Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • SWCE: ‘Clone Wars’ and ‘Rebels’ Composer Kevin Kiner to Score ‘Ahsoka’

    SWCE: ‘Clone Wars’ and ‘Rebels’ Composer Kevin Kiner to Score ‘Ahsoka’

    Since 2008, composer Kevin Kiner has created the musical scores for nearly all of Star Wars animated projects. A veteran of The Clone Wars, Rebels, The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi, Kiner’s original works have accompanied many of the franchise’s most beloved characters as they have made their way through the galaxy far, far away. It’s only fitting, then, that Kiner make the jump from animation to live-action with the crew of the Ghost in the upcoming streaming series Ahsoka.

    As part of the Ahsoka panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023, it was announced that Kiner did indeed create the musical score for Ahsoka, which streams this August. An argument could be made that outside of creator Dave Filoni, Kiner may know Ahsoka Tano the best, having created her theme and scoring over 200 episodes of shows in which she was often one of the main characters, including the recent Tales of the Jedi which told the origins of the character.

    Ahsoka will begin streaming on Disney Plus in August.

  • Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Seemingly Filming Again in South Africa

    Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Seemingly Filming Again in South Africa

    Sadly, there’s still no exact release date or footage of Netflix’s attempt at bringing One Piece into live-action but a post from Craig Fairbrass may have hinted that they are filming in South Africa again. For those getting worried, touch-ups or reshoots aren’t uncommon for modern productions and are just a way to take in feedback to make sure the final product is as great as it can be.

    Fairbrass, who plays the owner of the Baratie Zeff, took to Twitter to announce that he is on his way home. He confirms that he was back in Cape Town to film, but doesn’t give away how long he worked on the project. He also has his blond hair again which might be for his role. What stands out, however, is that this is seemingly his third trip there but in a past tweet, he revealed he had to leave for some time due to a COVID case on set.

    It’s unclear if they wrapped the reshoots with him involved but there’s a chance they might still be filming. Whatever their production time window looks like, it certainly is a sign that the project is closing in on its final version, and with Geeked Week a few months away, we might be nearing some more teases of the project.

    Source: Twitter

  • James Gunn Hints at Talks for a Marvel-DC Cinematic Crossover

    James Gunn Hints at Talks for a Marvel-DC Cinematic Crossover

    James Gunn is now the co-CEO of DC Studios and has the unimaginable task of righting the ship that was the DC Extended Universe. Now, simply pushing it forward as the DC Cinematic Universe, he aims to wrap up what was filmed before him while setting his sights on the future. Interestingly enough, it seems his friendship with Kevin Feige has led to some “light and fun” talks about a potential DC-Marvel crossover down the line.

    In an interview with Empire, he reveals that while his first priority is to ensure that he fully takes charge of the DCU after wrapping up work on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But he seems quite open to potentially working on some kind of crossover; even if it likely would require a lot of legal work to make it happen.

    I’m certain that’s more likely now that I’m in charge [at DC], Who knows? That’s many years away, though. I think we have to establish what we’re doing [at DC] first. I would be lying to say that we haven’t discussed it. But all discussions have been very, very light and fun.

    James Gunn

    With Gunn at the charge, it definitely will change many of the restrictions that we saw in the past for the franchise. While some corners of the Internet have already cried out in terror, there’s a bright future ahead for a truly interconnected franchise. While juggling TV and video games in addition to films might sound quite a bit challenging, if anyone could make it work it’s definitely Gunn.

    Source: Empire

  • SWCE: Lucasilm Reveals the Directing Team Behind ‘Ahsoka’

    SWCE: Lucasilm Reveals the Directing Team Behind ‘Ahsoka’

    After being part of the Lucasfilm Showcase Panel on the opening day of Star Wars Celebration 2023, the upcoming Star Wars streaming series Ahsoka had its own panel on day two. While the panel included a good deal of information about the talent in front of the camera in Ahsoka, creator Dave Filoni also took the opportunity to unveil the talented team of directors behind it.

    As has been the case with all of Lucasfilm’s live-action Star Wars series, Ahsoka was a team effort…and it was quite a team. To no one’s surprise, Filoni directed at least one episode of the series along with Rick Famuyiwa, who has become a key member of the Mando-verse creative team. Joining them were Jennifer Getzinger, Steph Green, Geeta Patel and Peter Ramsey.

    While Getzinger is new to Star Wars, her resume includes over a half dozen high-profile series. Having directed Mad Men (10 episodes), Agent Carter (2 episodes), Daredevil (1 episode), Outlander (4 episodes), Jessica Jones (3 episodes) and Westworld (2 episodes), Getzinger has a nice mix of drama and action in her background that should serve her well on Ahsoka.

    After helming one episode of The Book of Boba Fett, Oscar and Primetime Emmy Award nominee Steph Green is back for her second Star Wars project. Green has directed episodes of The Americans, Luke Cage and HBO’s Watchmen, for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special.

    Geeta Patel, who directed one episode of HBO’s House of the Dragon, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse director Peter Ramsey, who helmed Chapter 21 of The Mandalorian, The Pirate, round out the impressive team of directors on Ahsoka.

    Ahsoka will stream on Disney Plus this August!

  • First Look at Blumhouse’s ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Hints at Familiar Storyline

    First Look at Blumhouse’s ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Hints at Familiar Storyline

    Five Nights at Freddy’s was a project that everyone was keeping a close eye on. It was trapped in production hell for quite some time, as creator Scott Cawthon seemingly couldn’t really find the right script for this project. Yet, that all changed when it finally started filming in February.

    Only a few months later, they confirmed that the film will already arrive later this year on October 27th. Not just that, but it’ll be a simultaneous release; something we thought forgotten in the COVID era of cinematic releases. Five Nights at Freddy’s is going to release in theaters and also streamed on Peacock for those excited to check out their favorite horror franchise in live-action.

    Not just that, we also got a first look at the series, which includes the animatronic of the iconic bear with a young child in his arm staring at the Pizza restaurant that is seemingly falling apart. Curiously though, this imagery hints that the storyline of the first entry might be quite similar to that of the recent game release Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach, where a Freddy animatronic helped out a young child with the others trying to eat him.

    They definitely have some big plans for the franchise, as one of its stars, Matthew Lillard, has confirmed he’s signed on for three films. Rumors have it that he’s going to play its main antagonist, who is best known as Purple Man and they might be taking elements from multiple games and scattering them across the trilogy. With an October release, we might expect a trailer in the coming months to give us a better hint at what they have planned for us.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Warpinig Towards $195M+ 5-Day Opening Weekend

    ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Warpinig Towards $195M+ 5-Day Opening Weekend

    It looks like early estimates have been quite off for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, as the biggest Nintendo adaptation of one of their most popular characters is on its way to ending its five-day domestic run at $195M. There’s a chance it might even go beyond the $200M mark but either way, it is already far ahead of its initial expectations.

    As such, it’ll also beat up Finding Dory‘s $135.1M three-day opening as it’s set to land at around $137M and will be the second-biggest opening for an animated film just behind Incredibles 2. Its initial expectations had it at around $127.5M and it’s now only a question of time before they announce a sequel.

    While critics weren’t too kind to the film, families are loving it and it even managed to pull in an A CinemaScore. It also makes the biggest opening for Illumination and is likely to become the second-biggest 5-day release since the first Transformers film.

    That Easter release was a clever timing to get this film out as it’s mainly getting its boost from the generation that grew up with these games; giving git that boosts that family audience would lack on their own with past releases this year.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • SWCE: Lars Mikkelsen Returns as Grand Admiral Thrawn in ‘Ahsoka’

    SWCE: Lars Mikkelsen Returns as Grand Admiral Thrawn in ‘Ahsoka’

    There have been quite a few theories online on who might take on the iconic role of Admiral Thrawn in live-action. Many hoped that Lars Mikkelsen would once again play him after bringing him to life in the animated Star Wars Rebels series but many thought they might head into a completely new direction as they did with Ahsoka, who is now played by Rosario Dawson.

    Theories have ranged quite a bit with even Robert Downey Jr. at one point rumored to potentially take on the role. On the first day of the Star Wars Celebration, we got a tease of Thrawn in the live-action trailer for Ahsoka, but only his back. Instead of letting us wait until these series releases in August, the second day they just flat-out confirmed during the Ahsoka panel that Mikkelsen will indeed reprise the iconic role.

    Source. Twitter

  • SWCA: David Tennant to Reprise Huyang Role in ‘Ahsoka’

    SWCA: David Tennant to Reprise Huyang Role in ‘Ahsoka’

    The second day of the Star Wars Celebration has kicked off with its first big panel all about Star Wars‘ next major release, Ahsoka. The Disney+ series will seemingly act as a direct sequel to the original Star Wars Rebels animated series, as many iconic characters like Sabine and Hera are set to return. Now, it seems that we also have the confirmation that Huyang will once again be voiced by David Tennant.

    While no details have been shared on how he’ll factor into the story or if we’ll see a lot more of Huyang, the panel did at least share with us a first look at the character who looks quite true to his animated counterpart. Of course, it is easier to bring a CG droid into live-action than an alien that requires a real person behind it. Still, it’s great to know he’ll be back and hearing Tennant voicing the character is always a joy.

  • First Details Emerge on James Mangold’s Star Wars Film

    First Details Emerge on James Mangold’s Star Wars Film

    One of the great surprises of Star Wars Celebration 2023 was the news that James Mangold had signed on the direct a movie set in the all-new Dawn of the Jedi era. Little about the film was revealed during Lucasilm’s Showcase other than it would be set in “the deep past, telling the tale of the first Jedi to wield the Force and harness it as a liberating power in an era of chaos and oppression.” However, in a pair of trade interviews, Mangold has reveales more details about the upcoming untitled film.

    Set 25,000 years before A New Hope, Mangold says the film, which he calls “Star Wars Zero”, will feature “all-new characters in an all-new era.” Despite it being set in the “deep past”, don’t expect it to be full of sticks and stones. While there may not be lightsabers since the main character will be the first Jedi, Mangold says the film, which he’s also writing, will not be “pre-tech.” It might be ancient history but it’s the ancient history of a galaxy far, far away.

    LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: James Mangold and Dave Filoni onstage during the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)

    While it’s unclear at the moment if the film will tell the story of the Prime Jedi, a canonical character who debuted a part of a mosaic in the Jedi temple on Ahch-To in The Rise of Skywalker, Mangold says the project is “a chance to tell the entire story of its own: the birth of the Force.” Mangold said he pitched the film to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy as “a kind of Ben-Hur or The 10 Commandments about the birth of the Force.”

    “The Force has become a kind of religious legend that soans through all these movies,” said Mangold. “But where didn’t come from? How is it found? Who was the first Jedi?” asked Mangold, causing legions of Star Wars fans to wonder if midichlorians will make an appearance in the film.

    Those are questions that fans will have to wait to have answered. While there are Star Wars films slated for theaters in 2025 and 2027, no date was given for Mangold’s project.

    Source: The Wrap, Variety

  • New Information Seems to Indicate a Fall Release for Marvel Studios ‘Echo’

    New Information Seems to Indicate a Fall Release for Marvel Studios ‘Echo’

    Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Echo has been the subject of rumors for quite some time. The project, which follows the character of Maya Lopez who was introduced in Hawkeye, was rumored to have a troubled production and every option from it being totally reshot to it being scrapped entirely seemed to follow it. As it turns out, Marvel Studios chose neither of those options and now it seems that it’s headed for release on Disney Plus later this year.

    The Man Without Fear Twitter account caught sight of a change made to the publication date of a collection of Echo’s Marvel Comics stories called Echo: The Saga of Maya Lopez. The book, is marketed as “The stunning and lushly illustrated comic debut of Marvel’s next screen sensation, Echo!” was originally set for a mid-2023 release before being pushed all the way until February of 2024. It seems that date has changed again and the book will now hit stores on October 31, 2023.

    While it’s certainly not confirmation of a release date, the most recent rumors we’ve heard about the Echo streaming series indicate that it is currently on track for a November release on Disney Plus. The move of this book, which is clearly meant to coincide with the release of the streaming series, is just another interesting piece of data to track until Marvel Studios releases an updated slate.

    Source: Man Without Fear, Barnes and Noble