his knives in case one of them matched the murder weapon.
Knox began to panic and slap herself around the ears. Italian prosecutor Giuliano Mignini witnessed this and believed that memories of the crime were returning to her. This is when he first suspected that she killed Kercher — even without the kind of evidence you need for proof.
The police told Amanda Knox that she had HIV, even though she didn't.
While it added to Knox's fragile state in prison, the police wanted to get a list of people she had sex with. They hoped it would lead them to more witnesses or suspects. At the time, the theory was that multiple people were involved in the murder.
The media comes out as the real villain.
Not only did media outlets track everyday events during the trial, but they also reported a lot of sensational and untrue stories surrounding the case. Probably the worst defense for that comes when Daily Mail reporter Nick Pisa admits in the documentary to not fact-checking his stories before they were published — all in the name of being first.
"It's not as if I can say, 'Right, hold on a minute. I just wanna double-check that myself in some other way.' I mean, goodness knows how," he said. "And then I let my rival get in there first before me, and then, hey, I've lost a scoop."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Here are the biggest salaries of TV's top stars
How much is Hollywood shelling out for its top TV talent?
In this age of wall-to-wall TV programming, stars have become essential in bringing sizable audiences to shows.
Variety talked to actors, executives, agents, managers, attorneys, and others who are in the know about how much TV stars are making these days and found that the gap between the salaries of main stars and supporting ones has become larger.
Star salaries can range from $1 million an episode for the main players of CBS's "Big Bang Theory" to as small as $20,000 per episode for the actors who play the Lyon kids on Fox's "Empire."
Here's a look at the biggest salaries across comedy, drama, and reality/news/talk series*:
*Salaries are per episode, unless otherwise indicated. Some salaries may include producing fees and profit participation.
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$1,000,000 — Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory" (CBS)
$1,000,000 — Kaley Cuoco, "The Big Bang Theory" (CBS)
$1,000,000 — Johnny Galecki, "The Big Bang Theory" (CBS)
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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How the 'Friends' cast nabbed their insane salaries of $1 million per episode
Today, only a few actors make $1 million per half-hour episode of television. And they all happen to be starring on CBS's "The Big Bang Theory."
The only other time that was accomplished was in 2002 when the cast of "Friends" successfully negotiated their historic $1 million-per-episode pay deals.
How did they pull that off? The simple answer is that all six cast members negotiated together. That meant that each one would be paid the same or they would all leave the hit show.
But there's so much more to the story, like how did they come up with collective bargaining? And how did others involved in "Friends" feel about it? Plus, how much would their $1 million be worth today?
Here's everything you need to know about the "Friends" stars' historic $1 million-per-episode salary negotiation:
SEE ALSO: Here are the biggest salaries of TV's top stars
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All the circumstances were just right.
When the cast won their $1 million/episode salaries (or $22 million per season), the show had just recovered from seasons of declining ratings and was enjoying its highest-rated season in five years. But the stars really wanted to do other things, which meant the show was close to ending. It would end up running just two more seasons, but no one at the time knew exactly. And if NBC felt it could get at least one more year of "Friends," it would take that. The network needed all the time it could get. None of the shows NBC produced in eight years showed the ability to replace "Friends."
That year, "Friends" was averaging 24.7 million viewers a week — about two million viewers more than any other show in television. It also rated highly with young viewers, the kind advertisers always want.
To make the timing even more critical, salary negotiations were still open as the show had just four scripts left in the season. The writers had to know if they needed to write a proper series ending.
It was also getting terribly close to network upfronts, which are annual presentations of the season's upcoming schedule to potential advertisers. If NBC didn't have "Friends" on its schedule, it would've been disastrous for advertising sales.
The odds were stacked against NBC and looking really good for the show's stars.
David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston took a loss so they could band with their costars.
According to accounts of the events, the "Friends" cast didn't just decide to band together for a million dollars in 2002. They had been negotiating their salaries together since the show's third season. But that required two of the stars to take initial pay cuts.
As the central couple of the show, David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston made more money than the others. After the hit first season, Schwimmer was being courted with movie offers and his agents felt it was time to renegotiate his "Friends" contract. But he had enough forethought to convince his costars to act as a mini-union and insist on being paid equally.
That may have cost Schwimmer and Aniston initially, but who knew how long they'd stay the most popular actors on the show. By negotiating as a group, they not only gained leverage, but some job security. The show could easily drop one actor, but how could they write around the loss of all of them?
According to various sources, here's how much the cast made each season per episode:
Season one: $22,500
Season two: $22,500 to $40,000
Season three (when they began collective bargaining): $75,000
Season four: $85,000
Season five: $100,000
Season six: $125,000
Seasons seven, eight: $750,000
Seasons nine, ten: $1,000,000
"A million dollars an episode is kinda ridiculous." —"Friends" cocreator
Not everyone believed that the "Friends" cast deserved their $1 million-per-episode haul.
Last year, "Friends" cocreator Marta Kauffman called the salary "inflated."
"A million dollars an episode is kinda ridiculous," Kaufmann said. "Let's be honest, that's a lot of money."
Star Matt LeBlanc was also asked that year if he believed that the cast was worth the hefty salary. He believed that "worth" had no real bearing on the topic.
"I’ve been asked this question before, but phrased as, do I think we were worth it? Were we worth $1 million? To me, that’s such a strange question," LeBlanc told The Huffington Post.
"It’s like, well, that’s irrelevant. Are you worth it? How do you put a price on how funny something is? We were in a position to get it. If you’re in a position in any job, no matter what the job is — if you’re driving a milk truck or installing TVs or an upholsterer for a couch — if you’re in a position to get a raise and you don’t get it, you’re stupid. You know what I mean? We were in a position and we were able to pull it off. 'Worth it' has nothing to do with it."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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A new 'Walking Dead' clip hints at a big character death, but it's probably a misdirect
Warning: There are potential spoilers below for "The Walking Dead."
AMC debuted a new clip from "The Walking Dead" season seven and it's sure to send fans into a frenzy of guessing games.
The clip starts off soon after the cliffhanger season six finale in which one of Rick's group was brutally murdered by Negan — the leader of an opposing group called the Saviors.
Rick speaks with Negan telling him that one day in the future he's going to kill him. It's a scene ripped straight from issue #100 of the comics. From there, the scene makes a departure from the beloved graphic series as Negan asks for Rick's weapon (a hatchet) and then proceeds to drag him to his RV. It's a low point for Rick to be at the mercy of another human being.
After watching the clip closely it's clear they want you to think that a big character bit the dust. Did you notice the big hint?
The scene ends panning over the ground until it falls onto a bloody mix of gravel, earth, and what may be some human flesh. But before we see that, we see a blanket ditched on the ground. If you saw that blanket and gasped, you probably remembered there was one character in Negan's lineup who was covered in a blanket.
Need help?
Here's a photo of the lineup from the season six finale:
Still having trouble there? This may help.
It's Daryl Dixon.
Okay. Now pick your jaw back up.
Sure, the blanket certainly could be Daryl's. Who else's could it have been? Daryl was the only one in the group covered in a sheet of any kind. If you're freaking out about Daryl possibly kicking the bucket, we're not convinced he's the one Negan took out — right away at least. This is most likely a misdirect to get the fandom worried about fan favorite Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) ahead of the premiere for several reasons.
1. Would AMC really give away a hint that big in plain sight? The network, cast, and crew become pretty tight-lipped whenever you bring up the cliffhanger. AMC isn't providing anyone with episode screeners of the first episode. They don't want us thinking we can easily figure out the answer. Where's the fun in that, right? It's probably a little fun to tease the fandom who gets extra touchy whenever Reedus' character appears to be in danger.
2. Look at the placement of Daryl's blanket in the clip. It is far away. Why is it so far removed from the group? If Negan killed him right on the spot as we saw in the season six finale, Daryl's blanket should still be in the lineup with the group. That's not the case here.
3. There are rumors that Daryl will be in the season much longer. According to fan site, The Spoiling Dead, Daryl will later get held prisoner by Negan's group. Norman Reedus was also spotted filming scenes with several actors including Carol (Melissa McBride).
But that still leaves us to ponder the mystery of the blanket. If it's Daryl's, how did it get there?
There are two ways I see this playing out. One is that during the first beating, Daryl collapses in grief by who's chosen and is forced to get up off the ground. In the process, he has the blanket ripped off of him by Negan or someone else who discards it aside. Negan wants him to straighten up and calls him a pansy or something more colorful.
Redditor @DaRockett has another plausible theory. Perhaps Daryl interfered with the first beating and lost his blanket in the process. If he did interfere though, he's probably dead too. Negan warned no one else to give any outbursts. Killing Daryl off after giving that big of a hint just seems too easy.
While it could ultimately be Daryl, after a rewatch of the season six finale, the season seven clip, and Saturday evening's panel, I think we can narrow Negan's victim down to two individuals (three if you still want to include Daryl).
The biggest clue came in the first second of the preview clip.
Check out that fresh blood on Rick's face. Notice it's on his right cheek. If it spattered onto him from Negan's beating his victim should be on Rick's right. If that's the case, we can eliminate a few of the group off of the potential kill list.
Here's the lineup again.
The people on Rick's left are Sasha, Aaron, Carl, and Eugene. I'm willing to bet they're all pretty safe.
That leaves Glenn, Rosita, Daryl, Michonne, Abraham, and Maggie to be hit by Negan's bat.
However, that bloody mark is pretty large. It's not just a few splatters. It has to be someone pretty close near Rick. The closest characters to him are Maggie, Abraham, Michonne, and then Daryl, in that order.
Honestly, with a splatter that large I wouldn't be surprised it Negan's victim was Abraham or Maggie. Michonne seems a little too far down the line and Rick just suffered a loss of another lady love recently. Two so quickly after one another? I'm not buying it.
Maggie could make sense to kill off. In the comics, it's her husband Glenn who gets brutally ravaged by the bat. If Maggie's killed, it would be a gender-swap of the death. Plus, it's a bit unexpected since actress Lauren Cohan cut her hair for the role and really hasn't grown it back out yet.
However, at Saturday's panel Cohan had me convinced she may be the one to get the bat to the head. She became really emotional and broke down a bit when panel host Chris Hardwick asked how her character would handle the situation if she wasn't in her fragile state from the finale.
I was able to capture most of her response. Take a look at some of the footage of Cohan speaking to the NYCC audience:
Of course, she could also be a little upset over the death of someone close to her, like Glenn, but he's pretty far down in the lineup.
Here's the problem with killing off Maggie. Negan has little to gain by killing her. She already looks pretty sickly and weak in that lineup. He even notices that.
She's most likely suffering a miscarriage and if she doesn't receive some medical attention she could die on her own anyway. Would "The Walking Dead" really kill a pregnant woman? Oof.
If I were Negan, I'd want to get rid of the person who looks like they would be the second largest threat after Rick Grimes. That person, at least by appearance, is Abraham (Michael Cudlitz).
Abraham has already outlived his comic lifespan on the show. In Kirkman's series, it's Abraham and not Denise who gets killed by an arrow through the eye.
The scene showed Saturday night at Comic Con, and later released online, is called "Right Hand Man." In it, Negan goes off script from the comic and starts discussing his own second in command with Rick.
Negan then asks if Rick has a right-hand man and says that maybe he just killed that person.
Fans know Rick's right-hand man is obviously Daryl, but if I was Negan, and I wanted to make a guess at Rick's right hand man, I would take out the threatening-looking brute force of Abraham. Plus, in the comics, Abraham really is Rick's second-in-command so this would be a nice nod to that.
There have even been heavy rumors that Abraham will be the one killed off.
There is one added detail that throws a little bit of a wrench in my line of thought.
The rumor that's been going around for awhile is that Negan will kill off not one, but two of Rick's group in the premiere episode. If that happens, not only will it be a departure from the comics (not uncommon), but then it could be possible that Daryl is killed.
Even Jeffrey Dean Morgan himself confirmed to Den of Geek in a special New York Comic Con issue that Negan will kill more than one person in the show's premiere.
"Negan's not just going to kill one person in [the premiere]," Morgan told Den of Geek. "He's not afraid of bashing in skulls."
Wow.
Of course, Negan could be killing anyone else later on in the premiere episode. Perhaps, one of his own men gives him a tough time. Morgan did say at the New York Comic Con panel that his men follow him more out of fear. What better way to instill fear than by randomly killing a Savior every now and then to teach a lesson? But maybe Negan actually does kill two people in the lineup. Maybe it's Abraham and Maggie.
Maybe Daryl does interfere during or after Negan's initial killing. Perhaps he's a second casualty, kicked around, or taken prisoner by Negan's group as a result. But maybe I have a hard time seeing Daryl lash out if Abraham is killed, but I could see it happening if Maggie was bludgeoned to death. Since Beth's death, it's been tough for him to hold onto hope in the zombie apocalypse, but Maggie and Glenn's death and definitely Maggie's pregnancy, which I believe Daryl is aware of, was a bright spot in a dark world.
The other alternative I see playing out is that Negan takes the bat to Abraham and a completely different character we don't see afterwards. And it's that second death that causes Daryl to lose it.
We know the premiere episode is supposed to have a huge emotional impact on the audience and that would really do it.
We'll have to wait until October 23 when "The Walking Dead" returns to AMC to find out for sure.
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Billy Bush has been suspended by NBC
NBC News is suspending "Today" show host Billy Bush in the wake of a leaked video of Bush and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump making vulgar comments about women.
"Let me be clear — there is simply no excuse for Billy’s language and behavior on that tape,” NBC executive Noah Oppenheim said in a memo to staff members, according to multiple news outlets. "NBC has decided to suspend Billy, pending further review of this matter."
"We’ve all been deeply troubled by the revelations of the past 48 hours," Oppenheim added.
In the video from 2005, Bush, then a host of "Access Hollywood," was heard laughing as Trump described his attempts to seduce women. Their attention turned to "Days of Our Lives" actress Arianne Zucker, standing outside their bus.
"Sheesh, your girl's hot as s---, in the purple," Bush is heard saying. "Those legs, all I can see is the legs."
Trump then boasted in crude language about his ability to attract women.
"When you're a star they let you do it," Trump said. "You can do anything. … Grab them by the p---y. You can do anything."
Bush apologized on Friday for his role in the video. He was expected to address the incident on Monday's show.
"Obviously I'm embarrassed and ashamed,” Bush said in a statement issued by NBC News. “It's no excuse, but this happened eleven years ago — I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along. I'm very sorry."
The damage appears to have done considerable damage to Trump's campaign. Several high-profile Republicans, including Sens. John McCain and Kelly Ayotte, have withdrawn their support for the businessman. Trump has vowed to stay in the race despite growing calls to drop out.
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NOW WATCH: Clinton opens up a massive lead against Trump, with lopsided support from a key voting demographic
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Here is Oculus' vision for the future of VR (FB)
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At the Oculus Connect 3 conference on October 6, Facebook-owned virtual reality (VR) company Oculus unveiled some of the content that will soon be arriving on its platform.
The conference lifted the lid on Oculus’ vision for social VR and how it will dovetail with Facebook’s social platform, and also revealed a spate of games and video programming that will soon be available on Oculus. Some of the highlights from the conference from a content-perspective include:
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as long evangelized VR as the next paradigm in online communication, and the most social platform ever. Yet many have been puzzled about how this vision will be realized. Last week’s Oculus Connect conference gave answer these questions by shining a light on how Oculus will dovetail with Facebook’s social platform:
- Partnering up with content heavyweights. In probably the most significant piece of content-related news, Oculus announced a collaboration with Disney on content that could debut before the end of the year, and with Alcon Interactive to create VR experiences around Blade Runner 2049, which will be exclusively distributed on Oculus when the film premieres in October 2017. Content will be a key differentiator in VR, and it's possible that we'll see exclusive content deals for different VR platforms, much like we see among music streaming platforms today.
- Lifting the lid on the social VR vision. The company unveiled Avatars to create personalized identities for users in Oculus universe. These work with two new social features – ”parties” and “rooms” – that lets up to eight users group chat, play game, share media and more in a virtual space, ranging from real environments to customized 360-degree landscapes. Avatars are also able to produce human facial expressions by toggling the Oculus Touch controllers. These VR experience are still at an embryonic stage, and they're unlikely to drive regular consumers to adopt Oculus headsets any time soon.
- Melding Oculus with the rest of Facebook. Zuckerberg gave a first glimpse at how Oculus will integrate with Facebook’s broader platform. He demonstrated Oculus VR chat features by answering a Facebook Messenger video call with his headset on, in the virtual space. During the call, Zuckerberg switched between a customized virtual scene to his home living room. His wife, Priscilla Chan, who was on the other side of the line could see Zuckerberg's avatar in these virtual scenes. Zuckerberg then took a VR selfie of his avatar-self with Chan, who was in the video-call chat box, and their dog. The benefits of VR video calling compared to regular video calling aren't clear for now, outside of the the convenience of being able to take a call when using an Oculus headset (while playing a VR game, for instance).
- Investing eagerly into VR content projects. Facebook and Oculus also promised to invest $250 million to help accelerate the production of high-quality VR content, including entertainment, enterprise tools, and games. The funding also specifically sets aside $50 million for mobile VR content, $10 million for educational media VR programs, and and $10 million for VR apps that promote diversity. As alluded to in the first bullet point, a VR's platforms strength will be strictly correlated to the content that it hosts. This is why companies like Facebook and Google are investing large sums to propel VR content creation.
The tech industry has promoted the prospect of VR for the past few decades. But only now, with headsets backed by big names like Sony and Facebook, is VR finally becoming a concrete product with mass market potential. While VR technology is largely associated with the gaming industry, the platform offers a new set of content opportunities in entertainment, advertising, and more.
But where is it all going?
BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on virtual reality content that examines how various VR headset categories will shape VR content development and looks at the trajectory for mobile gaming revenues to get a sense of how spending on VR content might develop. The report also lays out what types of content users and developers can expect on VR platforms, including gaming, video entertainment, and advertising.
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
- VR headset manufacturers are driving both the development and distribution of VR content by investing significant technical and monetary resources in developers, in an effort to build up an exclusive content library.
- High demand for VR headsets by mobile and console gamers will fuel demand for VR content. The VR content market will take an increasing portion of the mobile gaming software industry.
- Beyond gaming, VR video entertainment will remain short form until demand for VR headsets increases.
- Ads featured on VR headsets will likely have higher view-through rates than standard video ad spots.
- Other industries are also beginning to experiment with VR content. Travel companies, publishers, e-commerce merchants, and social platforms are beginning to see potential in this new category.
- VR content faces major hurdles that could keep developers from investing: The VR experience must be good enough for people to take up the devices. In addition, developers need to know that a sufficient user base exists to be worthy of the resource investment in VR content.
In full, the report:
- Provides a breakdown of each type of VR headset, what platforms they run on, and how content will differ for each.
- Includes estimates for global VR headset shipments by category.
- Includes a mobile gaming forecast to give a sense of the most important market that will drive spending on VR content in the next five years.
- Lays out what other industries are developing VR programs.
- Discusses some of the potential barriers that could dissuade developers from investing in VR content.
To get your copy of this invaluable guide to the VR universe, choose one of these options:
- Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
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The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the world of VR.
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John Oliver tears into vulgar Donald Trump tape: 'F--- Billy Bush'
Last week, John Oliver believed the election had hit lower than rock bottom after Donald Trump spent days obsessing over a former Miss Universe. But the vulgar Donald Trump tape has pushed things further into the gutter in the host's mind.
"I told you that if you looked above the clouds, you would see rock bottom," Oliver said of his appraisal of Trump's behavior last week. “But if you look up there now, just way, way up there. All the way up high, you will see right up in the distance where we were this time last week. Since then, we have sunk so low we are breaking through the earth’s crust, where drowning in boiling magma will come as sweet, sweet relief."
Trump's new leaked recording broke on Friday. The 2005 recording shows Trump, who was newly married to his wife Melania at the time, boasting of trying to sleep with a married woman, who we later learned was "Entertainment Tonight" host Nancy O'Dell. Trump also talked about being able to "grab" women "by the p---y" because "when you're a star, they let you do it."
Oliver didn't let "Today" cohost Billy Bush off the hook: "And f--- Billy Bush," he said repeatedly.
Bush is heard egging on Trump's offensive statements on the tape. What was specifically offensive to the "Last Week Tonight" host was that once the two men reached their destination, Bush insisted their female guide give Trump and himself a hug.
"It is gross enough that he's serving as Donald Trump's hug pimp," Oliver said. "Let's not gloss over the fact that he just said, 'How about a little hug for the Bushy,' a phrase that, if it's not already, should really be a felony offense in all 50 states."
Trump issued an apology, while at the same time trying to explain away the tape as "locker room" banter and not representing who he is. Oliver feels a little differently.
“They could not capture his essence more if they were spoken by a spray-tanned Furby eating KFC and screaming at a gold-star family," Oliver said.
Finally, he took on Trump's campaign for speculating that newly released Hillary Clinton emails could expose her for using similar language.
“While there is some compromising stuff in there, at no point did she say to Goldman Sachs bankers, ‘I’m for open trade and open borders, but above all, I’m for luring men to furniture stores where I can grab them by the d--k. I’m famous, I can get away with that,’” Oliver joked.
Finally, Oliver doesn't let the Republicans off the hook either. After the tape was released, there was a stampede of them pulling their support for the candidate.
"All of you have consistently supported him through some absolutely heinous s---," Oliver said.
Watch the video below:
SEE ALSO: Donald Trump can't quite apologize for vulgar recording in 'SNL' spoof
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Daniel Craig explains why he said he'd rather 'slash' his wrists than play James Bond again
Ever since the release of the last James Bond movie, "Spectre," last November, there has been growing speculation that current Bond Daniel Craig will not return to the franchise.
That was only heightened when he was doing press for "Spectre." Craig had said he would "rather break this glass and slash my wrists" than play the role again.
Since then, reports have emerged that he has turned down millions of dollars to return to the role that made him an international star.
However, during a talk at the New Yorker Festival on Friday night, Craig made it seem as though he isn't completely against coming back for a fifth time as Bond.
"As far as I'm concerned, I've got the best job in the world. I'll keep doing it as long as I still get a kick out of it," Craig said at the talk, according to Vulture. The actor is currently sporting platinum-blond hair, which he'll feature in Steven Soderbergh's upcoming Nascar heist movie "Logan Lucky."
As for coming back for the next Bond movie, he said there have been "no conversations" as "everyone's a bit tired."
But he also made it clear that he's not searching for any broken bottles when thinking about Bond.
"They say that s--- sticks, and that definitely stuck," Craig said of the quote. "It was the day after filming [ended on 'Spectre']. I'd been away from home for a year."
Craig later added about playing the iconic role: "If I were to stop doing it, I would miss it terribly."
MGM did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. However, Callum McDougall, who was an executive producer on the last four Bond movies, told the BBC in late September that Craig is the "first choice" to play 007 in the next movie.
Craig has a busy dance card at the moment. Along with "Logan Lucky," he's also preparing to star in an Off Broadway show and is starring in the TV series "Purity" on Showtime.
There are currently no details about the untitled 25th James Bond movie or when it will be released.
SEE ALSO: The 23 best horror movies you can watch on Netflix right now
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The first trailer for the 'Power Rangers' movie is here and it blows the TV show away
The first teaser trailer for the new "Power Rangers" movie is here, and it looks like it's got the potential to live up to the television show that was extremely popular in the 1990's.
The cast includes Bryan Cranston as the villainous Zordon, but he's nowhere to be found in this trailer, which also doesn't show the Rangers in their full suits. However, we do get a glimpse of Elizabeth Banks as the evil Rita Repulsa. Scheduled to hit theaters in March 2017, it's sure to bring plenty of nostalgia for '90s kids.
This actually marks the third theatrical "Power Rangers" movie. Twentieth Century Fox released "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" in 1995, resulting in a worldwide gross of $66.4 million." That haul was enough to warrant a sequel: 1997's "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie," which only brought in a paltry $9.6 million at the worldwide box office.
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Matt Damon addresses the whitewashing controversy surrounding his new movie 'The Great Wall'
Matt Damon has heard about the claims of "whitewashing" thrown at his new movie "The Great Wall" and he has some thoughts.
While at the New York Comic Con with the movie on Saturday, Damon was asked about the controversy that bubbled online after the movie's first teaser went up in late July.
"Yeah, it was a f---ing bummer," Damon said, according to ComingSoon.net.
In the movie, directed by visionary Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou ("House of Flying Daggers," "Hero"), Damon plays a British solider who helps fight monsters attacking China's Great Wall (the movie opens in theaters February 2017).
Damon feels the movie has being unfairly criticized since no one has even seen it yet. He explains the numerous things that the movie had to get across in a teaser:
“From a marketing perspective, what’s a worse wipeout for a marketing team than to have that happen as a backlash against a teaser you put out? They’re trying to establish a number of things within a minute. It’s a teaser, they’re trying to tease the monster. They’re saying it’s a visionary filmmaker that Middle America probably doesn’t know. It’s the Steven Spielberg of China, right? Don’t worry! They speak English in this movie. You hear my voice speaking English. 'Don’t worry! Matt’s in the movie, you’ve seen this guy before.' They’re trying to establish all these things, and by the way, there are monsters."
Damon insisted that he's sensitive to criticisms of whitewashing, but he thinks once the movie is actually out, people will change their minds:
"I watched that teaser a number of times to try to understand the criticism. Ultimately where I came down to was if people see this movie and there is somehow whitewashing involved in a creature feature that we made up then I will listen to that with my whole heart. I will think about that and try to learn from that. I will be surprised if people see this movie and have that reaction. I will be genuinely shocked. It’s a perspective that as a progressive person I really do agree with and try to listen to and be sensitive to, but ultimately I think you are undermining your own credibility when you attack something without seeing it. You have to educate yourself about what it is before making your attack or your argument and then it’s easier to listen to from my side."
Here's the teaser that's causing all the controversy:
SEE ALSO: Here are the must-see movies most likely to in Oscars in 2017
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Sources say Billy Bush 'will never be on' the 'Today' show again
Billy Bush's future at "Today" could be cut short in the aftermath of his participation in the leaked Donald Trump tape.
Late on Sunday, NBC announced Bush, a "Today" show cohost, is suspended from the show "pending further review." But sources told CNN that Bush's absence could become permanent.
"He will never be on the show again," an on-air source told CNN's Brian Stelter, who wrote an in-depth book about the NBC show's ratings war with "Good Morning America."
On Monday, a second source confirmed to Stelter that Bush likely wouldn't be returning.
Bush is featured heavily with Trump in a video from 2005 that surfaced on Friday. The recording shows Trump, who was newly married to Melania Trump at the time, boasting of trying to sleep with a married woman. Access Hollywood identified the woman Trump was referring to as current "Entertainment Tonight" host Nancy O'Dell. She and Bush formerly cohosted "Access Hollywood" together. Trump also talked about being able to "grab" women "by the p---y" or kiss them because "when you're a star, they let you do it." All the while, Bush eggs on the real-estate mogul.
People magazine, meanwhile, reports that coworkers say they want to see Bush leave, and that there would not be a lot of love lost if he did.
"The feeling is, 'Is he so compromised that he can't be a neutral journalist? Can people see him as being a professional?'" a source told People. "It really seems like it's time for him to go. We're all waiting to see what happens."
There are several reasons Bush would be in danger of being fired for his involvement in the tape, including potential discomfort among coworkers and guests. But the biggest would be ratings and potentially insulting the core audience of the "Today" show.
Bush hosts the show's 9 a.m. hour, which is heavy on lifestyle stories. The morning show's audience is already driven by stay-at-home wives and mothers, but the 9 a.m. hour lends itself to an even heavier female audience.
Representatives for "Today" didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
SEE ALSO: John Oliver tears into Donald Trump vulgar tape: 'F--- Billy Bush'
DON'T MISS: David Letterman: Donald Trump is a 'damaged human,' and I would have 'gone right after him'
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