Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Joseph Aberl

  • ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Claws Up Biggest R-Rated Opening Weekend Ever

    ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Claws Up Biggest R-Rated Opening Weekend Ever

    Marvel once again fatigues its way to some record-breaking numbers, but this time in a category many thought they’d never read the names “Marvel Studios” and “Disney.” With the release of Deadpool & Wolverine, they have now managed to win the biggest R-rated opening box office weekend ever with a whopping $205M. That makes it the eighth-highest opening ahead of Black Panther and trailing slightly behind The Avengers. It’s crazy to think that in all this time only nine films ever passed that $200M mark and this is the first time an R-Rated film managed such a feat.

    It has also skipped over Deadpool and Deadpool 2′s opening weekends, which each made respective $132M and $125M which were massive for the time for R-rated before Joker went on to make a good streak. It also marks the biggest opening of the year overtaking Inside Out 2, which had a debut of $155M and now is the highest-earning animated film ever. It’s a good sign after many films seemingly struggled last and this year, but may be a bigger sign that July is the new May for the summer box office.

    Internationally, the film made $438M so it’s definitely going to be a smash at the box office and help make up some of the issues that plagued the studio last year with The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Though ignoring online discourse, it was a rough year overall for major releases and the strikes just hit the box office harder than one would expect. It does open the question if this is a similar surprise hit with Spider-Man: No Way Home given the leads and audiences simply care more for nostalgia than original continuations.

    Deadpool & Wolverine had initial expectations at $160M so that jump is quite massive after it made $96M on its opening day alone. What is also going to boost its numbers is the impressive A CinemaScore ranking which is quite unusual given how general audiences tend to react towards R-rated films. So, the Deadpool film being a crowd-pleaser with its humor goes against many online reactions stating people will be mixed on it. So, we’re continuing to see a stronger dissonance between X and TikTok reactions against the global reactions. The big question is: how far can it go and is a billion on its radar moving into its second weekend?

    Source: Variety

  • ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Starts Production as Cast Grows

    ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Starts Production as Cast Grows

    The wait is finally over, as Netflix has celebrated the production start of One Piece‘s second season with a video. They continue to understand that the selling point of this production is the cast and their dynamic, so we get a chance to see the Straw Hats unite once again to kick off their return to South Africa truly. They aren’t revealing any major details but still give fans that heartfelt return of the main cast.

    That isn’t all though, as we do continue to get some more casting announcements. It looks like we have some familiar faces returning as they’ve confirmed that other returning actors are Ilia Isorelys Paulino’s Alvida, Michael Dorman as Gold Roger, and Jeff Ward as Buggy. It makes sense given Buggy and Alvida were set up at the end of last season, but Roger’s return could lead to quite some speculation on where and how we’ll see him in the series. It would be neat to see a recurring trend for each season to open with the iconic pirate king.

    Of course, there are also some other major casting additions we’re a little late on. We finally know that Callum Kerr will play Smoker in the next season, who’ll be joined by Julia Rewald as Tashigi. Ty Keogh is playing Dalton who’ll face off against the always hilarious Wapol, played by Rob Colletti. Surprisingly, still no announcement for major players like Chopper, Nico Robin, Bon Clay, Sir Crocodile, or Mr. 1. We’ll have to see if they are keeping some news in their back pocket once production nears its end or if the series closes on its release.

    Source: Twitter, Variety

  • Giant Additions to ‘One Piece’ Season 2’s Cast

    Giant Additions to ‘One Piece’ Season 2’s Cast

    The week of One Piece continues, as it seems we can expect a lot more. As theorized yesterday, we speculated that there were quite a few hints that we’ll see more castings throughout the week. After finally uncovering some of the members of Baroque Works, mostly the characters we see early on in the journey, we already have our next revelations for what we can expect from the series.

    The latest update for Netflix’s hit series comes with two large additions and a rather important one. Clive Russell will play Crocus, a friendly man who welcomes the Straw Hats into their journey in the second season. He is joined by Dorry and Brogy actors, Werner Coetser and Brendan Murray. Their addition confirms that we’ll be visiting Little Garden.

    We don’t know how exactly they’ll adapt the iconic Alabasta arc, but if they have more casting announcements planned throughout the week, we may get a good idea what to expect. If they go throughout the whole week, we may expect the biggest castings for the franchise by the end. Holding out hope for some tease of Chopper, especially as there are still theories if he’ll be CG or a puppet but a voice actor would definitely be great to see.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Finds its Baroque Works

    ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Finds its Baroque Works

    It’s been a long wait but since One Piece premiered last year in August, the second season is finally getting ready to enter production. With a WGA strike prolonging the wait, it seems our wait won’t be that long (hopefully) to see how they adapt one of the series’ most iconic arcs, Baroque Works or the Alabasta arc. It’s especially exciting after teasing the organization in the first season with Zoro’s introduction. We still only knew about one member of the Baroque Works but our wait has come to an end.

    One Piece has yet to showcase the big guns of the organization, but we got some of its important early episode members. there were rumors that production was set to start at the end of June. So, perhaps they are revealing some of the cast that are heading to production that is returning to South Africa.

    We get our first look at who is playing Miss Valentine (Jazzara Jaslyn), Mr. 5(Camrus Johnson), Mr. 9 (Daniel Lasker) and Mr. 3 (David Dastmalchian). Lasker played int he South African-filmed series Raised by Wolves. Johnson appeared in CW’s Batwoman while Jazzara is known for her work on Warrior. The big addition is Dastmalchian who just recently led the film Late Night With the Devil but also had roles in The Suicide Squad, Oppenheimer, the Ant-Man franchise, and more. He’s also been quite vocal about wanting to join this franchise and has a rather perfect role.

    They’ll join our returning straw hats in Iñaki Godoy, Mackenyu, Emily Rudd, Jacob Romero, and Taz Skylar. Some major castings are still open for the next season such as Vivi, Nico Robin, Bon Clay, Crocodile, and whoever will be voicing Chopper, who is confirmed to appear by manga series creator Eiichiro Oda. Perhaps we’ll get a bit more throughout the week as production gets going on the long-awaited second season.

    Source: Twitter, Variety

  • Netflix No Longer Moving Forward With ‘Power Rangers’ Series

    Netflix No Longer Moving Forward With ‘Power Rangers’ Series

    Sadly, it seems like one of my personal fan-favorite franchises is no longer moving forward. After 2 years of investment, it appears that Netflix has decided no longer to start moving forward with a new Power Rangers TV series. Jenny Klein was attached as showrunner with Jonathan Entwistle set to overview an entire “cinematic universe” for the streamer.

    Sadly, no reasons are given as to why exactly Netflix is no longer moving forward with the franchise. TVLine claims that Hasbro Entertainment is interested in taking the series into a new creative direction (heavy considering they invested two years into this vision to begin with) and is looking for a new partner.

    It should be noted that there’s no mention of Klein and Entwistle. So, we don’t know if they are still attached as part of this new creative direction. The positive aspect to this is that the franchise has a bit of a higher chance for a longer runtime given Netflix’s track record but it also opens up the question if it even finds a new home. For now, we can just keep an eye open for any updates on this cinematic universe.

    Source: TVLine

  • Disney and Warner Bros. to Release Streaming Bundle

    Disney and Warner Bros. to Release Streaming Bundle

    It was inevitable, but the time has officially arrived. Netflix has long dominated the streaming market and to remain competitive, we’re going to see the first cross-company partnership in the streaming market as Disney and Warner Bros. announce a Disney+, Hulu, and Max package. There is no exact release date outside of plans to have it available by the summer, though it’ll support ad-free and ad-supported models.

    There’s a lot of streaming services out there, which is going to continue reshape the way we view the offerings. While many still love comparing it to basic cable bundles, this was an inevitable development to push forward on their hopes to make these cost sinkers profitable. Plus, Netflix remains dominant in the market and the challenge is an open invitation to the major companies to do something to gain a higher churn rate and subscription growth.

    Disney and Warner Bros. is also quite an interesting combination given there are quite a few challenges for whatever they plan growing outside of the United States. Max isn’t available in many countries and it’s shows are available through services like Sky in some European countries. So, it’s uncertain if perhaps there are plans on how they want to grow their worldwide growth or rather this is a pure US-centric move like with Hulu.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Eyeing 2025 Release

    ‘One Piece’ Season 2 Eyeing 2025 Release

    We’ve been long waiting for an update on when the second season of One Piece will finally start production. The production has recently announced that Joe Trazc of Percy Jackson and A Series of Unfortunate Events fame has worked as an additional co-showrunner on the series. They’ve been working on the scripts for some time and are now seemingly getting ready for filming in the coming months.

    What’s on Netflix shared that production is eyeing a start in June as hinted at by Production Weekly. They will be filming in South Africa, but we might see production expand in Spain and Mexico as well. The plan seems to be to film for around six to seven months by wrapping up by the end of January of next year. That would be around the same length as the first season.

    Deadline has confirmed the June production start but also added a rather interesting addition. Season 2 seems to be eyeing a 2025 release. While the first season took quite a bit of time from its production end in August 2022 to the release a year later, they have figured out some of the trickier effects like Luffy’s stretching powers.

    Not just that, they may already have used the prep time between seasons to get some elements together. However, it is tough to say if they will manage another August release. The VFX will be the biggest challenge given they are about to introduce a character like Chopper, though they may even go down a puppet route.

    Source: What’s on Netflix, Deadline

  • CONFIRMED: ‘Percy Jackson’s Joe Tracz Joins ‘One Piece’ Season 2

    CONFIRMED: ‘Percy Jackson’s Joe Tracz Joins ‘One Piece’ Season 2

    The recent WGA listing revealed that One Piece’s second season may be switching things up. Now, the official statement has come that Joe Tracz, the co-executive producer of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, is officially joining the manga adaptation as executive producer, writer, and co-showrunner. He’s joining Matt Owens who returns while Steve Maeda is going to only act as an executive producer on the project. Currently, the second season is eyeing a production start in June.

    Tracz has given an official statement on joining production and his excitement to bring Eiichiro Oda’s iconic series to Netflix.

    I’ve been lucky to work on big adaptations of several beloved series, and they don’t come bigger or more beloved than ‘One Piece. I’m a huge fan of Oda-san’s incredible imagination and I was blown away by what the live-action team created in Season One. So it’s a dream and a joy to come aboard the Going Merry as it enters the Grand Line for an even more giant Season Two.

    Jack Tracz

    Matt Owens also shared his excitement for his new “co-captain” to continue spearheading this iconic adaptation:

    Joe has brought a wealth of enthusiasm and experience into our second season that will help take ‘One Piece’ to new heights. We’re incredibly lucky to have him as a co-captain of this ship. The best crew on the seas grows larger!”

    Matt Owens

    The cast will once again see Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy, who is set to become the king of the pirates. His crew consisting of Mackenyu, Emily Rudd, Jacob Romero, and Taz Skylar will grow in the next season with the confirmed addition of Chopper, but we still don’t know who will be playing the adorable reindeer. So far, we are still anticipating any announcements for the cast that’ll expand the show as it enters the Grand Line.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ Adds Keanu Reeves as Shadow

    ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ Adds Keanu Reeves as Shadow

    A dream casting is coming true as Paramount’s upcoming third entry in the Sonic the Hedgehog cinematic franchise has found its main antagonist, Shadow the Hedgehog. The Perfect Lifeform is about to face off against the blue blurr and it seems that Keanu Reeves has accepted the role. The opposite of our hero, the creation of Dr. Robotnik’s grandfather is about to leave quite an imprint on the franchise after being teased in the second entry.

    Reeves is a fun addition to the cast, as the film had a scene calling him a “national treasure” and it will be interesting if they might reference that sequence. He was one of the many fan casts for the role next to Darth Vader, Hayden Christensen who was at one point even rumored to be up for the role. Though, given Reeves’ previous role as John Wick, playing the gun-totting edgy hedgehog seems like perfect casting.

    Shadow was first introduced in Sonic Adventure 2 and quickly became a mainstay of the franchise. He even recently appeared in the Netflix animated series Sonic Prime as a major player in that series’ multiverse-inspired story. There are a few elements that director Jeff Fowler already teased in the previous entry that set up a similar storyline to when we were first introduced to the character but it’ll be interesting to see if they have plans similar to Knuckles moving forward, who is getting his Paramount+ series.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Adds New Showrunner

    Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Adds New Showrunner

    Here’s a surprise, it looks like Matt Owens has a new co-showrunner going into the second season of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of One Piece. After a strong showing in its first season and critical acclaim, there’s been quite a bit of silence on the project since they are preparing to start production on the next season. Rumors are hinting at a June production start, but we still have no updates on who might be joining the cast.

    As first shared by @OP_Netflix_Fan, they noticed that the Writing Guild of America site has updated the page for the second season which now includes Joseph E. Tracz as showrunner alongside Matt Owens, who has been part of its creation. What stands out is that Steven Maeda is no longer involved with the project after having been the showrunner in the first season. He’s also an Executive Producer on the series moving forward.

    Tracz has worked on a variety of series in the past. He was the showrunner of the Netflix romance Dash & Lily. He’s also worked on series like Lights Out, the recent Disney+ adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Olympians as well as A Series of Unfortunate Events, one of the first major adaptations for Netflix. For the latter, he also was involved with the series finale

    Source: WGA