Metroid (2008 film)

Metroid is a 2008 computer-animated science fiction action-adventure mystery film directed by Ang Lee, produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Neal H. Moritz, and Nintendo, and written by Louis Leterrier, Steven Zaillian and Cameron Crowne. It was based from the video game series of the same name, and the fifth film in the Nintendo Cinematic Universe (NCU), and starring Charlize Theron, Anthony Mackie, Mark Wahlberg, Willem Dafoe, and Sigourney Weaver. The plot follows Samus Aran and her mission to retrieve the parasitic Metroid organisms that were stolen by Space Pirates, who plan to replicate the Metroids by exposing them to beta rays and then use them as biological weapons to destroy Samus and all who oppose them.

Shigeru Miyamoto first developed the concept of a film adaptation based on Metroid in 1993, but soon abandoned the project, leaving it in "development hell" for several years. During this time, the rights were picked up by various film studios until Nintendo signed Jon Spaihts, Robert Richardson, and Walter Murch to develop the project in 2002, and planned to finance and release it through Universal Pictures. Lee was assigned to direct the film for a summer 2008 release. The main characters were cast in 2004, and principal photography began in July 2006 and finished in May 2007, with a combination of voice acting, motion capture, which was utilized similar to The Polar Express, and traditional computer-animation being used. The film was converted to 3D in post-production.

Metroid premiered in Los Angeles on April 30, 2008, and was released in the United States on May 9, and in Japan on May 23, as part of Phase One of the NCU. It received generally positive reviews from critics and was a financial success, earning $1.130 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2008, and the highest-grossing video game film. There sequels have been released: Metroid Prime (2011) and Metroid Prime - Hunters (2015).

Plot
The film begins in space, as a research vessel flies in space, where scientists from the Galactic Federation are researching a Metroid. The scientists begin to ask questions about: the species, the Chozos' history, and their abilities. While testing, the ship is invaded by space pirates and fire a volley of shots, killing everyone. A purple giant dragon named Ridley enters the hull, and spots the Metroid. He bares his teeth, resembling a smile, as his shadow covers the Metroid.

In the K-2L Research Colony, a young Samus Aran, along with her friends, Hip and Gunpei, have fun at a hill valley, and slide down Gunpei's sled, knocking into a building. The boys run away, when Samus' mother, Virginia Aran, comes out sternly, but then laughs it off. They go to Rodney Aran, Samus' father, as a colleague tells them that "Mother" is online. They rush to the main room, where Mother Brain is sitting there, a biochemical supercomputer, that can benefit the Federation's databases. As they begin to test her, and explain to Samus about the Aurora program, a young researcher rushes back to tell them that "they're here". The Chozos, consisting of the Old Bird, Grey Voice, and Spring Wind emerge from the spacecraft. The two adult Arans welcome them and tell the news, which pleases Grey Voice and Spring Wind, but the Old Bird is distracted by the presence of Samus. He forgives the Arans, and tells Samus about the story of the Chozos: telling her about the lessons of youth and their help into Mother Brain. Samus begins to cry, but he comforts her. As the Chozos board their ship, Samus waves farewell.

Meanwhile, in Ridley's ship, they've gained possession of the baby Metroid. A pirate escapes, but gets killed by the Metroid. While amused by its energy and potential, another pirate is concerned, but Ridley assures their spies have everything under control. Days later, the colony is invaded by space pirates, and Samus rushes to find her parents. She sees her father dead, and finds Ridley with Mother Brain. Samus and Virginia hide, as Ridley interrogates the Brain and reveals the Baby Metroid. Virginia retaliates and freezes the Metroid, angering Ridley, who pierces her, scaring off Samus. Ridley then suffocates Samus and impales her, while everyone else is killed. After a while, the Chozos find her unconscious, who've answered a distress call. As they bring her in, she's in critical condition, so the Elder decides to infuse her with his DNA, making her their legacy.

After a decade, Samus is training with Anthony Higgs, RX-7, a battle robot with human emotions, her new friend Ellen, and other federation soldiers. It goes well, until Ellen becomes inactive which worries Samus, causing her to defy Anthony's commands and saves her friend, but ends up failing the training. It turns out Ellen had it planned all along and becomes angry at Samus for disrupting her, but Samus tries to apologize and defend herself through her battles with the Space Pirates. Higgs attempts to break it up, until squad leader Ian Malkovich comes in to resent Samus' actions and demands her to see his brother, Adam Malkovich. Flashback to a few years ago, Samus is training with the Chozos on Planet Zebes. They teach her about firepower being vital, but the ways of using it is essential. Grey Voice tests Samus' strength but she fails and collapses; seeing this, he tells her about the Power Suit, but when he mentions the "Morph Ball", Samus becomes frightened. Samus gets angry and says she wants to go out into space to fight the pirates and join the federation, and how she is done being stuck on Zebes. Grey Voice comforts her, saying that they have their own problems and she's not ready yet.

Back in the present, Adam and Samus continue to argue, with Adam remaining calm and professional and Samus becoming even more upset and frustrated at his actions, who just repeats nonsense. He then asks why she's wearing the Zero Suit, which could hurt her. The argument ends with her fuming out whilst Ellen tries to calm her down. Outside, they walk past the bounty hunter Sylux, making Ellen worry for Samus more on her safety. They relax on the rooftop, with Samus reminiscing on her being the last of the Chozos; Ellen comforts her as Samus talks about her past. 5 years ago on Zebes, Samus is training in her Power Suit, but gets recoiled enough for it to destabilise. The Old Bird asks Grey Voice on her abilities, to which the only thing he gives is that Samus is still scared of the Morph Ball, making her more frightened when Spring Wind curls up to show her. After training ends, Samus wanders around Zebes and watches shooting stars, until noticing one heading towards the planet. The space pirates have invaded the planet and started battling the Chozos. Samus wants to save them, but they tell her to leave, to which she sadly agrees to. Escaping to the life pod, she blasts off and escape, watching her family die again to Ridley and a new monster, Kraid.

Back in the present, she concludes that the federation found her and notes that her family has died twice, and continues her vow to kill Ridley and the pirates. Ellen says nothing, and just hugs her, whilst Samus looks at the sky. Adam watches the sky, as a recording of his first encounter with Samus plays. She was shown to be sobbing and angered by the recording, and is otherwise reclusive. Days later, Adam begins to talk with each other and starts a story of how his parents were killed, and he had to take care of his brother for a long time. He assures her that with the Galactic Federation, she won't be alone. Ian comes in and apologises for her actions, but Adam says not to worry, and discusses the problems and contradictions between Samus and the federation. At the end, Adam gives Ian a new mission; then cutting to a few weeks later, where it has been discovered that the space pirates attacked another vessel and she rushes to Adam. It's revealed that Ian was killed in the vessel and Samus wants every force to come after them, but Adam explodes and shouts that he can't do that, and sent out a force of soldiers to attack, including Ellen.

Arriving at Zebes, Samus frantically searches for the squad, but disgustingly starts to find corpses of hunters and soldiers. She tries to find Ellen, but is too late, as Ellen is already dead; Samus swears revenge to kill the pirates, sacrificing a life with others, for a lonely life to protect others. Heading towards Brinstar as pirates attack, she manages to escape in a cavern until there's nothing but a small space. Samus decides to conquer her fears of the Morph Ball and traverses the gap carefully and successfully. She discovers the enemy Kraid but fails to attack it, hesitating as it grabs her. Samus manages to shoot its eye and mouth that releases her, eventually defeating it and tiring herself out. Samus arrives in Norfair, now a lava-filled pool. She accesses a nearby outpost computer for research, and discovers the truth about the Metroids. Samus is then tackled by Ridley, fighting each other in a brutal battle, damaging her suit to a more critical condition. Ridley taunts and cackles at her for her being the weakest of the Chozos, as she has flashbacks of her parents' death and the Chozos' death. Samus makes one last move to enact her revenge, she activates the self-destruct and ejects, sending her towards the lava and the unphased Ridley back to the facility.

Her Chozo DNA allows her to heal quickly, and she ventures on with just a Zero Suit and a paralyser on her. She sneaks by the Space Pirates until she discovers a Chozo mural that has the mighty Power Suit: the Varia Suit. In the past, the Old Bird told Samus that their memory lives on eternally; she cuts back to reality as the Space Pirates infiltrate the room, but suddenly the Varia Suit reforms around her in a bright light. With the new suit, she takes out the pirates and runs towards Ridley's location: Tourian. There, she's greeted by a hostile Metroid but is able to freeze it and uses the core to create an Ice Beam in here arm cannon, with the Metroid escaping. She suddenly hears the echoed voice of Mother Brain and follows it to find her; Samus begs for Brain to betray the pirates, but Brain refuses, being adamant that she'll lead the pirates to glory, by gaining complete control and becoming the greatest life form. Mother Brain sends out Metroids to attack Samus while Ridley battles her from behind. Their battle goes back and forth, but Samus tricks the Metroids into attacking Ridley, knocking him out. As a last resort, Mother Brain activates self-destruct which causes Samus to escape; she enters her ship and barely escapes.

Samus barely escapes and calls to Adam, who is relieved that she's alive and updates about the Federation scouts on Zebes' explosion. Samus, however, is still heartbroken about the death of Ellen, and is determined to help others throughout the galaxy. However, Adam begs her to stay with the Federation which would make her a hero. But with Samus, she can protect others and the Federation at once as a bounty hunter, but is able to cherish their friendship. She calls off the communicator and makes the hyperjump into space. In the mid-credits scene, Samus reaches an unknown planet that shows unusual scans that intrigue her. In the post-credits scene, Adam is talking to another general about Samus' mission; the figure is shown to be General Pepper, who ponders on forming his own division.

Voice cast

 * Charlize Theron as Samus Aran, an intergalactic bounty hunter and former child soldier who his called upon by her former colleagues to aid them on a mission. Theron wore a motion capture suit for the character's Power Suit, which appears as a CGI figure.
 * Anthony Mackie as Anthony Higgs, Samus' old soldier buddy who acts as an older brother and is her close confidant.
 * Mark Wahlberg as Adam Malkovich, the strict leader of the troop and Samus' former commander who has faith in her former colleague.
 * James Franco as Ian Malkovich, Adam's younger brother.
 * Willem Dafoe as Ridley, the leader of the Space Pirates and a fearsome dragon-like alien.
 * Sigourney Weaver as Mother Brain
 * James Earl Jones as RX-7, a battle robot with human emotions.

Development
Shigeru Miyamoto stated that he has no intention or desire to adapt an animated or live-action Metroid to film himself until he met Metroid creators Yoshio Sakamoto, Saturo Okada, Gunpei Yokoi, and Hiroji Kiyotake in 1993, and pitched the concept to 20th Century Fox, but they did not understand it. Metroid was abandoned until December 2002, when a live-action film version of Metroid was in development by Lion Rock Productions. Warren Zide and Craig Perry of Zide/Perry Entertainment optioned the film rights for Metroid in January 2003, but these rights expired. John Woo then stepped in and said he would develop the movie. Producers Brad Foxhoven, Suzanne Zizzi and Terence Chang were attached.

The film was to be based around Samus Aran and her early battles with the Metroids and Mother Brain. A small bit of information was given on the film's plot:"'The story is set in a once peaceful galaxy, which has its prosperity shattered by a startling discovery: On a routine mapping expedition of a planet, a survey crew discovers a new airborne life form -- the Metroid. Able to engulf other living beings, feed on their energy, and multiply in great numbers, they prove a terrifying menace. Female bounty hunter Samus Aran is commissioned by the Galactic Federation to eliminate the pests, but she soon discovers that pirates with a stolen Metroid specimen are plotting to breed and build an unstoppable army.'"It was scheduled to be released in theaters around 2006, but no further word had been heard about the project since April 2004. A month later however, Paul Schrader agreed to write the script back in October 2003, and the project moved to Universal Pictures, after it acquired the rights from Paramount. That year the film was announced to be a Nintendo computer-animated production. In June 2004, Nintendo signed Matthew Vaughn to direct the film. Vaughn then rewrote Schrader's script in order to bring down the budget to $150 million, as Schrader's first draft would have cost $300 million to produce. After that, Nintendo announced that they intended to release Metroid on May 9, 2008, with F-Zero being used to introduce the character of Captain Falcon.

Pre-production and casting
Vaughn was released when he was only producer since 1996, at which point Nintendo set Schrader and to work on a new draft and began searching for a new director. Christopher Nolan entered talks to direct the film. However, Nolan ultimately turned down Metroid in directing Batman Begins. By July 2004, D. J. Caruso had been discussing taking on the project, though he did not read the script. Later that month, Ang Lee entered into negotiations to direct, and by November 2004, was contracted to direct the film, and screenwriter Jon Spaihts, along with Robert Richardson and Walter Murch, was hired to write the script based on his pitched idea for a direct Metroid film. In December 2004, Lee announced that the script was complete and that pre-production would begin, and a filming date was set for June 2006. Universal eventually pushed to develop the project into an original work, and by March 2005, Louis Leterrier, along with Steven Zaillian and Cameron Crowe, had been hired to redevelop Spaihts' screenplay. In June 2005, they submitted his rewritten screenplay to Universal. Lee had initially requested a $250 million budget and an Alien project, but Fox was reluctant to invest this amount of money, and wanted to ensure the film would receive a lower age-rating to broaden the potential audience.

In July 2005, after Mark Wahlberg expressed interest in appearing in a Metroid film, he was approached by casting director Jane Jenkis to play Adam Malkovich. Stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski filmed Wahlberg to demonstrate his conception of the action scenes. Rick Avery, Lee and Miyamoto were so impressed with the test tape that they gave Wahlberg the role of Malkovich. Over 134 actors auditioned for the role of Samus Aran including Reese Witherspoon, Jenna Fischer, Elizabeth Banks and Angelina Jolie before Charlize Theron was finalized. Willem Dafoe auditioned for the role of Ridley. Anthony Mackie considered the part of Anthony Higgs as "a good career move" and a production that would be fun to make.

Jamie Lee Curtis originally auditioned for the role of Mother Brain, for which she was considered "too loud". Casting director Marci Liroff approached Sigourney Weaver to play Mother Brain because it was a "bigger than life" character with "a kind of bravado". Blessed described Mother as a "antagonist villain". Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, co-founders of DreamWorks Pictures, considers Steven Spielberg as "like an hero to us". Katzenberg and Geffen heard Lee would make a Metroid film and asked him if they could accompany him during filming. Although DreamWorks was not credited in the film, Spielberg offered them as co-fianncers, which they accepted because it "seemed like a good vantage point to watch without getting in the way".

In May 2009, it was reported that Ice Age director Chris Wedge would be rewriting the script as part of his negotiation to write and direct a Super Smash Bros. film along with Miyamoto. Wedge said in August, "I just got to make some character connections. The structure of the thing was really tight and I loved it, but there were a couple of opportunities to find his voice a little bit —and some of the other characters' — and make the connections so that you understood exactly why he wanted to be who he wanted to be. And progressing through the script to flesh it out a little bit".

Filming and visual effects
Principal photography began on July 23, 2006, under the working title Galactic Alien. Lee finished his film—after 32 days of shooting—on August 24, 2006. Leterrier was present for the first week of filming and supervised the rest of the shoot via a bespoke videoconferencing program. Miyamoto said Lee's voice would "be coming over the Tannoy like God". During filming, various directors, including Guillermo del Toro, Stephen Daldry and David Fincher visited. Spielberg wanted to treat the film like live-action, moving his camera around. He revealed: "Every movie I made, up until Metroid, I always kept one eye closed when I've been framing a shot", because he wanted to see the movie in 2-D, the way viewers would. "On Samus, I have both of my eyes open". Lee took the hands-on approach to directing Weta Digital during post-production, which Spielberg supervised through video conferencing. His frequent collaborator and cinematographer Janusz Kamiński served as lighting consultant for Weta, and Lee said the film would look "film noirish, very atmospheric". Lee finished six weeks of additional motion-capture filming in early-May 2007.

Unlike the previous films in the Nintendo Cinematic Universe, the film's art, design and animation were meant to be more realistic to reflect the film's much darker tone. Most of the character's appearances were ripped straight from the Metroid manga, drawn by Kenji Ishikawa. Ridley himself is based on his manga counterpart, as in both the movie and the manga, his eyes are slightly more expressive. Ridley was actually quite hard to animate, as to go with the realistic nature they wanted to see how pterodactyls were theorised to move while flying, as Ridley is based on the dinosaur. The lasers in the film were also quite challenging, as they wanted them to look like they could actually hurt something and to be brighter than anything else in the film.

Music

 * Further information: Metroid (soundtrack) and Music of the Nintendo Cinematic Universe

Composed by Henry Jackman, the score for Metroid was mixed by Malcolm Luker, engineered by Costa Kotselas, and featured Martin Tillman on the electric cello. In a 2007 interview with Christopher Coleman of Tracksounds.com, Jackman said that Leterrier attracted him to the project, adding: "I happened to meet him at the Golden Globes dinner about three years ago. That night we were both nominees, but both losers. He had been nominated for Tsotsi and during the dinner I had spoken to him and he seemed like a really smart and creative guy...and into music. So I was really delighted when I got a call to meet him and discuss the possibilities for Metroid."

In late March 2008, Jon Burlingame of Variety was at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th century-Fox to listen and report on the recording of the score. Jackman conducted "a 90-piece orchestra and a 40-voice choir (20 male, 20 female)" to achieve the sound. At the time of his visit, Burlingame noted that the choir was singing "stanzas from an ancient Norse poem in Old Icelandic" to underscore what would be first track, "Metroids." Lee commented on Jackman's style, saying: "Henry's challenge is to give us operatic scale, but also keep it intimate and human. Henry's music has a kind of muscular confidence and strength that is very useful for the action, but he also has tremendous soul." Leterrier also called the recording performance "frigging brilliant!"

Lorne Bafle began writing ideas for the score after reading the script before filming commenced. He used some unusual techniques to compose the score, and said, "I actually wrote out the sheet music backwards so the orchestra played it backwards and then I digitally flipped it. So you're hearing the score as it's written, the same melody, but with a backwards sounding orchestra which gives it a kind of unusual, unsettling sound." Metroid (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) album was released on iTunes on May 2, 2008, and on CD on May 6, 2008. It features 23 tracks by Jackman and two supplemental tracks by Bafle.

Marketing
Metroid 's marketing campaign began on July 21, 2007, at the San Diego Comic-Con International, where images and footage from the film were presented by Miyamoto and Theron; Leterrier and Wahlberg participated via satellite contribution. A teaser poster was released on December 14, 2007, with the tagline, "If you weren't afraid of the dark before, you will be." A bootleg recording of an incomplete trailer was leaked online on November 27, 2007, but was quickly taken down by Universal. The trailer was released on December 22, 2007.

On January 17, 2008, Leterrier, in partnership with AMC Theatres, hosted the premiere of the first full Metroid trailer at the AMC Downtown Disney during WonderCon in Anaheim, California. The event was streamed live via Facebook, Twitter, and the AMC Theatre website, and the trailer was posted on the film's website immediately after its debut. Reactions to the trailer from WonderCon attendees, and on Twitter, were generally positive, and it received nearly three million views in the three days following its release. On February 10, 2008, media outlets were shown a 13-minute montage of scenes in 3D from the film's opening at the Vue Cinema in Leicester Square, London.

On February 29, 2008, the international launch trailer debuted in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 during the first advertisement break of the TV show The Simpsons. Viewers were encouraged to share their opinions about the trailer on Twitter, some of which were then shared in a live broadcast during a later break. This was the first time that viewers' tweets were used in a broadcast advertisement. A competition, offering viewers a chance to win tickets to the film whenever the social platform Zeebox detected the advertisement airing, was launched on that site. On March 8, 2008, the advertisement became the subject of an investigation by the British broadcasting regulatory body Ofcom for allegedly breaching broadcast rules when a voiceover encouraged viewers to book tickets during the advertisement with the Channel 4 logo onscreen. The broadcast potentially broke a ruling that advertising and teleshopping must be clearly distinguishable from editorial content.

Although marketers typically avoid promoting adult-oriented films to reach a broader demographic, the film attracted several promotional partners including Coors, Amazon, and Verizon FiOS, which were estimated to have spent $30 million in marketing support. Amazon directed interested users to purchase tickets through Fandango, and placed promotional material in products shipped to customers; this was the first time that Amazon had allowed such marketing by an external company. The premiere in London was streamed live via the film's website and the Verizon FiOS Facebook page. The event was facilitated by BumeBox, which took audience questions from social sites and gave them to reporters to ask at the event.

Theatrical
Metroid held its world premiere at the Event Cinemas theatre in George Street, Sydney on April 27, 2008, with the film opening on April 29, 2008 in Australia. The following weekend it opened in 56 markets, while the premiere at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California took place on April 30, 2008. Metroid opened on May 9, 2008 in the United States, in 3,955 theaters. Metroid is part of Phase One of the NCU.

Home media
In North America, Metroid DVD and Blu-ray disc releases were listed for pre-order in partnership with Amazon on May 9, 2008, a week before the film was released in theaters. A limited number of cinema tickets for the film were offered as a pre-order incentive. In June 2008, NBC obtained the rights to the film's network television premiere. On September 7, 2008, Universal announced that Metroid would be the launch title of its new digital distribution initiative "Digital HD." The film was released on September 18, 2008, three weeks prior to its DVD, Blu-ray disc and Video on demand (VOD) release, for downloading and streaming through platforms including Amazon, iTunes, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live in over 50 countries. The film was released on Blu-ray disc and DVD on October 14, 2008. Metroid was also included in the "Nintendo Cinematic Universe: Phase One - The Beginning", which was released on May 4, 2010.

Box office
Metroid was released on May 9, 2008, grossing $48.3 million during its opening day. On its second day of release, it made $29.3 million. The film then earned $99.1 million in its opening weekend, which made it the 12th highest ever opener at the time. It was topped at the box office upon opening, beating out Iron Man. Moreover, it surpassed X-Men: The Last Stand to score the biggest May opening weekend. That record would last until 2009 when it was surpassed by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Metroid earned $445.2 million (31.4%) in North America and $471.3 million (68.6%) elsewhere for a worldwide total of $1.130 billion, making it the highest-grossing film of 2008, and the highest-grossing video game film, surpassing Kirby.

Metroid was released in 15 markets between March 30 and April 1, 2008—about a week before its North American release. The earlier start in these countries was timed to avoid competition with the start of the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship the following week. On its opening day, which varies depending on the country, it earned $3.39 million in the United Kingdom, $2.2 million in Russia, and $1.5 million in France. The film earned $34.8 million during its opening weekend from 4,695 theaters in 15 markets, and debuted at number 1 in 14 of them, with an average of $7,461 per theater. Its overall rank for the weekend was third behind Iron Man and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Its opening weekends in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta ($10.1 million), Russia and the CIS ($9.80 million), and France and the Maghreb region ($6.68 million) represented its largest takings. By April 8, the film had opened in a total of 50 markets, and was also successful during its opening weekends in Australia ($7.2 million) and South Korea ($4.2 million). During its late August opening in Japan, the film earned $9.6 million.

In North America, Metroid earned $3.561 million in midnight showings at 1,368 theaters, including $1.03 million from 294 IMAX theaters, and went on to earn $21.4 million through its opening day. During its opening weekend, the film earned $51.05 million from 3,396 theaters—an average of $15,032 per theater—ranking second behind Hancock ($60.4 million), which made it the second largest opening for a film directed by Lee behind his previous projects Hulk and Brokeback Mountain, the third largest second-place opening, and the tenth largest for a PG-rated film. The largest demographic of the opening weekend audience was over the age of 25 (64%) and male (57%). 3D showings accounted for 54% of ticket sales, while IMAX contributed 18%—the majority of which was accounted for in the 3D figure. The film closed on September 24, 2008, after 138 days (nearly 20 weeks) in release with a total gross of $1.130 million. The figure made it the highest-grossing film to finish a week as the #1 film.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 41% approval rating based on 217 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The website's critics consensus says "Overloaded with headache-inducing special effects, Metroid finds Leterrier focused on visual thrills at the expense of a coherent storyline". Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades
Coming soon

Sequels
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Transcripts
Coming soon