Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Joseph Aberl

  • Empire Shares More of Bill Sienkiewicz’s Moon Knight Designs Based on the Disney+ Series

    Empire Shares More of Bill Sienkiewicz’s Moon Knight Designs Based on the Disney+ Series

    There’s a certain tradition when it comes to superhero cinema. As we near the official release, Empire tends to release a new cover that teases the project alongside a unique collector’s cover. Moon Knight naturally followed this tradition with a full look at his costume and an amazing design by Moon Knight veteran artist Bill Sienkiewicz. Now, Empire has released some of the artwork before he nailed the final look that was shared as the exclusive subscriber cover for the magazine.

    The first two are certainly quite a bit different from the design he ended on, but it highlights just how much detail has gone into bringing the live-action version to life. Most superhero adaptations tend to add details to the character designs, which were commonly minimized for the purpose of making the life of an artist on a project easier.

    It’s kind of a great design to see how well it translates to artwork even if it’s a bit of a departure from the character’s original design. We cannot wait to see what the character will look like in action, especially with the trailers teasing some great action and a suspenseful take on a self-discovery storyline for Steven Grant. No, wait I mean Marc Spector. Or was it something else? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

    Source: Twitter

  • China Once Again Welcomes Superhero Films Back With ‘The Batman’ Approved to Release

    China Once Again Welcomes Superhero Films Back With ‘The Batman’ Approved to Release

    The Batman truly is an international star, as The Hollywood Reporter revealed the film has been signed off to release in the Chinese market. It’s the first to do so in quite some time. Matt Reeves‘ upcoming film will find its way into the Eastern market on March 18th. It’ll follow a release in Taiwan and South Korea on March 2nd. The biggest advantage for the release of this film in this market lies in that there’s no HBO Max simultaneous release, as the country is infamous for piracy. So far, the only other Chinese approved releases are Death on the Nile, the 2018 Woody Allen film A Rainy Day in New York, and Uncharted.

    Many other releases were facing some trouble finding their way to the market with 2021 only seeing a handful making their way East. Spider-Man: No Way Home was actually hinted at getting releases in the market for some time, but it looks like this article confirms that it simply never got approved. There probably were just rumblings, but it’s not like the film had to rely on that market as it continued to break records during its ongoing release.

    The Batman is promising a 3-hour noir-inspired take on the iconic DC character and has a good chance to be another release to redefine how powerful superhero films are at the box office. It’s unclear what surprises Reeves‘ rendition of the character might have in store for us, but we’re only a few more weeks away until it finally releases in theaters.

    Source The Hollywood Reporter

  • Tom Holland’s ‘Uncharted’ Eyeing a $30M+ Opening Weekend

    Tom Holland’s ‘Uncharted’ Eyeing a $30M+ Opening Weekend

    While everyone’s been busy talking about the Peacemaker finale and the release of Horizon: Forbidden West, cinemas were also filling up again for Tom Holland‘s next release, Uncharted. While it didn’t quite convince our very own Hunter Radesi, whose review you can read by clicking here, it looks like the film is still off to a decent start at the domestic box office. It took in $3.7M in its Thursday previews and is on its way towards a $30M+ opening weekend.

    The film was already released last week in select international markets to a strong start with $22M. That was only in 15 smaller markets and we’re still anticipating the numbers from its current state internationally. The origin story of the popular Naughty Dog franchise takes a different approach, as director Ruben Fleischer brought together Holland as the character of Nathan Drake alongside Mark Wahlberg as Victor Sullivan.

    It’s not the strongest opening for a big blockbuster film, and we’ll see if it’ll perform stronger internationally. Video game releases have had the tendency to have stronger openings in global markets, but the bigger question is how strong the legs are for this project. You’d think a Holland-led project would dominate this shortly after the release of Spider-Man, but it might be a bigger testament to just how strong the Marvel character’s grip is on the box office.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Game of Thrones’ George R.R. Martin Talks ‘House of the Dragon’ as Production Wraps

    ‘Game of Thrones’ George R.R. Martin Talks ‘House of the Dragon’ as Production Wraps

    It feels like yesterday when we first ran the story on the upcoming Game of Thrones spinoff focusing on the Targaryens. Fittingly titled House of the Dragon, the upcoming series will see a new all-star cast further explore a dragon-filled Westeros. Creator of the original novels, George R. R. Martin took to his personal blog to share that pöroduction has wrapped on the series and also that he’s seen the rough cuts. His blog states that:

    I have seen rough cuts of a few of them, and I’m loving them.Of course, a lot more work needs to be done. Special effects, color timing, score, all the post-production work. But the writing, the directing, the acting all look terrific. I hope you will like them as much as I do. My hat is off to Ryan and Miguel and their team, and to our amazing cast.

    It’s always great to hear the creator of a franchise praise an upcoming adaptation. As this is the first spinoff for the franchise, there’s some concern if it can recatch the magic that made it a tentpole HBO series that it is, especially avoiding the mistakes from later seasons. The casting has already been quite promising and who knows just how deep the lore in House of the Dragon will get explored once it releases eventually.

    Source: George R. Martin’s Blog

  • ‘Star Wars’ Veteran John Williams Returns to Compose ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Theme

    ‘Star Wars’ Veteran John Williams Returns to Compose ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Theme

    It looks like it is official, as after quite a few rumors hinted at the iconic Star Wars composer John Williams would make his return to the classic universe. It seems they were right as Variety has confirmed his return and that he’ll be creating the theme for Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series. It’s fitting, as he was involved with the original prequel trilogy that defined Ewan McGregor‘s take on the character, and it’s been two years since he completed work on the ninth film of the franchise.

    He has supposedly recorded it last week with the Los Angeles orchestra. It’s noteworthy that he is willing to tackle this project, as it is his first TV project since 1985’s Amazing Stories. and the NBC Olympics theme. The composer won an Oscar for his work on 1977 original and has been nominated for its five sequels over the years. He also was heavily involved with the theme for Solo: A Star Wars Story and Disneyland’s Galaxy Edge theme park. He even won a Grammy for the latter.

    The composer just turned 90 a few days ago and continues to work to this day. It’s an admirable dedication to his craft, as he composed Steven Spielberg’s next film The Fabermans, and is involved with the fifth Indiana Jones. His inclusion in Obi-Wan Kenobi also adds that extra touch as this series is a bridge between the prequels and A New Hope, for which he created a theme for Alec Guinness time with the character. So, it’ll be exciting to hear what he has in store for us.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Trailer Dominated Social Media Post-Super Bowl

    ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Trailer Dominated Social Media Post-Super Bowl

    The Super Bowl was quite the night for sports fans and media fans. We got some new movie and TV trailers to highlight what is heading our way in the year, such as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It looks like it created quite the online buzz. Deadline shared a new statistic on how the various trailers have performed within a 24-hour window. RelishMix provided the data and took a 24-hour viral analysis between Facebook Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. It looks like the latest Marvel film was the winner followed by Jurassic World: Dominion.

    To offer some comparison, Doctor Strange has garnered five times the amount that Black Widow did during the Super Bowl before the pandemic hit. Though it garnered 143M global online views, which is behind Spider-Man: No Way Home and Avengers: Endgame‘s 355.5M and 289M respectively. Even Dominion tripled its numbers from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom back in 2018. Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power though garnered an impressive 257M views and held the all-time post-game traffic for a trailer dropped during the Super Bowl.

    Moon Knight is quite low surprisingly, but there’s a chance that it simply was overshadowed by the cinematic offering. It’s the drawback of multiple trailers releasing from the same franchise, as the Disney+ series overall has been performing quite impressively so far. All eyes were on the massive tease from the Doctor Strange trailer and Amazon was smart to offer its very first full trailer during the night. As such, all new trailer releases were the ones to dominate the night while shorter spots probably gained most of their viewership during the event directly. Still, really interesting to see this development.

    Source: Deadline

  • Kate McKinnon is Latest Star to Join ‘Barbie’

    Kate McKinnon is Latest Star to Join ‘Barbie’

    There must be something about Barbie, as the upcoming live-action adaptation has found another actress to join the project. We just recently reported that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ Simu Liu has joined the project and now it seems like former Ghostbuster Kate McKinnon is also on board. Mattel is putting together quite the cast for a unique take on the classic Barbie doll toy. As of now, the cast consists of Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrara, the previously-mentioned Liu, and now McKinnon. Greta Gerwig is attached to direct Sadly, no word on who the latest addition will play in the film.

    Gerwig‘s filmography would certainly hint at a very different take on the classic Barbie doll, which isn’t a stranger to film adaptations. The cast is certainly becoming a promising addition to hint at just how invested the team behind this project is. It’ll be interesting to see what roles the actors will take on and how they might tackle the project from a modern perspective. Not much is known about the project, which has the potential to reach similar highs as The Lego Movie did back when it was released. We’ll certainly be keeping an eye out who else might end up joining, as anything is possible at this rate.

    Source: Deadline

  • John Cena Joins ‘Looney Tunes’ Spinoff ‘Coyote vs. Acme’

    John Cena Joins ‘Looney Tunes’ Spinoff ‘Coyote vs. Acme’

    It looks like that ain’t all folks, as a new Looney Tunes animated hybrid project is in development titled Coyote vs. Acme. Dave Green will direct the film based on The New Yorker humor article of the same name by Ian Frazier. It’ll follow Wile E. Coyote who tries to sue ACME Corporation after a few too many broken purchases. The project has now cast Peacemaker actor John Cena as the former boss of Coyote’s new lawyer.

    Chris DeFaria is producing the project alongside James Gunn through their Two Monkeys, A Goat and Another, Dead, Monkey Productions. It’ll be based on a screenplay by Samy Burch and may offer a different take on the popular cartoon franchise. It looks like Warner Bros. is all-in on their relationship with Gunn and ready to also explore some non-DC-related projects.

    The concept sounds like a fun departure from previous Looney Tunes projects and might be the one to kick off a new series of films that put the popular cartoon characters in very “human” situations. The Looney Tunes Show did something similar to quite some success and even reinvented Lola Bunny to give her a unique personality. It’ll be interesting to see what the project has to offer and who else might join the cast.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Teases March Update and Nick Fury’s Return

    ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Teases March Update and Nick Fury’s Return

    It has been a bit quiet on the Marvel front when it came to Marvel’s Avengers. It’s not uncommon for games of these kinds to take breaks over the holidays to prepare for the new year. While we still have to wait for the roadmap – which is teased to still be in development – but Crystal Dynamic still offered an update on what’s heading our way in March. It looks like they are continually building upon the base foundation to ensure that the daily grind offers more perks for players.

    In a new blog entry, they reveal that they are trying to further evolve the game system alongside their player base. The March patch (2.3) will offer a sample of changes that are heading our ways, such as a rework of the War Table and mission select system. It seems they want to improve the flow of playability for newcomers to the franchise, especially in regards to the leveling process. They hope that it also supports veteran players to create more concentrated matchmaking pools.

    Other upgrades include updating the Units economy to make it easier to gain ways on shipments, which currently require quite a bit of grinding to get the special Marvel Cinematic Universe-inspired skins. Omega-Level Threat and Raid rewards are also moving towards weekly rewards, as well as offering per-Hero rewards for the Mega Hives.

    They also hinted that Nick Fury will return after a long bit of absence and take over SHIELD once again to help coordinate Initiative missions. It’s unclear what exactly that means and what that means for currently acting director, Maria Hill. There’s no word if we’ll get a story cutscene on why he makes his return or why he manages his way out of the time bubble, but we’ll see if it may set up what’s to come in 2022.

    Source: Play Avengers

  • Ryan Reynolds Talks ‘Deadpool 3’ and Possible Appearance in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

    Ryan Reynolds Talks ‘Deadpool 3’ and Possible Appearance in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

    The internet has been ablaze since every single part of the new Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Some eagle-eyed fans seemingly spotted what could be Deadpool on the poster, who is shushing anyone finding the minor detail. In a new interview with Variety, while promoting his upcoming film The Adam Project, the actor simply stated “I’m really not in the movie. I’m promising, I’m not in the movie” after they tested if he might be lying as other actors have in the past – looking at you Andrew Garfield. The only other update he offered on the upcoming third Deadpool film was by simply stating “It’s coming along.”

    We know very little about his upcoming third film and how exactly it might fit into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s surprising he didn’t play along and was quite straightforward with his denial or update. It would be nice to get an update in the near future about where the project currently is, especially with no director attached as of now. Free Guy‘s Shawn Levy has become a popular choice but some would also love to see Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi reunite with his Green Lantern co-star to give it a shot. We’ll have to be patient for now.

    Source: Variety