Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • Peyton Reed Addresses the Absence of a Fan Favorite Character in ‘Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania’

    Peyton Reed Addresses the Absence of a Fan Favorite Character in ‘Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania’

    Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania broadens the horizons of the Ant-Man franchise and continues to expand on the Multiverse, now featuring the time-travelling Kang the Conqueror. The movie received mixed reactions from reviewers after the review embargo ended on Tuesday, widely criticising the screenplay but praising Jonathan Majors‘ performance as Kang. It currently stands at a critics score of 51% on Rotten Tomatoes.

    The movie left out some prominent fan-favorite secondary characters, such as Michael Peña’s Luis, Dave, and David Dastmalchian’s Kurt Goreshter. Although Dastmalchain managed to return to the movie’s cast as Veb, as well as composing a song for the movie’s soundtrack titled “Holes”, Luis was a no-show.

    In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Quantumania director Peyton Reed was asked if earlier versions of the movie during the development process ever featured Michael Peña’s Luis.

    Peyton responded to it by saying that “no versions of [the] movie” ever featured Luis. He went on to explain that fitting the Lang, Pym, and Van Dyne families, Kang, MODOK, Krylar, the freedom fighters, and including Luis and co. wouldn’t give them enough space to breathe and grow.

    There were no versions of this movie [with Luis]. There are a lot of characters in the movie. We obviously have our Lang, van Dyne and Pym family, but then we also introduced Kang, MODOK and all of our Freedom Fighter characters. So we had to make decisions early on about what stories we could tell and what stories we couldn’t tell.

    Peyton Reed

    He admitted that Luis, Kurt, and Dave were “really, really, fun” in the previous Ant-Man installments, but because the movie sends the Ant-Fam to the Quantum Realm pretty early on, it “didn’t make sense” to include Luis and the gang in the movie.

    I love those characters. They were really, really fun and part of the Lang family, but as we got further and further into [development] and knew we wanted to bring the family into the Quantum Realm pretty early in the movie, it just didn’t make sense [to include Luis and co.].

    Peyton Reed

    Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania releases exclusively in theaters on February 17, 2023. Read our review of the film here.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • Marvel Studios Reportedly Considering an Indefinite Delay in Releasing ‘Ironheart’

    Marvel Studios Reportedly Considering an Indefinite Delay in Releasing ‘Ironheart’

    When Kevin Feige explained that Marvel Studios was looking to modify its streaming plans he meant it. Just 7 months ago, Feige revealed the studio’s ambitious plans for the streaming service in 2023 that included five live-action series spread out throughout the year beginning with Secret Invasion, ending with Agatha: Coven of Chaos and sprinkling Echo, Season 2 of Loki and Ironheart in between. According to a new report from THR, it seems only two of those series are now safe bets to stream in 2023.

    While most fans have long since understood that neither Echo nor Agatha: Coven of Chaos would make it to Disney Plus in 2023, THR’s report indicates that Ironheart is no longer guaranteed a slot on this year’s slate. Despite the fact that the project completed production some time ago, THR’s source states that due to tinkering in post-production, and the desire to spread out its content, Marvel Studios may delay the release of Ironheart until 2024.

    While Ironheart never had a firm release date (it was only given a Fall 2023 release window), talk of a delay comes as a bit of a surprise. Footage of the series (along with footage of Echo) was screened exclusively at D23 and was incredibly well-received by the audience; however, unlike Echo, Ironheart was never subject to rumors of a troubled production and this new report is the first time news of a delay has been relayed to fans.

    Given its relatively trouble-free production, it seems likely that Ironheart’s delay, should it happen, will be more related to a new mandate from Bob Iger, who wants all of Disney’s big brands to be “better at curating” their streaming content. According to an anonymous source, “There is going to be a level of rigor on Marvel and across the entire company. Numbers matter now, and costs are going to be outlined and enforced,” and in Ironheart’s case, it could simply be a matter of using post-production time to ensure the series is of the highest quality when it is released rather than rushing to get it to D+.

    Source: THR

  • ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’ Reaches Pre-Pandemic Super Bowl Records

    ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’ Reaches Pre-Pandemic Super Bowl Records

    The Super Bowl has once again arrived and did its usual thing by squeezing a lot of money out of advertisers for the chance of getting the most views they possibly could for their product. Of course, it’s also a big opportunity for studios to showcase some of their upcoming big releases. This year had some of the biggest films of 2023 included such as The Flash, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Fast X, and more.

    In a big and exciting development, it seems that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 finally broke a pre-pandemic record of pulling in more than 100M views within 24 hours after premiering at the Super Bowl. It’s even beaten Marvel Studios’ own Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which pulled a still impressive 93.1M views last year. And that is quite a move considering its also their second released trailer. It’s impressive and a good sign of the summer blockbuster push.

    The Flash wasn’t too far behind, as it managed to pull in an impressive 97.4M, which is also major considering Warner Bros. was more of a sideline during these events. So, they returned with quite a bang but were also closely followed by Fast X’s 94.1M views within 24 hours on Social Media. The latter does also have the added effect that they where the only one of the top three to drop the trailer in advance.

    13 trailers were dropped during the Super Bowl with the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Heineken collaboration also pulling in the fourth highest viewing with 87.9M. It may be facing some critical backlash but interest is definitely there for the film and the collab may have been a clever way to sneak in a second preview for Marvel Studios. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was a bit further behind with 43.3M, a surprisingly soft starter considering how big its initial trailer drop was.

    Disney’s other major release, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny also were on the smaller side at 34.2M, but it also didn’t really include much new footage in its release outside of a few lines. It’s still some time away and the buzz may not be as big, but it’s still curious to think that the return of Harrison Ford wouldn’t have brought more buzz with it. It’s also not first-party data from studios but measured through RelishMix, which also can vary depending on its data basis. Still, it seems superheroes are still quite attractive going by public viewings.

    Source: Deadline

  • Marvel Veteran Hints Ian McKellen Already in Talks to Return as Magneto

    Marvel Veteran Hints Ian McKellen Already in Talks to Return as Magneto

    Sir Patrick Stewart‘s cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness wasn’t the biggest secret for a long time, but the potential return of Ian McKellen as Magneto also made the rounds. At one point, it was even theorized to be Michael Fassbender. Yet, once the project was released though, he was the only mutant as part of the Illuminati.

    Still, it seems Ian McKellen might already be making some plans for the future as revealed by Patrick Stewart in an interview with ET Online. While asking if he got any feedback from his long-time collaborator returning to the role of Charles Xavier, he drops the rather curious mention of “we got plans.”

    Actually, it went very well. He did say something like [‘Hey, I would’ve done this!’], yes that’s true. But we’re not done, Sir Ian and myself. We’re… we got plans.

    Sir Patrick Stewart

    This isn’t a confirmation of course, but the tease is quite unsubtle. It wouldn’t be too surprising for Marvel Studios to map out all the cameos they want or need to be prepared once they start rolling on some of their true multiversal projects. Not only is there Avengers: Secret Wars, which might be the most obvious place to have both reappear, but also the rumors surrounding Deadpool 3.

    Not only is he being reunited with Hugh Jackman‘s Wolverine but it’s potentially going to include others from the 20th Century Fox line of mutants and characters. There have even been rumors that they’ll use this opportunity to create the Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe storyline without it affecting the actual MCU and as a great segway for him into the overarching franchise. It’s unclear if Marvel Studios would even go that far with a film, but theorizing is going to get crazy the closer we get to these projects.

    Source: ET Online

  • ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Live-Action Film in Development

    ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Live-Action Film in Development

    No, you read that right. Dean DeBlois is seemingly set on adapting How to Train Your Dragon into live-action for Universal. It seems they are dead-set on repeating the same mistakes as Disney that somehow still end up pulling billions at the box office, such as the “live-action” adaptation of The Lion King and Aladdin. It seems Universal Pictures is dead set on this franchise revival in a new format and already dated the film for a March 14th, 2025 release.

    The surprising thing is that this franchise does have the potential to adapt its own take on the franchise without just recreating the story of Hiccup and Toothless, but it seems they are deadset on remaking the trilogy that was released throughout the 2010s. It’s a shame given that live-action adaptations can be more than just straight adaptations of existing stories, especially in more expansive worlds like these.

    As the franchise mostly focuses on the relationship between Vikings and dragons, it does lend itself to live-action. It should also be noted that DeBlois directed the animated films and has an extensive history with the project. It’s also already in the middle of its casting process. So, they’ve been working on this for some time and it isn’t just a quick announcement. We’ll have to see how this attempt at a live-action adaptation of an animated classic works out.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Squid Game’ Star Promises “Bigger” Season 2, Set for a Summer Production Start

    ‘Squid Game’ Star Promises “Bigger” Season 2, Set for a Summer Production Start

    Netflix has a strange habit of finding random success with projects and then taking quite a bit of time to get their franchise plans rolling. This is mainly due to them waiting if a show even seemingly has potential rather than risking it. The only exception was The Witcher, which got renewed ahead of its release, but there have also been some big surprise hits that ended up getting expanded as a result.

    Among them was the Korean smash hit Squid Game, which was released back in 2021 and ended up as a massive success story during the pandemic. It seems though that the wait for the sequel might finally be over sooner rather than later, as actor Lee Jung-jae has revealed that the second season is set to start filming this summer.

    The actor is quite busy working on the upcoming Disney+ series, Star Wars: The Acolyte series. Yet, it seems he won’t have much of a break after, as he’ll be then joining the production of Squid Game at some point this summer, as he will likely wrap up work on his current project around March or April of this year.

    It’s probably safe to assume that. As we all saw at the end of season 1, the main plot of season 2 will be revenge, and the key figure who controlled the workings of the games in season 1 was Lee Byung Hun sunbae, so it seems that the two of us will be the central figures of this next story. This is the first time that I’ll be working with Lee Byung Hun sunbae, actually. Well, we worked on a drama called ‘White Nights 3.98’ back in the day, but we didn’t have any scenes together. Anyways, ‘Squid Game 2’ will begin filming in the summer and the filming will likely last for about 10 months. We were working on season 1 for about 10 months as well, but that was with delays caused by COVID-19. But seeing as season 2 will be bigger in scale, it will probably take longer to complete.

    Lee Jung-jae

    The tease of a “bigger” Squid Game with a revenge story does make you wonder if we’ll even see the games from the iconic project. Perhaps his character will just go on a straight-forward revenge spree but if they will start filming for ten months, it is hard to say if the series will even still release in 2024 considering how much post-production work it’ll require. At least we now know that it’ll definitely start filming soon.

    Source: AllKPop

  • ‘Constantine’ Sequel Writer Teases the Long-Awaited Sequel

    ‘Constantine’ Sequel Writer Teases the Long-Awaited Sequel

    The DCU has recently been semi-rebooted but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still dipping their toes into the multiverse. With the new Elseworld branding, they are still working on projects like the Joker sequel, The Batman 2, and many more. Yet, while it was missing during James Gunn‘s presentation, the sequel to Keanu Reeves‘ Constantine is also still in active development.

    Akiva Goldsman shared some details on the project in an interview with Deadline, where he teased that it was all thanks to Keanu Reeves that we’re even seeing movement on the project. Not only was it his recent success with John Wick, but also generally pushed for it as often as he could.

    This is a credit to Keanu, who endlessly has said, ‘this is the character I want to return to. Finally, he said it enough times that it stuck.

    Akiva Goldsman

    It seems that the sequel will further explore the themes of “good and evil,” a staple for the character of John Constantine, who generally plays the grey area. It’ll be interesting to see how they also address the passage of time and how it may have affected Constantine.

    The character is very much Keanu and the way he and Francis saw the world of good and evil, and the wonderful and authentic noir where there is a world behind the world of good and evil coexist with our world right up close. Beyond that, we are still discovering it as I am writing the script.

    Akiva Goldsman

    We’ve seen a few great interpretations of the character so far. This take is definitely not part of the new DC Cinematic Universe but who knows if its success could also lead to a third entry. Constantine is a great character and the first entry wasn’t a big box-office success story, but perhaps a legacy sequel could change that.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘I am Legend’ Sequel Will Ignore the Film’s Original Ending

    ‘I am Legend’ Sequel Will Ignore the Film’s Original Ending

    I Am Legend will return with a sequel starring not only Michael B. Jordan but will also see the return of Will Smith. In the original film that was released all the way back in 2007, Smith‘s character sacrificed his life. So, many wondered how exactly the film will tackle that original storyline with this sequel.

    In an interview with Akiva Goldsman, who is returning to Warner Bros. in a new multi-year first-look deal, he revealed to be involved with the upcoming I Am Legend sequel alongside the long-awaited Constantine sequel starring Keanu Reeves once again. In it, he teased what we can expect a return to that world a decade later and compares it to the recent success of The Last of Us.

    This will start a few decades later than the first. I’m obsessed with The Last of Us, where we see the world just post-apocalypse but also after a 20-30-year lapse. You see how the earth reclaims the world, and there’s something beautiful in the question of, as man steps away from being the primary tenant, what happens? That will be especially visual in New York. I don’t know if they’ll climb up to the empire state building, but the possibilities are endless.

    Akiva Goldsman

    That is not all, as he also reveals that the upcoming adaptation will just ignore the official ending of the film and jump straight into the alternative ending featured on the physical release. He also highlights they are set to “trace back tot he original Matheson book” potentially hinting at the Vampire-aspect being featured more.

    We trace back to the original Matheson book, and the alternate ending as opposed to the released ending in the original film. What Matheson was talking about was that man’s time on the planet as the dominant species had come to an end. That’s a really interesting thing we’re going to get to explore. There will be a little more fidelity to the original text

    Akiva Goldsman

    It’s definitely a curious decision to just ignore the ending most people watched in theaters. So, it may leave viewers quite confused but it definitely was a better ending and gives them the opportunity to have Will Smith return in the iconic role. Still, this may backfire potentially if viewers are just scratching their heads and wondering if this is some kind of cloning storyline.

    Source: Deadline

  • Kevin Feige Calls ‘Fantastic Four’ A Pillar of the MCU, Teases Forthcoming Updates

    Kevin Feige Calls ‘Fantastic Four’ A Pillar of the MCU, Teases Forthcoming Updates

    It’s been nearly four years since Kevin Feige announced that Marvel Studios was developing a Fantastic Four film. At the time, no details were shared about the project and, unfortunately, in the time that’s passed since the announcement, not much has changed on that front. The studio has provided information on the writers, director and release date but as the project continues to get pushed back, the lack of any solid information about it seems to be wearing on fans. It looks like that may change sooner rather than later, however.

    In an interview with EW, Marvel Studios’ gato grande gave a brief, but promising update on the state of Fantastic Four. Feige revealed that along with the two saga-ending Avengers films, Fantastic Four is one of the projects he is most excited about. “The only other one in terms of me personally and my 23-year history is the Fantastic Four,” Feige said of which upcoming projects peaked his personal interest. “We sort of talked about mutants and that whole aspect to the Marvel world, but Fantastic Four is the foundation for everything that came after in the comics,” he explained.

    Despite the wait, fans are certainly excited as well and, according to Feige, the wait may be ending soon. “People will start to hear more about that [Fantastic Four] soon,” pledged Feige. “We plan on that being a big pillar of the MCU going forward, just the way they’ve been in the comics for 50 or 60 years.” “Soon” is a very relative term. It could mean next week or it could mean July, but with a script complete and casting in the works, desperate fans will hope it’s the latter.

    Source: EW

  • ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Wraps Production With New Set Video

    ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Wraps Production With New Set Video

    It feels like it was yesterday when it was announced that director Wes Ball was going to revive the Planet of the Apes franchise with a new continuation taking place many years after War for the Planet of the Apes wrapped. Titled Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (wonder just how long these titles will become as the franchise continues to grow), the film will explore the legacy left behind by Caeser in a world where apes have become the dominant species.

    It feels like yesterday when they first announced the project with some concept art, but it seems that production has already wrapped on the project. Director Wes Ball took to his personal Twitter account to share that they have finished production with a nifty little video showing some of the early CG used to bring the various apes to life. They are seemingly reusing the technology made famous by the last trilogy, which was a standout blockbuster franchise due to the involvement of The Batman‘s Matt Reeves and it’s fun to get a little look at how they film with these CG-based characters.

    We also get a good look at the production title “Forbidden Zone” which may be a hint at where this Kingdom may take place in the canon of this new franchise continuation. It’ll be interesting to see how he carries on the franchise and if it’ll live up to the standard set by the previous ones. It’s also the first of this new adaptation that won’t feature Caeser as its main character, who was brought to life by the always-talented Andy Serkis. We’re entering a new era or rather a new kingdom.

    Source: Twitter