The Resident Evil series has always embraced its sillier side (look no further for proof than the Chainsaw Controller), and some newly-revealed costumes for Resident Evil 4 remake’s Ashley fit right in.
Thanks to the Resident Evil website‘s preorder page (via Resident Evil Central), we finally know what the two hidden Ashley costumes are for the game’s Digital Deluxe version.
The “Casual” costume has the President’s daughter embracing her emo side, with pink highlights and a very punk outfit. The “Romantic” costume, on the other hand, matches Leon’s previously-revealed outfit. Take a look at the costumes for yourself below.
The full roster of Resident Evil 4 Remake Deluxe Edition extras have been revealed on the official RE website.
— Will | Resident Evil Central ?️ (@ResiEvilCentral) March 15, 2023
The costumes come as part of Resident Evil 4’s Digital Deluxe Edition, which also includes four skins for Leon, a pair of deluxe weapons, an option to swap the new soundtrack for Resident Evil 4’s original music, and some sunglasses for Leon.
We’re just over a week away from the launch of the highly-anticipated remake. If you just can’t wait to get your hands on it, Capcom recently released a Resident Evil 4 demo that lets players try out an early section of the game. The demo even contains a cheat code to unlock the Mad Chainsaw difficulty mode.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
Award-winning music producer Bloodpop who’s worked with renowned artists such as Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, has announced Genpop Interactive with the help of former DeNA and Bandai Namco executive Aubrey Tennant. GenPop Interactive is a new studio that will be working on AAA games focusing on “music, fashion, and gaming culture.”
The studio has more than 25 developers who worked on titles such as Halo Infinite, Cyberpunk 2077, The Sims, and more. GenPop Interactive’s first game will be a third-person shooter featuring “novel movement and combat mechanics.”
The upcoming shooter will be marketed toward Gen-Z, and CEO and game director Bloodpop said the following about the upcoming game.
“Gen-Z is eager for new IP that speaks to them and has a long legacy that defines their generation. Major studios have become complacent, relying on giving the Weekend at Bernie’s treatment to their old IP with their publicly traded necromancy. We aren’t just on a mission to create the next great game, but nurture the next generation of popular culture,” Bloodpop said.
GenPop Interactive has raised $6.5 million in funding with the help of various companies and people, including Studio Trigger, the animation studio behind critically acclaimed animes such as Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Kill la Kill, and more.
Aubrey Tennant, the co-founder and COO, said in a statement that they believe they’re in a unique position “to change the shooter genre with a layered social world that changes based on feedback from the community.”
As of now, it’s still unknown what GenPop Interactives game will be called or when it’ll be released.
Photo credit: Jesse Grant / Getty Images
Luis Joshua Gutierrez is a freelance writer who loves games. You can reach him at @ImLuisGutierrez on Twitter. Photo Credit: Getty Images
For those who have been waiting to pick up a PlayStation 5, we have good news: every version of the console is now available on Amazon. This includes the disc edition, the digital edition, and both the God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West bundles (which also come in disc and digital editions). Below, you can see a breakdown of each available console on Amazon’s website.
PlayStation 5 Consoles Available on Amazon
It was only very recently that it became possible for people to buy a PlayStation 5 (and Xbox Series X, for that matter) without the panic of stock immediately running out. Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan said at the start of this year that “everyone who wants a PS5 should have a much easier time finding one at retailer globally,” now. This was revealed at Sony’s CES tech conference, where the company also boasted how they’ve now surpassed more than 30 million units sold.
If you’re curious to see what other PlayStation items are worth picking up alongside the console, make sure to visit our gift guide for the best PlayStation and PS5 gifts to pick up this year. Alongside games, this guide also includes the PlayStation Pulse 3D wireless headset and the PS5’s DualSense controller.
And, once you have your new PlayStation, you can check out what games are available in PlayStation Plus’s Game Catalog, along with what games are yet to come to the service starting on March 21. Dell is also offering a deal at the moment where you can get the God of War Ragnarok PS5 (disc edition) bundle with an additional DualSense controller in Cosmic Red for only $589.99! With just the one controller, this bundle usually runs for $559, making it a worthwhile pickup.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.
Microsoft has signed yet another 10-year deal with a new cloud gaming provider. This time, it’s with Ubitus, a provider based in Tokyo, Japan.
On Twitter, Xbox’s Phil Spencer said, “Microsoft and Ubitus, a leading cloud gaming provider, have signed a 10-year partnership to stream Xbox PC Games as well as Activision Blizzard titles after the acquisition closes. Our commitment is to give more players, more choice.”
Microsoft corporate VP Sarah Bond added, “Giving customers more choice is core to what we do. Thrilled to partner with Ubitus to give gamers yet another option for how they play Xbox PC games.”
Giving customers more choice is core to what we do. Thrilled to partner with @UbitusKK to give gamers yet another option for how they play Xbox PC games #TeamXbox ?? https://t.co/5jR2NFPGXf
Ubitus is most known for working with many publishers on cloud versions of games for Nintendo Switch, including The Forgotten City, Control, A Plague Tale: Requiem, and Resident Evil Village.
Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that it signed a 10-year deal with Boosteroid, a cloud gaming service based in Ukraine, in order to bring Xbox and PC games to more streaming providers. This would include Activision Blizzard games if its merger with Microsoft goes through.
Xbox works to assage regulators
Microsoft is doing all it can to assuage regulators’ fears of anticompetitiveness within the gaming industry. Most recently, Microsoft signed 10-year deals with Nintendo and GeForce Now to make Activision Blizzard games more available on other platforms.
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey
Sony has announced a new batch of games coming to its PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, with Ghostwire: Tokyo, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, and Immortals Fenyx Rising headlining this month.
As noted in a recent PlayStation Blog post, these games and fourteen others will be available to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium members at no additional cost.
Here are some of the highlights.
Ghostwire: Tokyo
Released nearly a year ago as a timed exclusive on the PS5, Ghostwire: Tokyo was developed by Tango Gamesworks. Earlier today, we learned that Ghostwire: Tokyo is getting a major update and launching on Xbox Series X/S and Game Pass next month. In our review of Ghostwire: Tokyo, we praised its visual design despite its “one-dimensional combat and uninteresting mission design.”
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is a remastered compilation of Uncharted IV: A Thief’s End and The Lost Legacy, released on January 28, 2022, for PS5 before making its way onto PC last October. Enhanced visuals and faster load times aside, the Legacy of Thieves Collection includes additional features, such as DualSense support, 3D audio, and multiple graphical options.
Immortals Fenyx Rising
Ubisoft’s Immortals Fenyx Rising is an open0worled adventure game released back in 2020. Players take control of Fenyx, a winged demigod tasked with saving the Greek gods. In our review of Immortals Fenyx Rising, which we awarded a 7, we said, “its combat is satisfying, with plenty of choice in upgrades, while its central characters, comedic tone, and storytelling are a real highlight.”
Here’s the rest of the games coming to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog this month:
Tchia
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction
Life is Strange: True Colors
Life is Strange 2
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
Street Fighter V Champion Edition
Untitled Goose Game
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
Rage 2
Neo: The World Ends with You
Haven
Ridge Racer Type 4 (PS Plus Premium Rerquired)
Ape Academy 2 (PS Plus Premium Rerquired)
Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror (PS Plus Premium Rerquired)
Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
The PlayStation 5 console is much easier to find now than ever before. Unfortunately, even with the more sustainable inventory, it’s still very difficult to find a PS5 that’s actually discounted. Fortunately, that changes today.
Dell is offering a PS5 Disc Edition console, bundled with the God of War: Ragnarok game and a second DualSense (Cosmic Red) controller, for only $589.99. If you were to buy the PS5 God of War bundle alone, it would run you $559. The DualSense controller in Cosmic Red costs an additional $75. That means instead of paying $634 for both, you’re paying $589.99. That’s a savings of about $45, or 7%.
PS5 God of War Bundle with 2nd DualSense Controller
God of War: Ragnarok is the latest God of War game and we gave it a 10/10 “Masterpiece” rating. If you liked the last God of War game, then you’ll enjoy Ragnarok. It continues the story of Kratos and Atreus as they take on the nine realms of Norse mythology.
The supernatural wastelands of Remnant 2 can be a lonely place. But for those who would rather not go it alone, there’s the Handler archetype: a character class that gives you an incredibly reliable dog companion. My trusty mutt and I chewed our way through countless baddies, and even a few bosses, before I commanded principal designer Ben Cureton to “sit” and tell me all about the Handler archetype himself.
“The fantasy with the Handler is: I always have somebody that has my back, and we’re cooperating, we’re working together, we’re taking down big enemies. I can draw aggro for it. It can draw aggro from me,” Ben explained.
“Every time I toggled between these options, the dog’s bandana would change color to reflect which role he currently had equipped.”
Designed primarily for those who wish to play through Remnant solo, the Handler is a support class that made me a little better at everything with the help of an extremely handy dog. Not only did the dog have a chunky health bar and continuously draw attention away from me during battle and help me take down enemies with his deadly teeth, but he could be toggled into one of three modes depending on which strategy I wanted to deploy. In his Guard Dog mode, he gained the ability to howl and draw aggro from every enemy in the area, while in his Support Dog mode, he could heal me and my allies within an area of effect. Of course, if I just wanted to go on a rampage I could toggle him to Attack Dog mode and give him even more DPS. Best of all: every time I toggled between these options, the dog’s bandana would change color to reflect which role he currently had equipped.
I was also able to direct my companion to different parts of the battlefield using a ping system. If I wanted him to stay close by and defend me, I would call him to my side with the push of a button, but if I was sneaking around preparing to ambush a group of enemies, I could sic the furry boy on my enemies and tell him to run to a certain part of the map to attack.
But that’s just where the awesomeness of the Handler begins, as the class’ most powerful feature is locked behind the Prime Perk – a special ability only available to those who make the archetype their primary character class. “One of the cool things about [the Handler] is its Prime Perk, which is called Bonded,” Ben explained. “And Bonded says anytime the Handler goes down, the companion will come over and, as long as I have a Dragon Heart available, pull it out of my bag and use it on me and revive me, which is super cool.”
I have to say, not having to worry about healing up – since my trusty dog was almost always standing by ready to revive me – was a weight off my mind and made playing solo a lot more palatable. But if I was playing with others, the Handler also has a ton of abilities that allowed me to give my friends some backup. For example, if my Gunslinger ally was getting ganged up on by tentacled aliens, I could direct my dog to run over and fight them off, or at least draw their aggro. I could even have my dog revive allies who had fallen prey to the enemy and were in need of a Dragon Heart.
I typically don’t dig support classes and usually prefer to rely on teammates instead of NPCs, but I’ll admit the Handler won me over. Not only was it a lot of fun to play, but that dog was no slouch and was able to take and deal a ton of damage in the build I played. It makes sense, since Ben told me that he hates it when support classes are underpowered in RPGs. Same, my friend.
We’ll have much more on Remnant 2 as our exclusive IGN First coverage continues all March long!
Stray Souls, a psychological horror game from director Artur Laczkowski, developer Jukai Studio, and publisher Versus Evil, has been officially announced for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PS4. It is due out later this year, and it’s being developed using Unreal Engine 5.
The premise of Stray Souls is an interesting one: teenager Daniel’s grandmother has died and left him her house – totally debt-free (no mortgage, etc.) – but the real-estate dream quickly turns into a nightmare when the sun goes down and all hell starts to break loose in the house. Jukai will be using Epic’s Metahuman technology to craft more lifelike NPCs. Take a look at the debut trailer above and the first screenshots in the gallery below.
Jukai describes the thriller as such: “Stray Souls combines beloved elements of Japanese survival horror games with an array of new tricks, including a variety of randomized systems where enemy encounters, item placement, paranormal activity and even weather patterns are always changing so no two playthroughs are exactly the same.”
You can wishlist Stray Souls on Steam if you’re interested.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
This article contains full spoilers for The Last of Us Part 2. If you have not played the game and want to remain spoiler-free for HBO’s TV show stop reading now!
HBO’s The Last of Us has been an undeniably successful television adaptation of the beloved Naughty Dog game. Now the challenge for creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin will be how to tackle the emotionally complicated beast that is The Last of Us Part 2. So, I’ve (perhaps foolishly) had a go at planning out the show’s second season and sketching a rough outline of what could happen in each episode.
The video game sequel is over twice as long as its predecessor, so cramming it all into one more season of TV seems like a bit of a stretch to me, so let’s assume this is going to be a story told over two. Alongside issues of length, there’s also no doubt that Part 2 is in need of more of a tinkering with than the mostly straight adaptation that was Part 1. Despite being a masterpiece in my eyes, Part 2 relies more heavily on gameplay and the involuntary nature of your actions to get its point across, which is inherently not viable in a TV show. But through some minor restructuring of the story and a liberal use of flashbacks, I think there could be an effective way of telling the layered and divisive tale.
The key will undoubtedly be in how season two opens and deals with the story’s inciting incident, as well as keeping the viewer connected to the plot’s two leads – Ellie and Abby. My best idea on how to do this is to make Abby – a character largely unexplored until the game’s second half – more integral to the story during its Ellie-led first half by creating a pre-existing bond between them. Abby could infiltrate the Jackson community and befriend Joel in the weeks before her revenge. This is actually something that Druckmann seemingly played with the idea of if some of the game’s early concept art is anything to go by.
I’d also utilise a series of cold-open flashbacks that tease young Abby’s story – much like how the brief openings to each of Netflix’s Mindhunter episodes set up the reveal of the mysterious man we’re watching becoming the BTK killer, but with more zebras. These brief glimpses into Abby’s background would eventually culminate in the reveal of Joel being the man who killed her father at the end of season one, allowing the second season of the show to end with the same crucial twist delivered by the game at its halfway point.
Now I’ve established the season’s overall format, here’s my best guess at how each episode of the show might play out. (No doubt Druckmann and Mazin have some much better ideas up their sleeve, but they should feel free to call me if there’s any gold in here.)
Episode 1 – Jackson Part 1
Season 2 opens with Joel admitting the truth of his choice to Tommy in a house just outside the Jackson settlement, just like in the game. As they leave, however, they are attacked by a group of raiders and look to be cornered until a couple arrives to help them out – they happen to be Abby and Owen. Of course, Abby doesn’t realise who it is she is saving until the raiders have been dealt with, and at this point, she’s been badly injured and is in no position to complete her mission. She accepts Joel and Tommy’s offer to patch her up back in Jackson.
Days progress as Abby and Owen integrate into Jackson life. During the time it takes for Abby to fully recover, we are introduced to Ellie’s friends, Dina and Jesse, and life looks set to be relatively good. After some conversations tinged with a palpable tension, Abby and Owen are convinced to stay in Jackson, despite their insistence that this isn’t the life for them. Having proved themselves already capable of handling themselves in combat, Joel and Tommy offer to take the pair out on patrol to teach them the ropes. Ellie and Dina also begin their own patrol. The episode ends as the two groups exit the town gates and branch off in two directions through the snow.
Episode 2 – Jackson Part 2
This episode would spend time cutting between the two groups in the snow. We start with Ellie and Dina as they check a local suburb for infected, before the first signs of a blizzard show and they hole up in a library where they open up on their feelings for one another. As the blizzard picks up we follow Joel, Tommy, Abby, and Owen as they too have to avoid the storm, but get ambushed by infected. As they fight and ultimately run, Abby says she tracked through here on her way to Jackson and knows somewhere they can shelter for the night. Joel and Tommy agree to follow.
Back with Ellie and Dina, Jesse arrives to find them in an awkward situation and the love triangle begins to take form. He’s come to help them get back through the blizzard, but mentions Joel and Tommy haven’t been heard from on the radio in some time. Worried, Ellie stubbornly sets off to look for Joel, despite Dina and Jesse insisting it’s too dangerous. We cut back to Joel and Tommy as they arrive at an abandoned lodge where they are ambushed by a small group and knocked unconscious. The episode cuts to black.
Episode 3 – Goodbye Jackson, Hello Seattle
After tracking from Joel’s last known location, Ellie is lured by the lights emanating from a nearby lodge. She heads down to the basement to discover Joel in quite some distress, and is forced to watch as Abby kills him. Ellie and Tommy are then set free, with Abby claiming to have no issues with them.
Back in Jackson, Ellie mourns Joel and – despite Tommy and Maria’s advice – sets off to find Abby and get her revenge. Belongings that Abby left behind in Jackson hint towards her being from Seattle, so Ellie heads that way along with Dina. They arrive in Seattle, where they learn that a group called the WLF calls the city home. As they ride through the streets looking for clues, an explosion throws them from their horse and the episode ends.
Episode 4 – Eastbrook Elementary and Channel 13 TV Station
Ellie is being held hostage in an Eastbrook Elementary classroom by a member of the WLF who she recognises from the night Joel was killed. He intends to keep her there while he waits for backup, but just after he puts the radio call in he’s attacked by Dina. Ellie kills her captor, and finds a map of the city on his body. The couple decides to head to a nearby TV station as their next port of call.
They find the station abandoned and littered with the corpses of WLF soldiers, their bodies pierced by arrows and surrounded by cultist drawings. Whistles in the distance soon become soaring arrows, so the pair decide to run for their lives. They escape into a nearby subway station where they must navigate through tunnels overrun with clickers. After making it through such a near-death situation, they set up camp in a movie theater where Ellie reveals her bite and immunity to Dina, and Dina reveals she is pregnant with Jesse’s baby.
Episode 5 – The Birthday Gift
As Ellie dwells on the future birth of Dina’s baby she reminisces about a birthday she spent with Joel a couple of years ago. They have fun at a natural history museum with dinosaurs, pretend to be in space, and tell jokes. The flashback concludes with Joel teaching Ellie how to play guitar, just as he promised in season one. The episode cuts back to the present for its final scene, and Ellie serenades Dina with A-ha’s Take on Me in the front row of the theatre.
Episode 6 – Hillcrest and Hospital
Ellie finds a radio in the theatre and listens in on WLF messages about a man matching Tommy’s description seen in the nearby suburb of Hillcrest. She heads there to find him but to her surprise is instead grabbed by Jesse, who helps her escape a WLF patrol.
The pair head back to the theatre together where Dina tells Jesse that she’s pregnant with his child. Jesse reveals he has a lead on one of Abby’s associates, Nora, who is stationed at a Seattle hospital. He agrees to stay with Dina while Ellie goes to find Nora. Initially looking for information about Abby’s location, Ellie lets vengeance take control and kills Nora in a brutal fashion.
Episode 7 – Road to the Aquarium and Joel’s Truth Flashback
Having gained the clue of Abby sometimes staying at the Aquarium from Nora, Ellie and Jesse make their way towards the coast. They encounter some infected in a tense horror scene before a heavy rainstorm rolls in. A rifle shot that sounds like Tommy’s gun prompts Jesse to suggest they go to help him. Blinded by her mission, though, Ellie refuses and decides to push ahead alone through the storm toward Abby.
Ellie makes it to the coast and begins to swim over to the aquarium but is knocked unconscious by the crashing waves. The episode ends with a flashback of Ellie finding out the truth behind Joel’s decision to rescue her from the Fireflies back in Salt Lake City.
Episode 8 – Abby’s Reveal and Return
The season 2 finale ends with the culmination of all of the small flashbacks we’ve seen from young Abby’s perspective. It’s revealed that her father was the Firefly doctor who Joel killed just before he was due to operate on Ellie.
Back in the present day, Ellie awakes in a daze by the aquarium and makes her way inside. After nervously making her way through the building she finds a backroom where Owen and Mel – another of Abby’s group present at Joel’s murder – are talking. Ellie asks where Abby is before killing both in cold blood, but soon becomes distraught after discovering that Mel was pregnant. She collapses onto the floor just as Tommy and Jesse arrive to console her.
Back at the theatre, Ellie has been convinced by Dina and Jesse that now is the time to leave this all behind and go back to Jackson. They make their way to the theatre lobby only to watch as Jesse is shot dead in front of them. Ellie finally comes face-to-face with Abby, who tells her “We let you both live and you wasted it.” The scene cuts to black, ending the season on a cliffhanger.
So, that’s what I think could happen in season two of HBO’s The Last of Us. How do you think they’ll handle Part 2’s story? Let us know in the comments below. For more on The Last of Us, check out my full season one review or how well the show compared with the game.
Simon Cardy has never written a TV show and has probably shown why here. Follow him on Twitter at @CardySimon.
As one of the most popular and influential franchises of all time, the Harry Potter movies are something that viewers of all ages have come to love. For some, however, it’s more than just a book-to-movie series; it’s a personality. Determining one’s Hogwarts house has become almost synonymous with horoscopes, Meyers-Briggs, and enneagrams when it comes to identifying oneself. Finding a saga with a similar cultural impact is difficult to impossible to find. The curious, magical wonder of the whole story is something that has drawn audiences far and wide to its appeal, inspiring dreamers to wish they could exist in the Wizarding world just to experience it.
Factors such as these are what makes it so challenging to find movies that are even close to being like Harry Potter, but they’re out there. While the Potter series reigns supreme, some of the movies on this list do a great job of worldbuilding, making them worthy additions to the magically synonymous universe. Without further ado, here are the movies like Harry Potter worth watching if you need more magic in your life.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010)
While it wouldn’t necessarily be considered a good film in all regards, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a fun movie for young people looking for a silly adventure tale. Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) is one of three apprentices to the famous wizard, Merlin but is forced to search for Merlin’s true successor over hundreds of years. Considering there was much less time to build the story world for this movie, the lore is still interesting enough to keep a viewer involved especially if one enjoys watching Nicolas Cage do what he does (in this case: corny yet entertaining acting).
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)
One of the more enjoyable instances on this list, that would be considered a kids movie, is Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. The film was also adapted from a popular young adult book series, though not as universally loved as Harry Potter. The story follows a young boy named Percy (Logan Lerman) discovers that he is a descendant of a Greek God when he is accused of stealing Zeus’ lightning bolt, sending him on a journey of self-discovery against some classic mythical adversaries. While the movie is definitely made for kids to young adults, the lore is utilized in a surprisingly clever and enjoyable manner that modernizes Greek mythology in a fun way. There is also a second film called Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, but the movie adaptations end there.
One of the best and most entertaining movies on this list is Howl’s Moving Castle: a wonderfully magical and original animated story from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki that establishes a whole new universe of lovable, complex characters and creatures. When young, timid Sophie is cursed by a witch to be an old woman, she stumbles upon a stubborn, reckless young wizard named Howl who indifferently takes her in as a housekeeper in his walking, enchanted castle. While the themes and imagery can be a bit more disturbing and adult at times, the multiple subplots and established canon are enough to entice almost any viewer to this wondrous tale.
In what some could deem as a wholly unnecessary and convoluted story of random, magical happenings, Seventh Son still retains some enjoyable details that make it worth discovering. When the evil witch queen Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore) escapes from the prison that Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges) put her in, he must recruit another apprentice–a seventh son of a seventh son–to fulfill a prophecy and destroy her once and for all. Though the story is a bit unorganized and the plot perforated with gaps, the characters and creatures are original enough to keep one’s attention.
A film that is probably the furthest from Harry Potter thematically on this list, Doctor Strange treads into Marvel territory that turns a magical universe into a superhero’s tale. When an ingenious neurosurgeon named Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) gets in a life-altering car accident, he seeks out the mystic arts to heal himself but discovers much more about himself and the universe as a whole. The fundamentals of the magic in this movie are fairly different, yet also expand the imagined possibilities of what magic could do in such a universe.
Based on the children’s book series of the same name, The Spiderwick Chronicles fulfills its goal to entertain its target audience: children. When the Grace family moves into the Spiderwick Estate previously owned by Professor Arthur Spiderwick, they discover that their great relative may not have been as crazy as he seemed after they encounter fantastical creatures in the forest nearby. While the characters in the movie don’t exactly wield magic like Hogwarts students, the concept of an interconnected, magical world is ever-present albeit a bit less entertaining.
If the character Harry Potter was the most relatable and interesting part of the movie series to a viewer, then Matilda is likely to be a charming and enjoyable movie to watch. An extremely intelligent and gifted young girl, Matilda (Mara Wilson) must navigate her terrible, rude family and her ruthlessly cruel headmistress. Though the magic does not match the sheer scale of the Harry Potter series, Matilda uses her powers in mischievous yet helpful ways that border vengeful, as does Harry throughout the movie series.
Fantastic Beasts Series (2016-2022)
The closest thing in relation to the real thing is the Fantastic Beasts movie series: a prequel series that focuses on Harry Potter characters deep in the existing canon. Though the first movie focuses almost entirely on the famous Hufflepuff wizard, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and his obsession with the magical creatures of the wizarding world, there is still plenty of Hogwarts magic and history to be had. With younger renditions of wizards like Dumbledore, the notorious Grindelwald, and other family names bound to be recognized.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
Another movie based on a book of the same name, Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children arguably comes second in terms of story world only to the Harry Potter series. A misguided sould named Jacob (Asa Butterfield) follows his fathers’ mysterious path to discover Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar children; a place where time has stopped, children are a bit more than peculiar, and deadly creatures are always lurking. Most certainly one of the most (if not the most) eerie and disturbing movies on this list, one could imagine this story simply as if Tim Burton were in charge of the Harry Potter series.
Though magic is not the main focus of this fun and charming movie, Stardust is riddled with great characters, imaginative tribulations, and endless adventure. Coming from a small village on the border of a magical land, Tristan Thorn (Charlie Cox) embarks on an adventure to retrieve a falling star for the woman he loves, but encounters much more than he bargained for. The endearing and diverse characters of this movie are most of what make it great, with the added bonus of an exciting and romantic fantasy story that will keep viewers coming back for another go.
