Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • The Sunday Paper—November 6, 2022

    The Sunday Paper—November 6, 2022

    Welcome to another edition of Murphy’s Multverse’s Sunday Paper. With endless news and content coming to you throughout the week, the Sunday Paper is here for anyone who wants an overview of what happened in the past week. Whether you missed it all, or just want to catch up, this is the article for you. Remember to follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out our website to stay up to date. Check out last week’s Sunday Paper here.

    bob odenkirk marvel

    Perhaps some of the week’s biggest news comes from two upcoming Marvel Studios Disney+ series. Despite having no release date, Wonder Man has made headlines due to some major casting announcements. For starters, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is in talks to star in the titular role. He is well-known for his roles DC’s Black Manta in the Aquaman films has also starred in HBO’s Watchmen, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Nia DaCosta‘s Candyman, and The Matrix Resurrections where he played Morpheus. Not only that, but Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk is also reportedly being eyed for a role in the series, and we have a theory as to who he could play.

    aubrey plaza mcu

    Agatha: Coven of Chaos continued to make news this week with casting announcements as well. Aubrey Plaza was confirmed to be joining the WandaVision spinoff, apparently as a villain. But who? Check out our look at five characters that could be perfect for Plaza. Heartstopper actor Joe Locke was announced to be part of the cast as well. While it is unknown who he is playing, it seems likely that it could be an aged-up Billy, aka Wiccan. It was also reported this week that Ali Ahn (Raising Dion) and Maria Dizzia (The Staircase) have joined the series. Lastly, the series reportedly will have a rare nine episodes on Disney+, and Jac Schaeffer and Gandja Monteiro may direct at least one episode each.

    wakanda forever trailer views
    Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. © 2022 MARVEL.

    Of course, in the final week before Black Panther: Wakanda Forever releases in theaters, there were plenty of news and interviews that dropped. Director Ryan Coogler discussed the original plot of the film before Chadwick Boseman passed away, and he opens up about the emotional journey on the new Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast. Interestingly, it seems as though Coogler long ago reserved the right to bring Namor into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Tenoch Huerta revealed that he could not swim before playing Namor in the film. Producer Nate Moore gave an update on the Wakanda spin-off project, and he suggested that it is not as far along as some fans might think. He also answered everyone’s favorite question: where is Wakanda Forever in the MCU’s timeline? Apparently, it is clear after Spider-Man: No Way Home and Eternals, and more or less concurrent with Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

    ironheart timeline

    Moore was also kind enough to specify that the upcoming Ironheart series takes place after Wakanda Forever, rather than as a prequel. In other Ironheart news, a set photo adds to speculation that a Doctor Strange comics character will appear in the series, and the series appears to have wrapped production.

    For final Marvel news, a new rumor suggests that Sony and Disney have apparently been at the negotiating table and are closing in on a new collaborative arrangement for Spider-Man films. The rumor states that once closed, the two studios could then begin working with Holland on sorting out the terms of his deal, which would likely consist of another Spider-trilogy of Sony films produced by Marvel Studios in addition to scheduling him for appearances in Marvel Studios films.

    Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav had some things to say this week. While he teased the “united creative approach” of the two new co-CEOs of DC Studios, he also made an odd comment about how Warner Bros. Discovery will be focusing on franchises in the future by incorrectly stating how long it has been since a Superman or Harry Potter film. While that has yet to be seen, we do know that Stargirl has been canceled, The Sandman has been picked up for a second season on Netflix, Cristin Milioti has been cast as Sofia Falcone in The Penguin series, Dead Boy Detectives added Caitlin Reilly and Max Jenkins to its cast, and Joker: Folie á Deux is set to start production next month.

    the acolyte dafne keen

    This week a rumor circulated that Logan star Dafne Keen will join the cast of the upcoming The Acolyte. It was revealed that Ariel Kleiman, Janus Metz, and Alonso Ruizpalacios will direct episode blocks of Andor for the show’s second season. They’ll take over for Toby Haynes, Susanna White and Benjamin Caron who directed episode blocks of the show’s first season. It also looks like Andor Season 2 will revisit the planet Yavin, a primary location for the climax of A New Hope. Disney+ Italy also accidentally leaked a future The Mandalorian short film focused on Grogu.

    iron man game
    one piece production

    Murphy’s Multiverse exclusively reported this week that Amazon Studios is developing Jeff Lemire’s The World of Black Hammer into a shared cinematic universe. Also this week, the Russo Brothers suggested that they will not work on another Marvel Studios project until the end of the decade, and they also made a disturbing comment that Disney’s upcoming live-action Hercules remake would be inspired by TikTok. HBO canceled Westworld after four seasons, The Last of Us is eyeing a January premiere, and Peacock is developing a Friday the 13th prequel series.

    Raya and the Last Dragon director Carlos López Estrada set to direct a Your Name live-aciton remake. Meanwhile EA and Marvel are collaborating and working on three new games, one of which is the already-announced Iron Man game. The live-action One Piece series added a key Arlong Park character, and One Piece Film Red more than tripled 2019 Stampede’s entire U.S. domestic box office on opening day.

  • ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ Wraps Production

    ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ Wraps Production

    Actress Rachel Zegler has announced that production has wrapped on The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Zegler, who plays Lucy Gray Baird in the film, shared two images of herself with the film’s clapperboard on set.

    “Many, many, many more words come to mind but I shan’t bore you by pretending I have anything new to offer you with my thoughts,” she tweeted. “Just know I am thankful. Just know I love telling stories. Just know I am so happy with real life. Happy wrap, my songbirds.”

    The film is directed by Francis Lawrence, who helmed three of the Hunger Games films. It was first announced by Lionsgate as part of its Cinema Con presentation back in April. He directs the from a script by the book’s author Suzanne Collins, Michael Arndt (Catching Fire), and Michael Lesslie. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes tells the story of Coriolanus Snow at the age of eighteen as he prepares to enter the Hunger Games

    The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will be produced by franchise producer Nina Jacobson and her partner Brad Simpson, as well as Lawrence. Collins, who penned The Hungers Games books, will also serve as an executive producer alongside Tim Palen and Jim Miller. The film is set to hit theaters on Nov. 17, 2023.

    Source: Twitter.

  • ‘One Piece Film Red’ More Than Triples ‘Stampede’s Entire Domestic Box Office on Opening Day

    ‘One Piece Film Red’ More Than Triples ‘Stampede’s Entire Domestic Box Office on Opening Day

    It’s looking good for Black Adam to top the box office once again. The film is showing a bit more of its Dwayne Johnson-like hold after seeing some bigger drops throughout the week. As it stands, the film is likely to end its second weekend with $17M. The biggest advantage of this DC film lies in the fact that there’s no real competition so far and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is surely going to change that once it releases next weekend with an already impressive $175M+ opening weekend prediction.

    Hot on its heels is One Piece Film Red, which has finally been released stateside. It’s currently pulling in $10M+ from 2,410 locations. It’s pretty much performing as expected by Crunchyroll, its distributor but sadly it’s not going to pass Demon Slayer: Mugen Train‘s record which pulled in $21M domestically. Still, the film pulled in an A CinemaScore and had a 75% viewership between the ages of 18 to 34, which highlights an interesting trend.

    One should consider that this film is a spinoff storyline based around the latest events of a 1,000+ chapter manga series. As many believed only long-time readers would be drawn into the latest entry, One Piece might be drawing in a new generation of readers already. It should also be highlighted that Red pulled in 4.8M on Friday, which is more than three times what Stamped pulled in 2019. Not just it’s domestic opening but its entire run which was around 1.3M at the time. So, this is quite the win for a franchise that started in 1997.

    Source: THR, Twitter, Box Office Mojo

  • Namor Actor Couldn’t Swim Before Working on ‘Black Panther 2’

    Namor Actor Couldn’t Swim Before Working on ‘Black Panther 2’

    Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will introduce the world to Marvel Cinematic Universe’s take on Atlantis in the form of Talocan. The Mayan-inspired take on the iconic underwater civilization is a promising direction for the mythology built around the character of Namor, who will be portrayed by Tenoch Huerta. Given that they are a civilization that exists beneath the ocean’s surface, the actors portraying the Talocan people had to do some shots underwater.

    During the official press conference for the film, the Namor actor revealed that he actually couldn’t swim before working on the film. The conversation came up when they started discussing who had the record of holding their breath the longest during filming, which led to the actor revealing he couldn’t swim before starting work on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. A surprising detail if you consider that he was going to tackle a role that would mostly see him underwater.

    Yeah, well I didn’t know how to swim before this movie. But now I can hold my breath for five minutes.

    Tenoch Huerta

    He does reveal that the record of holding their breath underwater is held by Namora actress Mabel Cadena, who seemingly can hold it for up to eight minutes. It definitely sounds like they had an interesting challenge with the production and it’s always interesting to learn details, such as the fact that the actor learned to swim and stay underwater for extended periods just to star in this role. It showcases how much work truly goes into bringing these roles to life for the silver screen.

  • Ryan Gosling’s ‘The Fall Guy’ Remake Adds ‘Wakanda Forever’ Star

    Ryan Gosling’s ‘The Fall Guy’ Remake Adds ‘Wakanda Forever’ Star

    It looks like David Leitch‘s upcoming film The Fall Guy has added one more big addition to its cast. M’Baku actor Winston Duke has seemingly joined the Universal film that adapts the 1980s television series for a new generation. Ryan Gosling is set to spearhead the project, which has also added Emily Blunt, Stephanie Hsu, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

    Unlike the original series, the script by Drew Pearce explores a stuntman past his prime, who ends up on a production with a star he once worked alongside. Yet, he suddenly disappears and unravels the story. The movie star in question will be portrayed by Taylor-Johnson with Duke set to play the best friend of the stuntman (Gosling).

    Blunt has been added to the cast as a prosthetic makeup artist that also seemingly had a romantic history with the stuntman. The plot definitely sounds interesting and is a bit of a departure from the original where the stuntman acted as a hitman on the side. So, we’ll see how much of the original still makes it into the remake and what director Leitch has in store to make it stand out from an action standpoint.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • REPORT: ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos’ Directors and Episode Count Potentially Revealed

    REPORT: ‘Agatha: Coven of Chaos’ Directors and Episode Count Potentially Revealed

    While many wondered why WandaVision was getting a spinoff series focused on Kathryn Hahn‘s Agatha Harkness, recent news reports have showcased that there’s a lot more potential at play here. Agatha: Coven of Chaos just recently cast Aubrey Plaza in a villainous role and there are rumors floating on what may be the inspiration behind this series’ storyline. Now, Illuminerdi may have shared a few more details on the project.

    According to their latest report, the series will be a limited series running for nine episodes. There’s no word if that means it’ll be a half-hour show or Marvel Studios’ first time tackling a nine-episode drama. They also shared that Jac Schaeffer and Gandja Monteiro may direct at least one episode each.

    The project is definitely shaping up to be an interesting addition, and it’s been fun to see Marvel Studios use smaller characters to tell unique stories. It also gives them the opportunity to tell stories that otherwise wouldn’t get a chance to tell due to previous character decisions, such as how Armor Wars is now a War Machine-focused story rather than Tony Stark.

    Marvel Studios has years of stories they can tell in interesting ways. We now live in a timeline where Werewolf by Night got his own special exploring a new corner of this universe we may have not expected otherwise. Who knows what other characters might get an adaptation in the near future that we may not have expected?

    Source: Illuminerdi

  • PlayStation’s ‘Gran Turismo’ Movie Adds a Former Spice Girl to its Cast Among Many More

    PlayStation’s ‘Gran Turismo’ Movie Adds a Former Spice Girl to its Cast Among Many More

    Neil Blomkamp‘s upcoming Gran Turismo film has seemingly expanded its cast. In The Hollywood Reporter’s latest Heat Vision newsletter, it’s been shared that the PlayStation franchise adaptation has added a few more stars to its cast.

    Djimon Hounsou has been cast in the film alongside Naomi‘s Daniel Puig, Josha Stradowski, and Thomas Kretschman, who will appear in the next Indiana Jones entry. That’s not all, as former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell-Horner has also been cast. She will be playing the mother of Archie Madekwe‘s character with Hounsou set as the father.

    Puig is set to tackle the role of his brother with Stradowski set as the big rival for the film. So, it seems like most of the main cast has been set as the movie is already busy filming in Hungary. The story will follow a young teen getting the opportunity of a lifetime, as his gaming skills end up giving him the opportunity to become a professional racer.

    PlayStation has been very focused on establishing its core franchises beyond its gaming medium. So, while some projects are more straightforward by tackling the original game in a new format like The Last Of Us, Gran Turismo is taking a very different direction. It’ll stand out by exploring this true story of Jann Mardenborough to showcase what gaming can do for people.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Andor’ Season 2 Revisit a Familiar Planet

    ‘Andor’ Season 2 Revisit a Familiar Planet

    As Andor continues to build momentum in its strongly performing first season on Disney+ eyes have begun to shift towards the future the new Star Wars streaming stalwart. As the writer’s room for the show developed new ideas for season two, new information has been revealed about what audiences should expect. While sitting down with Collider, series creator Tony Gilroy discussed the inclusion of new writer Tom Bissell to the writer’s room and a classic Star Wars location that will debut in the series down the road.

    Tom Bissell is a really cool and really, really interesting, versatile, really good writer. But also a very, very, very big Star Wars fan, which we really wanted to make sure we had another pro because we’re going into Rogue [One], and we’re going to Yavin, and then we’re going into places where we eventually need to really weave our way back to the source. So Tom came in, and he’s been great. So he’s got some episodes too.

    Tony Gilroy

    This bit of news should be interesting for Star Wars fans as it could potentially provide a new distinct angle for a key component to the original films. Yavin was a primary location for the climax of A New Hope, and getting time to further establish the locale can help enrich the classic films from George Lucas in a new light (much like Rogue One and Andor have done thus far). In addition, the interview confirmed that production for the second season is set to begin on November 21st of this year.

    Andor stars Diego Luna in the titular role of Cassian Andor alongside a deep ensemble cast of supporting characters. The tenth episode of Andor is set to arrive on the Disney+ streaming platform on Wednesday, November 9.

    Source: Collider

  • ‘Westworld’ Has Been Canceled by HBO

    ‘Westworld’ Has Been Canceled by HBO

    In a shocking decision, HBO has decided not to renew Westworld for another season.

    The series, which ran for four seasons on HBO, was thought to be one of the network’s biggest titles. During its run, the acclaimed series managed to earn an impressive 54 Emmy award nominations, which included a supporting actress win for Thandiwe Newton. Despite the show’s initial success, the series continued to lose viewers – and critics – following its third season and leading into Season 4.

    News of the show’s cancellation comes about a month after co-creator Jonathan Nolan discussed his hopes for a fifth season. At the time, Nolan told the folks at Deadline that the plan was always for five seasons. “We always planned for a fifth and final season. We are still in conversations with the network. We very much hope to make them.”

    HBO released a statement regarding the cancellation, noting the work the cast and crew have put in throughout the years. “Over the past four seasons, Lisa and Jonah have taken viewers on a mind-bending odyssey, raising the bar at every step. We are tremendously grateful to them, along with their immensely talented cast, producers and crew, and all of our partners at Kilter Films, Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Television. It’s been a thrill to join them on this journey.”

    Source: THR.

  • Quentin Tarantino on Whether He’d Direct a Movie for Marvel Studios

    Quentin Tarantino on Whether He’d Direct a Movie for Marvel Studios

    Quentin Tarantino is a well-established director that has made some fun films throughout his filmography. Each one seemingly pays tribute to a different style of filmmaking and even goes as far as combining multiple genres into one. He was supposedly going to explore a more mainstream project with Star Trek before passing on it. Now, L.A. Times got a chance to sit down with the director and asked if he’d ever want to direct a Marvel film, which led to him giving the following response:

    You have to be a hired hand to do those thing. I’m not a hired hand. I’m not looking for a job.

    Quentin Tarantino

    One can take away a lot of what he’s described. Some may take this as a downplay of the artistic freedom given by Marvel Studios, or also just say the directors of these projects are nothing more than a cog in the machine. Tarantino wanted to adapt a Luke Cage film in the 90s, but that project never came to be. Of course, that is a very different climate from where Marvel Studios stands today. He also isn’t someone who doesn’t enjoy mainstream blockbusters, as he even highlighted his experience with Star Wars.

    Of course, I liked ‘Star Wars.’ What’s not to like? But I remember — and this is not a ‘but’ in a negative way, but in a good way. The movie completely carried me along and I was just rocking and rolling with these characters…. When the lights came on, I felt like a million dollars. And I looked around and had this moment of recognition, thinking, ‘Wow! What a time at the movies

    Quentin Tarantino

    He also highlights that it’s just not his “favorite exactly type of film,” which highlights the beauty of cinema. There are many types of films available for viewers and everyone finds those that fit their mold better.

    Now, that’s not necessarily my favorite exact type of film. At the end of the day, I’m more of a ‘Close Encounters [of the Third Kind]’ guy, just the bigger idea and Spielberg setting out to make an epic for regular people, not just cinephiles. Few films had the kind of climax that ‘Close Encounters’ had. It blew audiences away

    Quentin Tarantino

    Tarantino‘s quote is less of a direct assault on Marvel and their filmography than other veteran directors have done in the past; Martin Scorcese‘s press tours becoming a renewed inquiry in regard to his thoughts on the film since the op-ed he released a while ago calling them “theme park” films. We’ll likely never hear the end of these quotes.

    Source: LA Times