Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Joseph Aberl

  • ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ On its Path to a Billion at the Box Office

    ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ On its Path to a Billion at the Box Office

    Nothing is seemingly stopping the Super Mario Bros. Movie from dominating theaters, as it has soared even higher in its second weekend. While mostly expected it to wrap up around $87M on Sunday by its estimates, the film has actually grown since then to a whopping $92M. That not only marks the highest-grossing second weekend for an animated film but also has become the seventh-highest at the domestic box office.

    It seems after families didn’t quite show up for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or Shazam: Fury of the Gods, they are all in for the nostalgia of Mario. A 37% decline on a record-breaking opening is nothing to scoff at, especially after its Japanese debut hasn’t even kicked off yet in the character’s core market and China is still barely holding on as a viable market for Western releases. Normally movies always drop at least 50% but it seems the memories of playing Mario at home just are that powerful.

    As such, the film has already passed $700M after 13 days, which is only the twelfth film to do so since the pandemic ended. The question remains if it’ll dethrone last year’s Minions: The Rise of Gru which pulled in $942.5M at the box office. It’s very likely to do so and everyone is expecting the film to be the first to pass one billion this year. It might even surpass The Lion King which holds the record as the highest animated movie ever (and no it still doesn’t count as live-action). Though, the only question remains of how much is left for the others until the summer market kicks off in May.

    Source: Variety

  • First Details and Cast as Knuckles’ ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Spinoff Starts Filming

    First Details and Cast as Knuckles’ ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Spinoff Starts Filming

    It’s been a hot minute since Paramount announces its plans to expand its video game adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog with its first spinoff series. Besides the early confirmation of a threequel, the newly introduced Knuckles, voiced by Idris Elba, will get his own Paramount+ original.

    After a long pause, we suddenly have more details on not just the story but also its cast and even the confirmation that it started filming. The official Sonic the Hedgehog account has shared the news that Sonic the Hedgehog director will tackle the pilot episode and includes a familiar hat for long-time fans.

    The story will focus on Knuckles, who “agrees to train Wade as his protégé and teach him the ways of the Echidna warrior.” Sadly, we don’t have any further details but it wouldn’t be too surprising if they use the series to further explore that part of the franchise’s mythology.

    Adam Pally will once again reprise his role of Wade Whipple with Elba also set to return. They will be joined by Edi Patterson, Julian Barratt, Scott Mescudi, and Ellie Taylor. John Whittington wrote the screenplay of the pilot and is also the head writer on the series. Brian Schacter and James Madejski also wrote episodes of the series.

    Source: Variety, Twitter

  • Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Screen Testing Rumors Have Been Debunked

    Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Screen Testing Rumors Have Been Debunked

    The internet is no stranger to creating an onset of concern for upcoming projects. Especially when it comes to live-action adaptations of anything. Marvel has been a main source of constant leaks and scoops popping up left and right without much knowledge what could truly be taken seriously or not. Now, it has even reached Netflix’s One Piece adaptation.

    Some time ago a Twitter user by the name of Divinity Seeker has made bold claims that test screenings weren’t looking good for the adaptation but also included contradictory statements like Taz Skyler’s roots showing with his blonde hair even though he bleached his hair and wears a blond wig as shown in the official poster.

    While the “scooper” has been debunked by James Gunn and even others that dabble, it hasn’t stopped the Internet of spreading the unreliable information. Yet, now more information has surfaced to shoot down the claims surrounding the test screenings.

    Greg Werner took to his Twitter account to debunk the claims, as he is someone that frequently collaborates with Shueisha and the One Piece brand.

    He’s not the only one as content creator Rogersbase has also taken to his account to denounce the claims shared by Comic Book Resources. It is noteworthy that he has already visited the Netflix series’ set and has close ties to showrunner Matt Owens.

    So, it seems that the test screening rumors have quickly been debunked and fans excited for the adaptation can breathe a little easier moving forward as we anticipate news on Geeked Week’s return with hopefully the first look at the series.

    Source: ComicBook.com, Twitter

  • ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Pulls a Record-Breaking $87M in 2nd Weekend

    ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Pulls a Record-Breaking $87M in 2nd Weekend

    It looks like nostalgia remains a powerful tool for box office results. The Super Mario Bros. Movie has denied any expectations of being frontloaded and has pulled in an $87M second weekend, which is a huge hold after a powerful Easter weekend. Once again, it dethrones Frozen 2’s position at the top spot for animated films and marks Illumination’s best ever. What stands out is that this marks a drop of only 45%, the lowest we’ve probably seen in a long time for any project.

    Evil Dead Rise is on the horizon with a potential $20M+ opening weekend after moving away from HBO Max, it doesn’t look like anyone will take the top spot from Mario until the main summer season kicks off in a few weeks. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will likely push them off that top spot but the film has had no real direct family-oriented competition for some time, but it’ll be interesting to see if its main target audience is likely much older than one might expect.

    Sadly, there’s a drawback with such a dominant presence in theaters as other projects are seemingly suffering a bit and not quite pulling in the audiences they want. Normally, counterprogramming is quite effective in using an audience that isn’t drawn in by the latest blockbuster but perhaps this is a bigger showcase of what exactly the audience is behind a film based on a franchise that started in the 1980s.

    Renfield has seemingly bombed in its opening weekend at third place with a small $7.7M. 62% of the box office went to The Super Mario Bros. Movie so it and Russell Crowe’s The Pope’s Exorcist ($8.5M) had to duke it out for what is left. Though the mixed reception on both doesn’t help that isn’t uncommon with many horror films that actually play better than what the general audience reception might make you think.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘It’ Prequel ‘Welcome to Derry’ Continues to Expand Its Cast

    ‘It’ Prequel ‘Welcome to Derry’ Continues to Expand Its Cast

    The cast for Welcome to Derry is continuing to grow, as it has now added Revenge’s Madeleine Stowe and Daredevil’s Stephen Rider. The project still technically doesn’t have an official name and the “Welcome to Derry” is more a working title for now, but it wouldn’t be too surprised if it gets the It moniker added as other franchises do nowadays, such as Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

    The two additions are joining a cast that currently consists of Chris Chalk, Jovan Adepo, James Remar, and Taylour Paige. We currently have no details on who exactly they are set to play and the details are still under lock and key on just how much it’ll explore the history of Derry. It’s very likely going to act as a prequel to the story of Pennywise and how the Dancing Clown came to be but Bill Skarsgard has denied any involvement of far.

    The project is from the mind of the latest It films’ director Andy Muschietty, who developed the HBO Max Original series with Jason Fuchs, who is acting as the series showrunner, and his wife Barbara Muschietti. There’s a lot of potentials to explore this series in a Lovecraftian way as we slowly uncover the creature’s growing hold over Derry and the ones that stood up against him when no other could.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Robocop’ Might Return as a TV Series and Movie Among Many Other Films

    ‘Robocop’ Might Return as a TV Series and Movie Among Many Other Films

    If there is one unspoken rule in Hollywood, it’s keeping classic IPs alive with various spinoffs, revivals, or whatever they can turn a project into. Amazon is seemingly mapping out a variety of new IPs under its umbrella as TV series and films for the future. So, let’s go down the IP reboot road to see what exactly Amazon has planned.

    Besides a potential revival of the long-dormant Stargate franchise, one of the big reveals is the revival of RoboCop. This would mark the second reboot of the franchise since 2014 which took a more modern approach to the 1987 classic but wasn’t as well received. The character has recently appeared in the Mortal Kombat gaming franchise and still remains a classic.

    They are also seemingly hoping to bring back Legally Blonde as a series and also a film. It seems they have been trying to revive it for quite some time as a third entry in the franchise has been in development for almost five years. They also are hoping to bring a TV series to life based on Fame, Barbershop, The Magnificent Seven as well as new films based on the Pink Panther (potentially animated) and Poltergeist.

    Source: Deadline

  • Amazon Eyeing to Revive the ‘Stargate’ as a Series and Film

    Amazon Eyeing to Revive the ‘Stargate’ as a Series and Film

    There are many iconic space-based series with the name “Star” in them. Star Wars and Star Trek have been among the most prominent in the Internet’s IP-infected watercooler chatter. Yet, there’s another series that had quite a cult following and a very respectable run on television, Stargate SG-1.

    It seems Amazon sees the potential of bringing the franchise back, as Deadline has reported there are currently talks on reviving it with a TV series and even as a film. There’s no word how exactly they’d build upon it or if that’ll act as a direct reboot to the original taking place in modern times. To be fair, they also have no talent attached so it’s unclear when the series might get released.

    The series ran for ten seasons on Showtime and the SciFi Channel before ending on Sky1 in 2007. What makes the franchise so interesting is that it was initially a film by Roland Emmerich that spun out into a unique series. That was just the beginning, as the Stargate SG-1 series had a variety of spinoffs.

    The series had two direct-to-DVD films The Ark of Truth and Continuum. There was also a direct spinoff series Stargate Atlantis that featured some of the original cast members throughout its run. Stargate Universe was a unique spinoff taking place in the same world but was completely removed from the original series and ran for two seasons. There also was a web miniseries called Stargate Origins that acted as a prequel.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Becomes 2023’s Highest-Grossing Film

    ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Becomes 2023’s Highest-Grossing Film

    Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has been dethroned as The Super Mario Bros. Movie has now become the biggest worldwide release. It’s also the first film to pass the $500M mark which is quite impressive considering it has a budget of $100M, which is quite a bit lower than Pixar or Disney’s overly ambitious $200M animated production costs. It’s currently on track to stick to the top spot in the second weekend with $58M after pulling in $9.4M on Thursday.

    Internationally, the film has pulled in around $248.4M globally and stands at a strong $260.3M domestically, which totals $508.7M. The film dropped around 63% on its second Thursday which is a strong hold and highlights the power of nostalgia and Nintendo. It seems more and more likely that this is the current winning formula as people relive their own memories and bring the family along for the ride, which is perfect for a kid’s film like The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

    Interestingly enough, the other two big releases are currently duking it out as Nicolas Cage’s Renfield and Russell Crowe’s The Pope’s Exorcist are the newest releases with very similar Thursday night releases at the domestic box office. Renfield is currently still leading the pack with $900K while Crowe’s film is behind only by $850M. The action-horror entry is currently set to overtake the other new release with a slightly better Rotten Tomatoes hinting at a better box office run.

    Source: Deadline, Deadline, The Numbers

  • Rocksteady’s ‘Suicide Squad’ Game Delayed Until 2024

    Rocksteady’s ‘Suicide Squad’ Game Delayed Until 2024

    It looks like the wait has just gotten longer for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Just recently, PlayStation went all out with a showcase of the upcoming looter shooter from Batman Arkham developers Rocksteady but the game was pushed back shortly after. There was no real date confirmed of when we might expect it, as many believed it might just be a few months to tweak the game.

    Yet, some believed it was to rework the entire structure given the negative reception surrounding the Battle Pass system, which was already given a negative reception when the first leaks happened. While it’s not confirmed, the question of why they delayed it right after the showcase had many scratching their head about what is going on.

    Sadly, it seems that they are definitely going to be putting a lot more work into the game, as its release date has been postponed to February 2nd of 2024. That is quite a wait and while they promise to ensure the best quality, it’s still curious that such a massive delay took place in the first place.

    https://twitter.com/suicidesquadRS/status/1646593761022038017

    There’s no real official word on what they are working on, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier believes that the nine months delay isn’t enough time to truly rework an entire system and there’s always a lot more complexity to what it means to “polish” a game. For now, we can only wait quite a bit longer before we finally see what exactly Rocksteady is cooking behind the scenes.

    Source: Twitter, Twitter

  • ‘Pearl’ Star Mia Goth Joins Mahershala Ali’s MCU Film ‘Blade’

    ‘Pearl’ Star Mia Goth Joins Mahershala Ali’s MCU Film ‘Blade’

    We haven’t heard much about Maherhsala Ali and Marvel Studios’ upcoming new take on iconic vampire hunter Blade. After a long pause, as production is set to finally start in a few months, the production studio got their hands on one of the biggest rising stars at the moment in Mia Goth for the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe entry set to be directed by Yann Demange from a script by Michael Starrbury. As is usual with these castings, her role is being kept a secret for now.

    Goth is probably among the current rising stars in Hollywood after her breakout role in Ti West’s X and its prequel Pearl. She has a knack for horror after starring in A Cure for Wellness, Suspiria, and Infinity Pool. She is also set to round out West’s X trilogy with MaXXXine which is currently filming. So she is likely to jump straight into the MCU production right after.

    It’ll be interesting to see what role she has in the upcoming MCU film and if they hope to have her be a recurring actress in the franchise. There’s no word on who she might be playing and how big of a role it might be, but she’d definitely make for a great addition to the franchise. Perhaps we get a new take on Vampire by Night who joins forces with Blade to take on an unlikely new foe in the horror corner of this cinematic universe.

    Source: Deadline