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Source: Epic Games / Fortnite AI-Powered Darth Vader / Getty Images / James Earl Jones
Did Epic Games cross the line with its AI-powered Darth Vader companion that uses James Earl Jones voice? Gamers are currently debating.
The iconic actor James Earl Jones passed away last year, but his contributions to cinema, especially his iconic voice, will forever be linked to the Star Wars villain Darth Vader.
Starting today, Walt Disney Co. and Epic Games will allow Fortnite players to recruit and speak to Darth Vader.
Thanks to the power of generative AI, the Vader in-game character will use the late actor’s voice. Epic Games said they are doing so while remaining in “close consultation” with Jones’ family.
How Epic Games Is Bringing James Earl Jones To Fortnite
Epic Games uses Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model to generate Vader’s responses to players, while ElevenLabs’ Flash v2.5 model generates Jones’ voice.
“James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it,” the family of James Earl Jones said in a statement. “We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character.”
This decision changes the direction of the entertainment industry in situations like this. In previous Star Wars games, actors were hired to mimic Jones’ voice while he was still alive.
“Epic Games and Disney have worked together to thoughtfully develop this innovative feature with a strong focus on transparency, consent, and safety — ensuring that creators, Disney IP, and players are protected in interactive experiences,” Disney and Epic said in a statement announcing the decision.
As with anything, nothing goes off without a hitch. IGN reported that Epic Games had to issue a patch within an hour of AI-Darth Vader going live because videos of him dropping f-bombs hit X, formerly Twitter timelines.
Gamers do not like conversing with an AI-powered chatbot with Jones’s voice either.
“We deadass having a conversation with James Earl Jones via AI…? Yea you can keep it,” one post on X read.
Welp, it looks like its not going anywhere, and as long they got permission from the Jones family, we don’t see an issue, but this is still opening a can of worms for many.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
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ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires — the upcoming fourth film in Disney‘s supernatural series — is all about the battle between light and dark, and we see that back-and-forth come to life with the debut of the new original song “The Place to Be” and its music video, premiering exclusively on Billboard.
The first single from the ZOMBIES 4 original soundtrack showcases Freya Skye as Nova, leader of the Daywalkers, and Malachi Barton as Victor, leader of the Vampires. Skye tries to convince Milo Manheim’s Zed that the “light side” is “The Place to Be,” while Victor lobbies Meg Donnelly’s Addison toward the “night side.”
ZOMBIES 4: DAWN OF THE VAMPIRES
Disney/Matt Klitscher
“The Place to Be” is one of nine new original songs (plus two reprises of earlier songs) on the Walt Disney Records soundtrack, which is now available for pre-order (all pre-orders include an instant download of “Place”). A Music from ZOMBIES green vinyl album will be released on July 11 and is also available for pre-order.
Trending on Billboard
Below, watch “The Place to Be” music video and find the full track list for the ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires original soundtrack.
• “Legends In The Making” – Performed by Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly, Chandler Kinney, Kylee Russell
• “The Place to Be” – Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly, Freya Skye, Malachi Barton, Swayam Bhatia, Julian Lerner, Mekonnen Knife
• “Dream Come True (Intro)” – Performed by Freya Skye, Malachi Barton
• “Don’t Mess With Us” – Performed by Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly, Chandler Kinney, Kylee Russell, Freya Skye, Malachi Barton, Swayam Bhatia, Julian Lerner, Mekonnen Knife
• “Dream Come True” – Performed by Freya Skye, Malachi Barton
• “Kerosene” – Performed by Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly, Chandler Kinney, Kylee Russell, Freya Skye, Malachi Barton, Swayam Bhatia, Julian Lerner, Mekonnen Knife
• “My Own Way” – Performed by Freya Skye
• “Possible” – Performed by Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly, Chandler Kinney, Kylee Russell, Freya Skye, Malachi Barton, Swayam Bhatia, Julian Lerner, Mekonnen Knife
• “Someday (Reprise)” – Performed by Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly
• Show the World – Performed by Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly, Chandler Kinney, Kylee Russell, Freya Skye, Malachi Barton, Swayam Bhatia, Julian Lerner, Mekonnen Knife
• “Ain’t No Doubt About It (Reprise)” – Performed by Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly
• “Together as One” – Performed by Meg Donnelly, Freya Skye, Malachi Barton, Swayam Bhatia, Julian Lerner, Mekonnen Knife
• “Score Suite” – Performed by Tom Howe
ZOMBIES 4: DAWN OF THE VAMPIRES
Disney
The soundtracks for the first three ZOMBIES movies all hit the top five on both Billboard‘s Kid Albums and Soundtracks charts, with the original film’s album spending 10 weeks at No. 1 on Kid Albums and the most recent soundtrack spending two weeks atop the chart.
ZOMBIES 4 premieres July 10 on Disney Channel and streams starting July 11 on Disney+.
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On Tuesday (April 21), Disney unveiled the first teaser for ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires, the latest installment of the popular musical movie series.
In the new movie — premiering July 10 on Disney Channel and streaming July 11 on Disney+ — Meg Donnelly and Milo Manheim return as Addison and Zed, the “zombie-cheerleader power couple” at the heart of the franchise. The actors are also credited as executive producers of the Disney Channel Original Movie, in which they star alongside new castmates Freya Skye as Nova, a “fierce Daywalker,” and Malachi Barton as Victor, a “proud vampire.”
According to a release announcing the film, Addison and Zed’s summer road trip “takes an unexpected detour, landing them in the middle of yet another monster rivalry: Daywalkers vs. Vampires.” As we see in the teaser, Donnelly and Manheim become de facto camp counselors at “the most dangerous summer camp on Earth,” according to Kylee Russell’s Eliza, part of the ensemble that also includes Chandler Kinney as Willa, Julian Lerner as Ray, Swayam Bhatia as Vera, Mekonnen Knife as Vargas, Lisa Chappell as Vampire Eldress and Jonno Roberts as Commander Bright.
Trending on Billboard
ZOMBIES 3 will feature nine new original songs and reprises of two previous hits: “Someday” and “Ain’t No Doubt About It.” The film has an original score composed by Tom Howe and dance sequences choreographed by choreographed by Dondraico Johnson.
The soundtracks for the first three ZOMBIES movies all hit the top five on both Billboard‘s Kid Albums and Soundtracks charts, with the original film’s album spending 10 weeks at No. 1 on Kid Albums and the most recent soundtrack spending two weeks atop the chart.
After helming the first three installments, director Paul Hoen is back for ZOMBIES 3, which has a screenplay by David Light, Joseph Raso and Josh Cagan and is executive produced by Hoen, Manheim, Donnelly, Light, Raso, Jane Fleming and Mark Ordesky. Mahita P. Simpson serves as co-executive producer alongside co-producer Josh Cagan and producer Skot Bright. ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires is a production from Night Zone Productions Limited.
Watch the brand-new teaser below, and catch the premiere of ZOMBIES 3 coming to Disney Channel on July 10.
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The Tron franchise may not have the cult following of say a Star Wars or even Star Trek, but it does have a decent sized fanbase. And now, they’ll be able to experience an entirely new story as Disney released a new trailer to the upcoming Tron: Ares, and it looks pretty damn interesting.
Starring Jared Leto and OG Tron star, Jeff Bridges, Tron: Ares continues the legacy. Though plot details are scarce right now, it does seem like the digital world of Tron will somehow enter our reality and lead to a war that humanity is just not prepared for. The new teaser trailer was revealed at the D23 event this past weekend, and according to Variety, Jeff Bridges was amazed at just how far the franchise has come these past few decades.
Per Variety:
“It’s really unbelievable to think we made the original in 1982,” Bridges said on stage when “Tron: Ares” was unveiled during the 2024 D23 Expo. “It’s amazing — we never thought we would have this legacy that’s continued on all these years.”
It was also revealed at D23 that Nine Inch Nails, the industrial rock and electronica band founded by Trent Reznor and joined in 2016 by frequent collaborator Atticus Ross, are scoring the film. Reznor and Ross have won Oscars for their scores for 2010’s “The Social Network” and 2020’s “Soul.” They also won Grammys for their soundtracks to “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and “Soul.” Most recently, they scored Luca Guadagnino’s hit tennis film “Challengers.”
We’re not the biggest fans of Tron ’round these parts, but the trailer does look very intriguing. So we might have to check it out.
Peep the teaser trailer for Tron: Ares, and let us know if you’ll be checking for it when it hits theaters this coming October in the comments section below.
Snow White is off to an underwhelming start at the box office.
Disney‘s live-action remake of the 1937 animated classic, starring Rachel Zegler in the titular role and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, opened to a lackluster $43 million domestically, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Amid controversy and lukewarm reviews, the opening weekend haul falls short of Tim Burton’s Dumbo, which opened to $45 million in 2019.
Despite the sluggish debut, Snow White claimed the top spot at the box office, outperforming Warner Bros.’ mob movie The Alto Knights, which disappointed with an estimated $3.2 million opening.
Overseas, Snow White earned $44.3 million, bringing its total global launch to $87.3 million, falling short of its projected $100 million goal.
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Final weekend numbers will be released on Monday morning.
Snow White, which had a $250 million production budget, is a rare Disney live-action remake to receive a B+ CinemaScore from audiences. Nearly every other film of its kind has earned an A grade, according to THR.
To put Snow White‘s disappointing debut into perspective, other Disney live-action princess remakes have performed much better: Beauty and the Beast launched to $174.6 million domestically in 2017 (not adjusted for inflation), Cinderella opened to $67.9 million domestically in 2015, and Maleficent debuted to $69 million in 2014.
Snow White has been marred by controversy, beginning with backlash over casting Zegler in the lead role due to the color of her skin, despite her Colombian heritage. The 23-year-old actress and singer has also been outspoken in her support for the Palestinian people. Meanwhile, Gadot, who is Israeli, has faced criticism for her comments about the Gaza conflict.
Snow White is directed by Marc Webb, known for The Amazing Spider-Man films, and features songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the duo behind The Greatest Showman and Dear Evan Hansen.