Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Joseph Aberl

  • ‘Sweet Tooth’s Jim Mickle to Adapt Donny Cates ‘God Country’ for Netflix

    ‘Sweet Tooth’s Jim Mickle to Adapt Donny Cates ‘God Country’ for Netflix

    Jim Mickle made a name for himself as the co-creator of Netflix’s hit series Sweet Tooth. Now, he’s locked in his next project as he’s going to adapt Donny Cates‘ God Country for Netflix with Legendary, who is also working on the Enola Holmes and live-action Gundam films. and AfterShock Media developing the project. He’ll direct the project and is co-writing the script alongside Cates.

    The story is about Emmet Quinlan. A widower who suffers from dementia is brought back to his prime through a magical sword that he found in the wreckage after a tornado hit. Now, it’s his only tool to protect his family after creatures from another world start threatening his home in search of his newfound powers. Cate‘s has made a name for himself for his work on the Venom series and wrote the six-issue series with Geoff Shaw bringing it to life with his art.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • Disney Adds Wilmer Valderrama as its New Zorro

    Disney Adds Wilmer Valderrama as its New Zorro

    Disney has been building its filmography on classic Intellectual Properties it had garnered over the last few years. Among them, they’ve been eyeing a revival of the iconic Zorro franchise. The original vigilante that inspired Bob Kane to create Batman is quite the icon since 1919. Disney has now set their eyes on reviving the character in a new series and they found the actor to play the character, Wilmer Valderrama.

    The series is in development by Disney TV, which will be a period piece during Pueblo de Los Angeles, which would eventually become the modern-day L.A. It’ll even adapt a contemporary telenovela style, which will certainly make the series stand out. Valderrama shared his excitement for the new project:

    Growing up, Zorro was the one character that made me, as a Latino, feel like I could be a hero. As an adult and a storyteller, I have a responsibility in the stories that I help bring to life. To partner with Gary [Marsh, executive producer] and Disney to bring Zorro back into the family after 60 years and be a part of the legacy for other children to know they too can be the heroes of their own stories is a dream come true

    Wilmer Valderrama

    There have been countless adaptations of the masked vigilante, and he’s no stranger to television adaptations. Disney had a series featuring Guy Williams in the titular role that ran for 78 episodes and for over two years. There were even some specials for The Magical World of Disney in the 1960s. It’ll be interesting to see if this new adaptation of Zorro will also include references to the past.

    Source: Entertainment Weekly

  • Neil Gaiman’s ‘Anansi Boys’ Adds Amarah-Jae St. Aubyin and Grace Saif

    Neil Gaiman’s ‘Anansi Boys’ Adds Amarah-Jae St. Aubyin and Grace Saif

    It looks like the upcoming adaptation of Anansi Boys is picking up the pace, as the six-part series has found its female leads. Amarah-Jae St. Aubyin, who some might know from Steve McQueen‘s Lovers Rock, and the Small Axe anthology will play the role of Rosie Noah. She’ll be joined by 13 Reasons Why‘s Grace Saif, who’ll play the character of Detective Constable Daisy Day. Neil Gaiman, the author of the original novels and producer of the series, shared his thoughts on the casting in The Hollywood Reporter piece on their casting:

    When you are casting something on the scale of Anansi Boys you need female leads who are as accomplished, charming, and brilliant as, well, Malachi Kirby in both his incarnations. Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn and Grace Saif are those women. [They’re] both funny, honest, brilliant actresses, and you will fall in love with both of them.

    Neil Gaiman

    The series is currently filming in Scotland, it’ll follow Malachi Kirby‘s Nancy, who discovers that his father was the trickster god of stories, the titular Anansi. He also uncovers that he has a brother named Spider (also played by Kirby), who is going to make his life quite a bit more troubling. Endor Productions and RED Production Company are involved in the project with Gaiman and Sir Lenny Henry co-writing the series. Douglas Mackinnon is acting as showrunner alongside the original author.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • Sony’s Marketing Team Originally Wanted to ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Keep the Villains a Secret

    Sony’s Marketing Team Originally Wanted to ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Keep the Villains a Secret

    Spider-Man: No Way Home became one of Hollywood’s worst-kept secrets. Shortly around the time production started, news dropped that some iconic villains from the franchise’s history made their grand return. Alfred Molina flat-out confirmed his involvement at one point, which had everyone’s attention even more. Rumor after rumor hit the web on the villains and other Spider-Man actors making a return. Well, it seems that if they managed to keep this a secret, they were going to go down a very different marketing route.

    Tom JHolland revealed in an interview with Yahoo.com that they were going to market the film as a “civil war” between Doctor Strange and Spider-Man. We do get some inclinations of that in the trailers, but they wanted to keep the villains of the marketing until they realized how impossible it was to keep them a secret.

    Remember when that was the initial marketing plan? The initial plan was to make the film seem like a civil war between myself and Doctor Strange and they were gonna keep everything a secret. That is impossible.”

    Tom Holland

    Of course, history turned out quite differently and some of the villains are highly showcased in the various trailers and even posters. It was a smart move, as it seemed that the confirmation of some of the rumors got everyone’s attention and hype, as it’s currently on route to becoming the highest-grossing film since the pandemic started. So, in a way, the rumor mill may have helped out a bit this time around even if they still can’t quite keep a lid on it.

    Source: Yahoo

  • ‘Kingsman 3’ Eyeing a September Production Start

    ‘Kingsman 3’ Eyeing a September Production Start

    Just as the prequel spinoff for the popular Kingsman franchise is about to hit theaters, it seems that production is already preparing for the upcoming third entry in the franchise. Taron Egerton‘s Eggsy will finally make his return as it’s currently eyeing a September production start. The sequel will build upon the previous two entries, Kingsman: Secret Service and The Golden Circle. We’ve known the film has been in the works for some time, but it’s our first update on the new entry.

    The news came from ComicBook.com, which got a chance to sit down with producer and director Matthew Vaughn, who confirmed the production start while promoting The King’s Man. Unlike the previous entries, this film takes place far in the past and explores the beginnings of this important British spy organization during the first World War. It’ll be interesting to see if the third entry might pick up some potential plot points set up in this prequel.

    The third entry has a lot to live up to, as The Golden Circle upped the ante of craziness and action. It’ll be interesting to see how they continue the storyline and what the future has in store for Eggsy. Perhaps he’ll grow into a mentor role as well to teach a new generation about the Kingsman, or we explore international agencies.

    Source: ComicBook.com

  • Alex Ross to Write and Illustrate ‘Fantastic Four: Full Circle’ Graphic Novel

    Alex Ross to Write and Illustrate ‘Fantastic Four: Full Circle’ Graphic Novel

    It looks like Alex Ross has set his eyes on a new project, as the creator will tackle his first graphic novel, Fantastic Four: Full Circle. It’ll release on August 2nd, 2022, and is the first part of a new MarvelArts collaboration between Marvel and Abrams ComicArts. In an exclusive by Comic Book, it’s also highlighted that it’ll be larger than the usual graphic novel size to showcase his artwork inspired by Marvel Graphic Novel’s 1980s format.

    The story will also include their origin in a color-painted foldout poster. Charles Kochman, who was his longtime editor and now work was editorial director for ComicArts. He’s working on the project alongside Tom Brevoort, Marvel VP of Publishing. Ross shared his excitement for the project with ComicBook.com:

    This is the Fantastic Four story I have been wanting to tell for years, and visually it is one of the greatest artistic experiments I have attempted. I’m excited to share this work with everyone, as it unites the two great publishing forces of Marvel and Abrams ComicArts in a bold new collaboration.

    Alex Ross

    He’s also taken to Twitter to share a first look at the new series and a tease of the amazing artwork that’ll bring this project to life.

    The highlight of this project is that not only is Ross bringing the full project to life, as he’s writing and illustrating it, but it’s the first time Marvel has licensed a graphic novel from another publisher in 40 years. The best part is that it’s just the beginning of many collaborations moving forward.

    Source: Comic Book, Twitter

  • ‘Encanto’ Heading to Disney+ for the Holidays

    ‘Encanto’ Heading to Disney+ for the Holidays

    Well, this is quite a surprise. Encanto has just recently been released in theaters and it looks like Disney is not going to waste any time to bring it to Disney+. In a new Twitter post, they announced that the latest animated musical will release on the platform on December 24th. So, we’re getting a nice Christmas present and they also shared a new clip of the song “What Else Can I Do?” alongside the announcement.

    It’s curious that they are going to release it early instead of letting it still run longer in theaters, especially with Eternals not releasing until January. It seems that they are trying o bank on the animated project’s target audience, which is quite in line with Disney+’s family-friendly focus. Sadly, some markets had a lockdown during its original release date and very likely will end up waiting for the release on the streaming service, which may hurt its international box office. Here’s hoping the film will still hold strong and everyone will enjoy it over the holidays.

    Source: Twitter

  • Live-Action ‘Megaman’ Movie Heading to Netflix

    Live-Action ‘Megaman’ Movie Heading to Netflix

    It looks like the production company Supermarché, spearheaded by directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schuman, has accidentally revealed that they are developing a live-action adaptation of the popular superhero Mega Man for Netflix The project originally was announced back in 2018 as part of 20th Century Fox’s upcoming line-up but never picked up development. The updated website seemingly confirms the project, going by the title MEGA MAN for now, has moved to Netflix.

    Henry, Rel, and their in-house producer Orlee-Rose Strauss maintain an active development slate. Features in the works include: an adaptation of Capcom’s MEGA MAN for Chernin Entertainment and Netflix […].

    IGN confirms that this is the same project and that the Capcom video game is only in very early development. So, we might not expect any development on the project anytime soon, but the update may be a hint that an official announcement was originally intended to go out at some point. It’ll be interesting to see how they tackle this project, especially with how they tackle some of the goofier designs from the game.

    Of course, it might be smarter to adapt a different corner of the Mega Man franchise to make the storytelling aspects easier. The original franchise had barely any story outside of the rivalry between Dr. Light and Wily. The X series had a much more interesting approach by exploring a very different future 100 years after the original Mega Man was created. They could even take the Mega Man Battle Network series to use digital avatars with humans. There are quite a few options for the franchise moving forward.

    Source: Supermarche, IGN

  • ‘WandaVision’s Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany Nabs Golden Globe Nominations

    ‘WandaVision’s Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany Nabs Golden Globe Nominations

    It looks like the Golden Globe nominations are in. It’s been a busy year for Marvel Studios, which has been garnering more critical acclaim with the release of its Disney+ series, WandaVision. It started off with the series garnering quite a few nominations at the Emmys before winning the first for the production company. The song “Agatha All Along” even got a nomination at the Grammys and the series got nominations for the Critic Choice Awards shortly after. Well, it seems that the series can now add the Golden Globes to the list.

    The official nominations have dropped and Paul Bettany has been nominated for the category of Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. He is joined by his co-star Elizabeth Olsen, who is nominated in the Best Performance by an Actress category. They are the only nominations for Marvel Studios at the upcoming event, but an additional nomination arrived for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings for Best Visual Effects.

    Succession, Ted Lasso, and The Morning Show garnered the most nominations for the TV category. Squid Game has also garnered quite a bit of acclaim at this year’s Golden Globes and it’s great to see such a diverse type of show getting some critical acclaim for their work. We’ll see if WandaVision manages to also bring a Golden Globe home.

    Source: CNN, Twitter

  • Chloé Zhao Shares How Eastern Philosophy Inspired ‘Eternals’

    Chloé Zhao Shares How Eastern Philosophy Inspired ‘Eternals’

    Eternals is quite a different take on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only are we introduced to a curious cosmic addition in the form of the titular race, but also learn the role of Celestials. Director Chloé Zhao has brought together a new vision of how these larger-than-life beings existed among us since the dawn of man. Given her Chinese heritage, it’s not too surprising that some Eastern influences found their way into the project, as the director shares in an interview with Variety. One of the influences was how her characters are inspired by the Chinese philosophy of yin and yang, as she highlights:

    All the characters in ‘Eternals’ are trying to find the harmony between the masculine and the feminine sides of them, the ‘yin’ and the ‘yang,’ and only when they find the balance do they become whole.

    Chloé Zhao

    She highlights that it’s also in how she approached the story in how we understand “evil” or the role of “demons” within mythology.

    Unlike the classic Western representations of demons, the demons in Eastern religions are often powerful ancient spirits of nature. Instead of exterminating them, we should acknowledge and appease them. There is no such thing as absolute evil. Only energies that have to be redirected with understanding and compassion.

    Chloé Zhao

    It does highlight how the story technically doesn’t have a definite villain. While Kro technically had a more antagonistic role in the story, he mainly was focused on survival and evolution. Even the Celestial Arishem the Judge technically is their creator, the selfish vision of their kind to ending the existence of millions

    Source: Variety