Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Joseph Aberl

  • Lucasfilm Being Sued Over Star Wars Series ‘The Acolyte’

    Lucasfilm Being Sued Over Star Wars Series ‘The Acolyte’

    It looks like things aren’t going well over at Lucasfilm. After the news hit the web that two of their highest profile projects have been scrapped, Kevin Feige’s unnamed project and Patty Jenkin‘s Rogue Squadron, it seems that an even bigger mess has found its way to their doorstep. Deadline has broken the news that Lucasfilm is currently being used for firing producer Karyn McCarthy from the upcoming Star Wars Disney+ series The Acolyte.

    The project is currently being filmed, but some behind-the-scenes events may have led to this legal issue. McCarthy is famous for her work on Ballers as an executive producer and was involved with Leslye Headland‘s new Disney+ series. She was fired after working on the project for a few weeks last year. The issue arises that she turned down an offer to work on Colin Farrell‘s Sugar for Apple, as she decided to dedicate herself to Lucasfilm’s latest venture.

    In the filing the following scenario is painted:

    Two weeks later, without explanation, without reason, without justification, Lucasfilm told McCarthy it wanted out of the deal. By this time, the Apple offer was gone – Apple had to move on and found another executive producer for Sugar. McCarthy now had neither deal.

    Some might be wondering where the core issue lies, as it’s not unusual to miss out on opportunities when focusing on other projects. The firing may have just been terrible timing that added to the bitterness of the situation. Yet, it turns out that she was also not compensated for her work. So, we’ll have to see how this turns out for everyone involved.

    Source: Deadline

  • Disney’s ‘Zorro’ Project Adds ‘Game of Thrones’ Vet as Showrunner

    Disney’s ‘Zorro’ Project Adds ‘Game of Thrones’ Vet as Showrunner

    Back in December of 2021, we learned that Disney has cast Wilmer Valderrama as its new Zorro. Disney TV was developing the project which was going to be a period piece set in Pueblo de Los Angeles with a telenovela style. After a long silence on the project, it seems it is moving forward after all, as it has added Game of Thrones‘ Bryan Cogman as its writer, executive producer, and showrunner.

    The series is described as a “bold reimagining of Disney’s classic series for a modern audience.” Cogman makes a great get for the series, as he’s worked for eight seasons on Game of Thrones, even ending the series’ run as a co-executive producer and having written eleven episodes. He also was involved with Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and wrote the screenplay for Disney’s live-action remake of The Sword in the Stone.

    It’ll be interesting to see if they are still focusing on a telenovela style now that they added Cogman as its showrunner. His experience is more with high-fantasy series which might make for a unique take on the Zorro character, but who knows how far they’ve already gotten working on the project since that initial casting announcement over a year ago. We’ll have to wait a bit to find out what Disney’s take on the iconic caped crusader might look like.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Ant-Man 3’ Passes $400M Globally and Beats ‘Ant-Man’s Domestic Run

    ‘Ant-Man 3’ Passes $400M Globally and Beats ‘Ant-Man’s Domestic Run

    All eyes are on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s box office run, some with shock and others with glee. The film faced a record second-weekend drop that is slightly above Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice‘s back in 2016. With a B CinemaScore and rather mild word-of-mouth, the film was the focus of many deliberations over the end of Marvel Studios’ reign at the box office. Still, the film is performing and isn’t as big as it could’ve been.

    As of now, the film saw a smaller international drop in its third weekend compared to the domestic performance as it pulled in $22M in 52 markets. That is a 53% drop and a bit of a better hold than the 61% we saw domestically at $12M+. As such, the film stands domestically at $186.7M and internationally at $232.7M. Worldwide the film is now at $419.5M and is still expected to pass $500M worldwide going by Deadline’s current expectations while others believe it might barely miss that benchmark.

    That would align with our early predictions after the second-week drop, which was expecting the film to land somewhere between $500M to $550M, though it is now leaning towards the former. That would put it below the international box office of Ant-Man and the Wasp, which pulled in $632M and it’s even more uncertain if it’ll beat Ant-Man‘s $519M worldwide.

    We also can’t forget how different the comparisons are if you take China’s overall slump as a factor in how the film is performing. Ant-Man‘s 518M run consisted of 105M in China. So, the film technically made around 413M without that specific market. Ant-Man and the Wasp similarly pulled in 120M in China, which would set it at 503M. If the film wraps up at around 40M in China and plays around the 500M mark, it’ll still have made quite a bit more than the first entry, though that 200M budget is just what is hurting the film at this point.

    It’s the “risk” that they took by going big and bold with this Ant-Man film, which may simply just have had some take a step back in this rather different direction for the franchise. As such, it’s uncertain just how much money they invested in the marketing, as if they went 100M, they’d have to at least hit 600M to technically break even as they make around half from box office tickets. It’s something only expected with high-budget investments. Though, they made enough last year to balance it out somewhat.

    What is definite though is that domestically the threequel has passed the first Ant-Man‘s $180M entire domestic run by its third weekend. It’s definitely not as far as it could’ve gone if the film’s domestic hold was stronger, but it’s not a complete loss due to the film still performing decently. It’s a similar discussion point that we saw with the first Ant-Man film when it opened to a tepid $57M and was called a flop after releasing in the wake of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

    Ironically, Age of Ultron was also the focus of a similar discussion point when it opened below the first Avengers film. Even though it “only” managed to pull in $1.4B compared to The Avengers‘ still impressive $1.5B back in 2012. While it’s different circumstances overall, especially with the higher investment in Quantumania outshining previous entries, it’s always been a discussion point on the staying power of Marvel studios at the box office if a slight drop happens.

    The main point still remains that the fatigue discussion and “end of Marvel” existed ever since 2015 and likely won’t ever end. 2021 releases still performed incredibly well even with B+ scores, and Marvel Studios may have taken too big of a step with the usual smaller Ant-Man franchise. No matter where one stands on its quality, it’s definitely a bigger jump for one of Marvel Studios’ various franchises that just didn’t quite pay off.

    The long-forgotten aspect of Marvel movies is also that not everyone watches every single entry. So, if this truly will echo for future entries remains to be seen as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 seems like a sure-fire release this summer and The Marvels‘ could still pull in quite an audience if it manages to reverse the current “B” CinemaScore trend. It may be fatigue, it may not be but Eternals‘ dominance on Disney+ after a soft (and another risky release) during the pandemic may hint at the overall “heard it’s alright, let’s wait for it to hit Disney+” mentality echoing out of the 45-day release window.

    If this film has strong Disney+ numbers once it releases on the platform, we are definitely looking at a trend. Marvel Studios films will open big but require a much stronger reception to stick around in theaters due to the certainty of a free streaming release. We might be seeing an aftermath of the pandemic that is easily overshadowed but not forgotten when looking at Strange Worlds and Lightyear. If Disney was smart, they’d pull another Wakanda Forever and just refuse to release it anytime soon; something Bog Iger and Kevin Feige might be pushing as a back to the old norm with Bob Chapek out of the picture.

    Source: Deadline, The Numbers (Ant-Man), The Numbers (Avengers), The Numbers (Ant-Man 2), Twitter

  • ‘John Wick 4’ Heading to Franchise’s Best Opening Weekend at the Domestic Box Office

    ‘John Wick 4’ Heading to Franchise’s Best Opening Weekend at the Domestic Box Office

    The fourth entry of the John Wick franchise is almost upon us and the early tracking is looking at a promising high-opening weekend that could land anywhere between $60M to $70M. It would continue a strong tentpole spring market that saw some massive openings with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (ignoring its overall legs, it still is February’s third-highest opening ever), this weekend’s performance of Creed 3 and some surprise players like Cocaine Bear.

    John Wick: Chapter 4 may have lost its additional subtitle, but it’s still set for a strong weekend once it releases. Pandemic numbers are still shaky to predict as most box office openings are given mostly conservative estimates; especially by studios. There’s also the factor of a fourth entry in a film commonly being a big question mark for most.

    Still, the film is expected to be higher than Parabellum, which opened at $56.8M and managed to leg out to $171M. Worldwide it was the highest grossing of the franchise at around $585M. The appeal of these films seems to be with an otherwise dormant older audience that loves the appeal of this grounded action spectacle, similar to the audience that showed up for Top Gun: Maverick throughout its impressive leggy run. It’ll be interesting if that same appeal will remain for the spinoff Ballerina.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Creed 3’ Knocks Out With $58M+ Opening Weekend

    ‘Creed 3’ Knocks Out With $58M+ Opening Weekend

    The numbers are down and it looks like Creed 3 is ready for a knockout this weekend. The MGM and Amazon Studios produced film is now the highest-grossing Rocky and Creed entry of the franchise, which bodes well for the franchise’s future. The biggest aspect is that the film is poised to pull in $150M over its run putting git ahead of the first two entries and marking a big move forward for Michael B. Jordan‘s directorial debut. As of now, it is also the highest debut ever for a sports film.

    Amazon recently purchased MGM which had some worried that this might end up with a too quick streaming turnaround, but this performance may force Amazon to rethink that strategy and could become another long-term showcase of the importance of theatrical releases. Marvel Studios and Disney’s animated fare have taken quite a bit of damage from the “45-day” streaming window with strong frontloading for the former and a general lack of visits for the latter. Either way, Creed 3 is making a powerful stand and may hopefully also make Netflix realize what they missed out on with Glass Onion during Thanksgiving.

    It also was a smart move to move the film away from Wakanda Forever, as it was originally set for Thanksgiving and got the chance to open the March market which has more staying power than the usual calm February (with some exceptions like the strong openers of Deadpool, Black Panther, and recently Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumnania). March is going to be a competitive market that may push the overall box office for this year forward even if projections still don’t see a return to 2019’s bombastic era.

    Another strong performance this weekend was Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer Into the Swordsmith Village, which pulled in $10.1M. It’s interesting how strong the Friday openings are for Anime openings as it calms down heavily over the weekend after they moved from $4.1M to $3.4M on Saturday. The big ouch of the weekend is the long-awaited opening for Guy Richtie‘s Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre which only opened to $3.1M opening.

    Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania held on as much as it could ending the weekend with $12M, which isn’t going to break any records but does mean the film simply hasn’t had the same hold as other pictures. It’s developing closer to Batman v Superman domestically without a much stronger international push. While many are going to call this “the end”, it simply shows an interesting trend. Marvel films are strong openers and extremely frontloaded but if word-of-mouth simply is tepid or mixed, most will wait for that Disney+ release. Plus, the heavy sci-fi direction ma simply just does not jell with the usual “simplicity” of a former palate cleanser franchise.

    Still, Cocaine Bear took the third spot after a decent second weekend. It’s B- CinemaScore didn’t hit it too hard as it still held on for a genre piece which usually drops 60% or worse on the second weekend but it may still be holding on to some online fanfare. We haven’t had a good or just pure “fun” slasher in a while, which may be pushing the film further even as the general audience has mixed feelings about the offering. Overall, still a strong weekend overall for the box office.

    Source: Deadline, Variety

  • Seth Rogen’s ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Unveils Stacked Cast

    Seth Rogen’s ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Unveils Stacked Cast

    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are finally heading back to the silver screen in style, as Seth Rogen flexes his animated muscle again. Ever since Mutant Mayhem was unveiled, many wondered what the series would look like and who might be taking on the roles of this new incarnation of the Turtles. While they still continue going through different iterations on TV, a high-budget animated project seemed very promising.

    After a long silence, we finally got a tease of what’s to come with Mutant Mayhem, as the official Twitter account for this new film has unveiled the stacked cast of familiar and new characters heading our way. Not just that, but we also got the confirmation that the first trailer will finally arrive on Monday, March 6th.

    So, let’s go through the amazing cast that has assembled for this Turtle Power showcase:

    • Nicolas Cantu is Leo
    • Shamon Brown Jr. is Mikey
    • Nicah Abbey is Donnie
    • Brady Noon is Raph
    • Jackie Chan is Splinter
    • Ayo Edebiri is April
    • Ice Cube is Superfly
    • Seth Rogen is Bebop
    • John Cena is Rocksteady
    • Paul Rudd is Mondo Gecko
    • Natasia Demetrious is Wing Nut
    • Rose Byrne is Leatheerhead
    • Post Malone is Ray Fillet
    • Hannibal Buress is Genghis Frog
    • Maya Rudolph is Cynthia Utrom
    • Giancarlo Esposito is Baxter Stockman

    Now that is quite the stock of characters, especially with just how many different mutants from the many years of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles incarnations that are joining this project. It definitely screams Mutant Mayhem going by how many they are adding, though it’ll be interesting to see if this is an origin story or just continues in one of their usual adventures. The most notable absence though is Casey Jones isn’t on the list. Perhaps someone they hope to keep for a sequel.

    It’s also great to see that they cast actual teenagers to play the iconic turtles in this version. They are commonly played by veteran voice actors, so this will add quite a refreshing take and add a little something special t this take on the characters. In a way, we might see the Turtles grow up alongside the actors if this manages to build up its own franchise moving forward.

    Source: Twitter

  • Robert Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’ Adds Aaron Taylor-Johnson

    Robert Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’ Adds Aaron Taylor-Johnson

    Robert Eggers is finally able to tackle his dream project with his upcoming twist on the classic Nosferatu. The project has been building up quite a cast that includes Emma Corrin, Willem Dafoe, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, and Bill Skarsgard. Now, it seems the film has added a few more members to round out the ensemble piece.

    Ralph Ineson and Simon McBurney are set to join the production with the additional big get-in Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Eggers is once again writing the film he’s set to direct, which is already busy filming in Prague. The film will be distributed through Focus domestically while Universal Pictures International will take care of the global rollout of the film.

    There’s no word on who exactly Taylor-Johnson will be playing, but the story will explore 19th-century Germany, where a Transylvanian vampire stalks a young woman. Skarsgard is set to play Nosferatu with Depp taking over the role of the young woman, who was previously going to be played by Anya Talyor-Joy. Harry Styles was also originally part of the film before it was put on hiatus by Studio 8.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Detective Pikachu Returns! ‘Jonathan Krisel to Direct ‘Pokémon’ Movie Sequel

    ‘Detective Pikachu Returns! ‘Jonathan Krisel to Direct ‘Pokémon’ Movie Sequel

    Now, this is quite a surprise. After a long hiatus, it seems that the Pokémon franchise is returning to the silvers screen. Not only that, but they are also once again going to continue the storyline of Detective Pikachu. Rob Letterman directed the first film that went on to make a strong $430M worldwide, it seems they have found a new director to tackle the sequel in Portlandia‘s Jonathan Krisel. He’ll be adapting the film based on a script written by Chris Gallettta that’ll continue the story we last saw in 2019.

    While there is no word if Ryan Reynolds will return, it does seem that he’ll likely be a part of it. For those that might have forgotten, Reynolds voiced the film’s titular Detective Pikachu who would become close friends with Justice Smith‘s Tim Goodman, who is trying to find out what happened to his father in the film. It was an unconventional direction to take the franchise but was tailor-made for a more cinematic outing than just 10-year-olds heading out to have Pokémon battle each other.

    It’s unclear how far along they are with the project, but it does seem like they are in the early stages. No cast has been set and we don’t know how far along the script is. Many have wondered why it has taken this long for the sequel to get rolling, as it was technically renewed shortly after the first film wrapped up its theatrical run. Still, it may simply be some legal discussion with the company that created the iconic gaming franchise.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Star Trek Discovery’ to End in 2024 with Fifth and Final Season

    ‘Star Trek Discovery’ to End in 2024 with Fifth and Final Season

    Sadly, it seems that Star Trek Discovery is entering its fifth and also final season. It’s set for an early 2024 release and will sadly mark the end of Paramount+’s first true venture into a modern Star Trek series. Taking cues from the J.J. Abrams-kickstarted films and a dash of the franchise’s long history, we got a wonderful adventure that started back in 2017. Showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise had the following to say about wrapping up this adventure:

    As lifelong fans of Star Trek, it has been an immense honor and privilege to help bring Star Trek: Discovery to the world. The Trek universe means so much to so many – including us – and we couldn’t be prouder of everything Discovery has contributed to its legacy, particularly with representation. If just one person sees themselves, or the possibilities for their future, in a new way because of Discovery, then we think we’d have made Gene Roddenberry very proud.

    Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise

    The official statement has also been shared on Twitter with a new key visual for the final season:

    The story will continue the tale of the U.S.S. Discovery as they seek an ancient power that has been hidden for centuries, but they aren’t the only ones looking for it. Star Trek Discovery won’t be the end of the franchise, as it also was the jumping-off point for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds which explored the tales of the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Christopher Pike, played by Anson Mount. So, the franchise will continue but the one that kickstarted this new generation is sadly coming to an end.

    Source: Star Trek

  • Blumhouse and Atomic Monster to Adapt ‘Dead by Daylight’

    Blumhouse and Atomic Monster to Adapt ‘Dead by Daylight’

    It looks like the popular horror game Dead by Daylight is making its way to Hollywood, as Atomic Monster and Blumhouse are set to team up with Behaviour Interactive and bring the multiplayer game to the silver screen. It’s no wonder given just how big the game became after starting in 2016, it has grown to a player base of 50M worldwide. The interactive elements of trying to survive with friends against original and even some familiar monsters offer a unique appeal.

    Executive Vice President of Behaviour Interactive, Stephen Mulrooney, shares his excitement bout the new partnership and the chance to bring Dead by Daylight to the silver screen.

    We couldn’t be more thrilled to work with Jason Blum and James Wan, two giants of the horror film industry, to further expand the ‘Dead by Daylight’ universe. At Behaviour, our motto is to create unique moments, together, forever. Atomic Monster and Blumhouse are the ideal partners to craft ‘Dead by Daylight’s’ killer entrance onto the big screen.

    Stephen Mulrooney

    Horror veteran and CEO of Atomic Monster, James Wan, shared his thoughts and excitement to tackle this unique environment of The Fog.

    In ‘Dead by Daylight’ the Behaviour team has created a love letter to the world of horror, building an incredible environment teeming with atmosphere and terrifying villains — perfect for a scary cinematic adaptation. We’re big fans of the game at Atomic Monster, and are thrilled to be teaming up with Blumhouse to bring this frighteningly visceral world to the big screen.

    James Wan

    As of now, the project has no screenwriter or director attached. So, while they are moving forward with the project, they haven’t quite found the talent that’ll bring it to life. Here’s hoping they find a horror veteran that can bring that classic slasher feeling to the game. This also marks the second major gaming adaptation for Blumhouse, who are actively working on an adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s film.

    Source: Variety