Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • Netflix’s Real-Life ‘Squid Game’ Eyeing November Release

    Netflix’s Real-Life ‘Squid Game’ Eyeing November Release

    Netflix’s first Upfront has come and gone with very little fanfare. They mainly focused on their ad-supported model and selling future advertisers that they should definitely invest in. Sadly, most of their future big projects are being left behind, there are some surprises like a double season renewal of Ginny & Georgina and Love is Blind surprisingly soon return later this year.

    Probably one of their biggest “IPs” is Squid Game. While Season 2 is still taking quite a bit of time to produce, it does seem like their upcoming reality show inspired by the anti-capitalism series (the irony still isn’t lost) will come sooner than expected. The series is set to premiere sometime this November, 17 months after it was given a green light.

    It’ll consist of ten parts and see players re-enact many of the iconic games from the original with the hope of winning the big prize. The last we heard about it was that some production issues had led to some concerns over the project. People go through hellish conditions to bring a simple concept to life. We’ll have to see how it turned out and with a potential November release, there’s still some time before any official trailer drops.

    Source: Deadline, Deadline

  • Den Den Murphy Episode 28 – More Live-Action ‘One Piece’ News

    Den Den Murphy Episode 28 – More Live-Action ‘One Piece’ News

    After a bit of a hiatus, Suki and Joe are back to talk all things One Piece. The excitement is rising with Netflix’s upcoming live-action adaptation of the popular manga series with an official statement by Eiichiro Oda. Not just that but the two also catch up on the manga, and discuss the new One Piece Odyssey DLC.

  • ‘Fast X’s Box Office Projections Hinting at a Strong International Bow

    ‘Fast X’s Box Office Projections Hinting at a Strong International Bow

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has given Marvel Studios one of its best second weekends in a long-time, hoping to secure a bit more positive momentum for the franchise moving forward after bigger drops throughout the last year. Its first real competition is about to arrive with Fast X, the latest entry in the Fast & Furious franchise. While some have been praising it online, Fast X has opened to a soft 60% reviews on Rotten Tomatoes from critics.

    With a soft start critically, it seems that projections for its box office opening are a bit mellow going in, at least domestically. Projects have the film opening around $65M, which is quite a bit lower than what you’d expect from the tenth entry of a major film franchise. It would place it slightly lower than F9: The Fast Saga which opened to $70M during the pandemic back in 2021.

    Though, these films have a knack for massive international appeal. Current projects say that domestically it may only be around $60M but international release might go haywire at $235M. As such, it would be the third-best global release for the franchise. That also would put the film in similar shoes like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Twilight Saga: New Moon’s openings.

    What is pushing the film is opening in 81 markets including the always highly coveted China release While the market has been unreliable for Western releases, it still surprised many in how it’s currently pushing Guardians 3’s box office, which is still set to make around $33M if it keeps up the strong word-of-mouth. There’s a chance that it might also still keep some of its audience and keep Fast X at bay, but the weekend will tell.

    Source: Box Office Pro, Deadline, Rotten Tomatoes

  • New Set Video Offers First Glimpse at Stitch’s Design in Live-Action ‘Lilo & Stitch’

    New Set Video Offers First Glimpse at Stitch’s Design in Live-Action ‘Lilo & Stitch’

    Ever since director Dean Fleischer Camp joined the production of a live-action Lilo & Stitch film, it seems like production has kickstarted into overdrive. Not too long after the first castings came out, production already started and now we seemingly have our first set video find its way online. While we don’t get a look at the cast, there’s one familiar face involved.

    In the video shared by @reelnewshawaii, they are seemingly filming a beach sequence. A group is driving out with a camera, but what stands out is what one of them has in their hand. If you look closely, it seems like they are working with the stand-in for Stitch going by the body shape and ears.

    While we don’t get a close-up shot of the stand-in, it does seem pretty close to what we got from the character in the original animated feature. So, it seems like they will be sticking to that original design quite closely rather than making any major changes to what he looked like.

    Of course, the stand-in doesn’t necessitate that they’ll truly stick to the design, but they might go down the route of Pinocchio, which had the exact same design but mostly adapted his design from the original animated film but with more added texture. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what he’ll look like once they start promoting the film.

    Source: Twitter

  • Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Cast Continues to Grow

    Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Cast Continues to Grow

    Is it perfect timing ahead of Netflix’s first attendance at the Upfronts that a variety of actresses and actors are revealing their involvement with Netflix’s live-action One Piece series? Probably not, but it’s a fun coincidence either way as a variety of new cast members have been unveiled.

    Once again, @OP_Netflix_Fan and the @OPLAfandom, whose discord you can check out by clicking here, have uncovered a slew of talent revealing their involvement with the upcoming series. Interestingly enough, while these are mainly supporting cast, there are some rather important cast members included.

    Let’s kick it off with the two biggest flashback characters. Mackenyu Arata’s younger self will seemingly be played by Maximilian Lee Piazza. He’ll take on the role of Zoro during the iconic flashback from the East Blue saga. It was rumored for quite some time since September of 2022, but it’s great to have a confirmation now. He’ll be joined by Audrey Cymone, who will take on the role of Kuina, Zoro’s childhood friend.

    We also seemingly have a casting for the role of Ririka, who is the mother of Rika and is set to be played by Nicole Fortuin. While she doesn’t have a major role in the story, she does appear in Zoro’s introduction arc in Shells Town. Yet, that is not all, as we also finally know who is the other half of the Nyaban Brothers (or Siblings rather) Albert Pretorius will take on the role of Buchi and star opposite Bianca Oosthuizen, who will play Sham.

    It’s great to get some more announcements and here’s hoping that the timing for them adding to the CV might have some meaning. We’ve been anxiously waiting for any details we can get our hands on nowadays, as the show’s release seems closer and closer with every day. While we don’t know if something will drop during the Upfronts, the hope is definitely alive going in and beyond.

    Source: Twitter, Instagram, APM (Ririka), APM (Buchi)

  • Aubrey Plaza Teases ‘Agatha’ Disney+ Series With Disney Reference

    Aubrey Plaza Teases ‘Agatha’ Disney+ Series With Disney Reference

    Marvel Studios just recently used the Disney Upfronts to tease what the rest of the year has in store for us for its Disney+ series. We finally have a release date for not just Loki but also Echo, which has finally been confirmed to release later this year. Yet, they also have other projects in development and it seems Aubrey Plaza is having fun teasing another project that is rumored to arrive tomorrow.

    Without any real word, Aubrey Plaza has shared an image that states Marvel Studios: The Darkhold Diaries. While it might be easy to think this might be a new spinoff series from Agatha: Coven of Chaos, there’s been no word that they’d want to add even more shows after already dialing it back this year.

    What is more likely, this might be a reference to the series she’s working on and the logo might be a new production title for it. Plus, the logo and font seem to be a dark twist on the Disney classic The Princess Diaries. We still know very little about the project but it’s great to see the excitement of Plaza’s involvement with the project.

    For now, we might not know for quite some time what exactly the is teasing with this image. Perhaps we will get a better tease in the near future and this is just the beginning, but it’ll generally be interesting what the future has in store for Marvel Studios’ overall Disney+ strategy.

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s success might push them towards reworking where Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania fell into a slump. Perhaps dialing it back with their Disney+ projects is just the first step and spreading them out even further. We don’t know how long the wait will be for the next but there’s a chance after Echo, we’ll see another slowdown until the summer kicks off.

    Source: Instagram

  • New ‘Captain America 4’ Set Pics Provide First Looks at New Costumes for Two Heroes

    New ‘Captain America 4’ Set Pics Provide First Looks at New Costumes for Two Heroes

    Marvel Studios loves a good costume change for their heroes. Even if subtle, changes to costumes move merchandise from lunchboxes to Marvel Legends and beyond and so it comes as no surprise that with each new appearance, the MCU heroes get new gear. Perhaps the biggest upgrade in the MCU’s history was Sam Wilson’s Vibranium Captain America suit that he sported in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Now, new set photos show Cap has another new suit and so does his new sidekick.

    Set photos from Captain America: New World Order show Anthony Mackie‘s Sam sporting a more “true blue” Captain America suit while Danny Ramirez‘s Joaquin Torres looks to be stepping out in a comic-accurate costume, his first “super suit.”

    The best look at the new Captain America suit comes courtesy of the same Twitter account that provided the first look at WWE Superstar Seth Rollins‘ Serpent Society character (presumably Cobra) on set. The new suit incorporates Sam’s chest logo into a more traditional Captain America color scheme, aka blue.

    Another, albeit low-resolution, look at Sam’s new suit comes complete with a hint of Torres’ new costume. After having been handed the Falcon wings at the end of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, it seems Torres is ready to suit up as The Falcon.

    Though it’s just a glimpse from the rear, the Falcon suit seems to at least share the same color scheme as the suit Torres first sported in 2016 in Nick Spencer‘s Sam Wilson: Captain America #6 which ended an arc that saw Sam take on…the Serpent Society.

    Given that principal photography on Captain America: Probably-No-Longer-Sub-titled-New World Order has just about a month left to go, its possible that these set photos are from a fairly major second act battle between Cap and Falcon and the Serpent Society, though not all parts of all projects are filmed in order. Whatever the case, you can start saving up for that Cap 4 wave of Marvel Legends right now.

    Sources: Twitter and IG

  • Disney Plus Reveals Where ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’ Falls on the MCU Timeline

    Disney Plus Reveals Where ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’ Falls on the MCU Timeline

    After becoming available for purchase as physical media on May 16th, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania was added to Disney Plus on May 17th. The third film in the Ant-Man series kicked off Marvel Studios Phase 5 by introducing Jonathan Majors‘ Kang the Conqueror and taking the Ant-Family into the Quantum Realm for a mind-bending B-movie adventure. But with all the time wimey shenanigans that come with spending time in the sub-atomic universe, where exactly do the adventures of Scott, Hope, Cassie, Janet and Hank take place on the MCU timeline?

    Thankfully, for fans who enjoy trying to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe chronologically, Disney Plus continues to have you covered. As expected, the events of Quantumania take place AFTER Thor: Love and Thunder, Werewolf By Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special meaning the threequel is set farther into the future than any MCU project to date.

    Thanks to Scott Lang Easter eggs planted in Ms. Marvel and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it can be deduced that Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is set in 2025. That idea is something backed up by Marvel Studios Parliament member Nate Moore, who indicated that Quantumania takes place “potentially concurrent” with Thor: Love and Thunder.

    Yeah I mean, look if you think about… This movie clearly happens after No Way Home and Eternals. I think it probably happens potentially concurrent with [Thor: Love and Thunder]. New Asgard does exist in our universe, for instance, or in our film. And almost concurrent with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which is coming out in February.

    Nate Moore on where the events of Quantumania fall on the MCU timeline

    Truly, with an unknown amount of time passing between the beginning and end of Quantumania, it’s hard to nail down exactly what MCU events transpired during the time the Ant-Family was in the Quantum Realm. Fortunately, Marvel Studios The Marvel Cinematic Universe An Official Timeline, “the definitive, filmmaker-endorsed guide to the lore, timelines, and characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe”, will be released in December 2023 and, hopefully, clear up some of the muddied waters of the official timeline.

    Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is now streaming on Disney Plus.

  • ‘Doctor Strange’ Star Chiwetel Ejiofor Joins Cast of ‘Venom 3’

    ‘Doctor Strange’ Star Chiwetel Ejiofor Joins Cast of ‘Venom 3’

    The multiverse is a murky place. Despite Tom Hardy‘s Eddie Brock crossing over into the Marvel Cinematic Universe–and leaving a piece of his symbiote there–the actor behind one of the MCU’s fairly major recurring characters has joined the cast of Venom 3.

    While it’s entirely unclear why a third film in the Venom franchise is being made, Deadline is reporting that Doctor Strange and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star and Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor has joined the cast of Venom 3. There’s no word who Ejiofor will be playing in the film though the trade report referred to him as a co-star.

    Production on the threequel is expected to start this summer though the film is currently without a release date. Kelly Marcel, who co-wrote the film with Hardy, will direct the new installment in the series, taking the reigns from Andy Serkis.

    Source: Deadline

  • Set Photos Reveal First Look at WWE Star’s ‘Captain America 4’ Villain

    Set Photos Reveal First Look at WWE Star’s ‘Captain America 4’ Villain

    Production on Captain America: New World Order continues to move along despite the WGA strike having indefinitely postponed production on Blade and shut down Daredevil: Born Again and Wonder Man for short periods of time. Principal photography on the film kicked off in March and produced some interesting behind-the-scenes looks at Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, Shira Haas‘ Sabra and others attending a funeral as well as first looks at Harrison Ford as President Thunderbolt Ross and the return of Tim Blake Nelson‘s Samuel Sterns. Now, a new look from the set of the film has revealed a pair of villains, one of whom is being played by WWE Superstar Seth Rollins.

    Photographer Christopher Oquendo was able to capture Rollins along with an unidentified co-star as they prepared to shoot scenes with Mackie. It seems as though Rollins has joined the cast of the film as one of the members of the villainous Serpent Society. While it’s unclear which member of the group he’s playing, it appears as though the co-star sporting a similar costume is Diamondback, who has long been rumored to appear in the film.

    In the comics, the members of the Serpent Society typically sport much more garish costumes than what Rollins and his unidentified co-star are wearing here and, would make them much easier to identify. However, it seems pretty likely that Rollins is playing Klaus Vorhees, aka Cobra, aka King Cobra, one of the many former leaders of the Serpents. What role they villains will have in an already busy film remains to be seen! Captain America: Probably No Longer Subtitled New World Order is tentatively slated to hit theaters May 3, 2024.

    Source: Twitter