ProgramSwipe ProgramSwipe

Disney will discontinue the Club Penguin subscription social game for desktop and mobile devices, which has been running for 11 years, and at the same will launch a new mobile game featuring the cartoon aquatic birds in March. The Mouse House acquired Club Penguin in 2007 in a deal reportedly worth up to $700 million. At one point, Club Penguin …

“Pokemon Go,” the augmented-reality game that lunged out of the gate in a monstrous burst this summer, has fallen back to Earth. The mobile game from Niantic Labs, which lets users catch virtual demons that appear in the area around them, became the most popular game app in U.S. history just one week after it was released in July. However, while “Pokemon Go” remains the …

“Wonka” has crossed a sweet box office milestone. The fantasy musical, starring Timothée Chalamet as the eccentric chocolatier, surpassed $500 million in global ticket sales. After five weeks on the big screen, “Wonka” has generated $176.2 million domestically and $329.1 million internationally, bringing its global tally to $505.3 million. Warner Bros. backed the film, which cost $125 million and has proven …

Microsoft this spring will roll out a “Netflix for games” subscription service — Xbox Game Pass, priced at $10 per month — with unlimited access to more than 100 titles. Initial games set to be available in Xbox Game Pass include “Halo 5: Guardians” (pictured above), from Microsoft’s 343 Industries; 505 Games’ “Payday 2”; 2K’s “NBA 2K16” and Namco’s “SoulCalibur …

“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” failed to make a splash at the Christmas box office, debuting to $28 million over the weekend and an estimated $40 million through the four-day holiday weekend. Those ticket sales were enough to top domestic charts over three other newcomers: Universal and Illumination’s animated “Migration,” Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s romantic comedy “Anyone but You” …

ESports, the fast-growing video games as a spectator, has more fans globally than the NBA or Major League Baseball — but marketers and media companies have yet to fully tap into the sector’s opportunity. Machinima, the YouTube-centric media company catering to gamers and fan culture, has launched an in-house eSports consulting division, MACH-1, to provide proprietary research and analytics, strategic planning and campaign …

Time traveling-fantasy-adventure movie “Alienoid 2” was a comfortable winner at the South Korea box office over the weekend. But with few fresh films on release the cinema-going market slowed. “Alienoid 2” earned $2.06 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That was down by 42% compared with …

“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” didn’t give Hollywood much to be merry about at the Christmas box office. The comic book sequel, starring Jason Momoa as the King of Atlantis and directed by James Wan, opened slightly below estimates with $27.7 million over the traditional weekend and a disappointing $40 million through the four-day holiday frame. With its $205 million …

Sony Pictures’ “Madame Web,” a standalone origin story in the studio’s array of “Spider-Man”-based Marvel characters, has been granted a theatrical release in mainland China. The film will open in the country on March 1 — two weeks after the title’s Valentine’s Day bow in North America and multiple international territories, including the Chinese-language markets of Taiwan and Hong Kong. …

A new mobile multiplayer strategy game based on Robert Kirkman’s “The Walking Dead” comic series will be marching out next year, with a storyline centered on the rebuilding of human civilization after a zombie apocalypse. “The Walking Dead: March to War” is slated to launch on Apple’s App Store and Google Play set for release in early or mid-2017. The …