Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • Mahershala Ali on Taking On the Mantle of Blade After Wesley Snipes

    Mahershala Ali on Taking On the Mantle of Blade After Wesley Snipes

    It was quite a surprise when during the last San Diego Comic-Con attended by Marvel Studios when Mahershala Ali walked out on stage. What caught us even more by surprise was the reveal of him taking on the role of Eric Brooks, the famous vampire hunter feared as Blade. Of course, he’s not the first to take on the role, as he’ll take over from Wesley Snipes, who played the character back in 1998.

    In an interview with Jake’s Takes to the new Apple film Swan Song, he was asked about what makes his version different from Snipes take. The Academy Award winner gave a great response on what it means about tackling this kind of role and carrying on the mantle:

    You know, what I look forward to is earning it. I look forward to earning, you know, there’s an anticipation for it, there’s an excitement for it that he owns, that Mr. Snipes owns, you know? And so in filling his shoes, I’m just working to earn my place in this. And I’m excited to get going and do the work.

    Mahershala Ali

    We only got a voice clip of the actor as Blade during Eternals post-credit sequence, and we still don’t know when the project will enter production. But you can see that the actor is excited about the role and we can’t wait to see his take on the character. You can check out the full interview here:

    Source: YouTube

  • ‘Iron Fist’ Star Jessica Henwick Turned Down a Role in ‘Shang-Chi’

    ‘Iron Fist’ Star Jessica Henwick Turned Down a Role in ‘Shang-Chi’

    Jessica Henwick’s star has been on the rise over the last couple of years. Beginning with her turn as Nymeria Sand in Game of Thrones, Henwick began stealing the show more and more frequently. Such was the case in Marvel’s Netflix series Iron Fist, where Henwick’s performance captivated audiences and lead to fans clamoring for a spinoff. Henwick’s next big thing is a role in next month’s The Matrix Resurrections and, as it turns out, it came at the expense of another Marvel role.

    In an interview with EW, Henwick revealed that she was up for a role in Marvel Studios Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings at the same time she was auditioning for WB the role of Bug in the fourth Matrix film. According to Henwick, both studios knew about the other roles and forced Henwick to make a choice, which Henwick cleverly referred to as a “red-pill/blue-pill moment” as she was not guaranteed either role at that time.

    Henwick didn’t share what role she was up for in Shang-Chi, but given her age, it would seem the roles played by Meng’er Zhang and Fala Chen would be appropriate and, likely in that order. It’s interesting that Marvel Studios was open to working with Henwick once again given that she ended the second season of Iron Fist in a position of prominence. One could argue that this would be furhter evidence that Marvel Studios does not consider the events of Iron Fist, and by association any of the Defenders projects, to be canonical in the Sacred Timeline. While Marvel Studios has worked with Gemma Chan on multiple projects, her minor role in Captain Marvel saw her face painted blue and gave her relatively few lines making it easier for her to move into Eternals in a main role. It’s hard to make the same argument for Henwick and Blade star Mahershala Ali, who had major supporting roles in their respective Netflix series.

    The Matrix Resurrections will debut in theaters and on HBO Max on December 22nd.

    Source: EW

  • ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Turns in Senses-Shattering 24 Hour Pre-Sales

    ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Turns in Senses-Shattering 24 Hour Pre-Sales

    The most anticipated film of 2021 had a pretty intense first day of presales. According to Fandango, Spider-Man: No Way Home’s first 24 hours of presales eclipsed presales for Black Widow in just 2 hours and then went on to pass Avengers: Endgame, a film that had the largest domestic opening weekend on record. These numbers are quite impressive, as the last Avengers entry went on to premiere at $357.1M in its opening weekend.

    Reports suggest that the threequel sold over 3 million tickets on presale for more than $35M in sales. If those numbers are accurate, No Way Home will have sold 20 times the amount of tickets either Black Widow or Eternals sold within the same timespan. It managed to beat out Black Widow‘s numbers in just two hours. As such, there are already theories out there that this may be our first film to pass the billion mark since the pandemic started.

    It looks like Sony’s strategy has paid off, as they’ve been still keeping a lid on all leaked or rumored stories surrounding the threequel. What is noteworthy is that the nostalgia factor of the returning villains and the potential appearance of former Spider-Men might be quite the draw for audiences. It’ll be interesting to see how it keeps up that momentum once reviews hit the internet.

    Source: A Trade

  • ‘The Mandalorian’ Spinoff ‘Ahsoka’ Adds Ivanna Sakhno

    ‘The Mandalorian’ Spinoff ‘Ahsoka’ Adds Ivanna Sakhno

    It looks like Ahsoka is slowly revving up, as there’s a new addition to the series cast. Deadline has announced that The Mandalorian spinoff has added Ivanna Sakhno in a new role. Her character will be specially created for the Disney+ series unlike her upcoming co-star Natasha Liu Bordizzo, who joined the cast as Star Wars: Rebels‘ Sabine Wren. The series will be written and executive produced by Dave Filoni. Jon Favreau also returns from his work from Din Djarin’s story, as the series might intersect in some way.

    It’ll be the second spinoff from the series heading to Disney+, as we’re going to continue Boba Fett’s story after Christmas. He made his grand return alongside Rosario Dawson‘s take on the character of Ahsoka Tano in the same season. It’ll be interesting to see if we also get a tease of some kind on how exactly these various spinoff series might connect moving forward. We’re still waiting for an official casting announcement for the other Rebels character, Ezra Bridger. Mena Massoud is heavily rumored since February to tackle the role.

    Source: Deadline

  • Syfy and USA Network Renews ‘Chucky’ for Season 2

    Syfy and USA Network Renews ‘Chucky’ for Season 2

    Looks like USA Network and Syfy were quite satisfied with the first season of Chucky, as it just got renewed for a second season. The sequel series that continues to explore the story of the killer doll, who first was introduced in the Child’s Play franchise, will return in 2022 with the new season. Series creator, Don Mancini who also created the original franchise, shares his excitement about the renewal:

    We’re thrilled to start pulling the strings on a second season of puppet mayhem with ‘Chucky. Many thanks to our partners at USA, SYFY and UCP for their incredible support and guidance bringing ‘Chucky’ to the small screen, bigger than ever. And to the fans, Chucky sends his still-undying thanks, and a message: ‘This isn’t over, not by a long shot. You better watch your backs in 2022

    Don Mancini

    The series sees Chucky pushing a small suburban town into chaos after getting picked up in a yard sale. Of course, his arrival means murder isn’t far that haunts the locals in ways they never expected. Brad Dourif returned to voice the doll once again and is also treated by other franchise veterans Devon Sawa and Jennifer Tilly. It’ll be interesting to see how the second season builds upon the events of the first and where his story might be heading once he returns in 2022.

    Source: Variety

  • New ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ War Table Offers Closer Look at Upcoming Raid, Spider-Man’s Abilities and New Skins

    New ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ War Table Offers Closer Look at Upcoming Raid, Spider-Man’s Abilities and New Skins

    Tomorrow is the day that we finally get Spider-Man joining the ongoing Marvel’s Avengers experience. He was one of the earliest teases ahead of the game’s release. While the game gave us various updates including both Hawkeyes and Black Panther, we’re so close to his release. To tie us over, we got a brand new War Table video that not only showed off his abilities in more detail but also a closer look at the game’s first raid “Discordand Sound.”

    The raid looks quite impressive with many new elements to add some unique challenges. Also, we get to fight the giant version of Klaue and I am quite excited to tackle this with a group of friends. Of course, it seems unlikely we’ll play as Spider-Man through the raid early on, as he needs to get leveled up accordingly but he’ll give us a good feeling for how the new gear system works.

    Generally, the gameplay is quite a step up from what we got from IGN. My favorite is still the wrecking ball, as it reminds me of some of his gaming history moves. The new suits were also teased with one seemingly inspired by Anti-Venom and another of his classic suit as armor. It’s another exciting update and I cannot wait to test out the new character alongside the most challenging piece of content yet.

    Source: YouTube

  • New Data Hints at ‘Hawkeye’ Being Marvel Studios’ Lowest Viewed Premiere on Disney+

    New Data Hints at ‘Hawkeye’ Being Marvel Studios’ Lowest Viewed Premiere on Disney+

    Disney+ is still shy about offering any insight into their viewership numbers. Netflix has taken the first step towards more transparency, but Disney’s streaming service is still keeping a lid on things. So, we have to rely on third-party offerings whose surveys offer estimates on viewing behavior. The latest series Hawkeye is Marvel Studios‘ latest offering on the platform and it seems that it may be the least-watched entry by the studio according to SambaTV with 1.5M US households having watched the first episode within five days.

    In comparison to the other live-action shows it is trailing behind WandaVision‘s 1.6M, Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s 1.8M, and Loki’s 2.5M. So, the series premiere was trailing behind January’s release that kicked off the initial moment building into the other shows. Perhaps the break with What If…? between live-action offerings influenced its development. Of course, it could also reflect a general interest in specific stories or characters.

    Image

    Keep in mind, there’s no benchmark for what makes a series a success on the platform. So, even as the lowest premiere for a Marvel Studios project, it still could be one of the strongest showings on the platform. Plus, we have to keep in mind that it’s only the data made available through a limited panel analysis. Whip Media highlighted that the show had a strong build-up with 66% of subscribers “definitely” checking it out. Perhaps the series will pull in a stronger audience as each episode releases in the coming weeks.

    Source: Twitter, Twitter

  • Sony and Marvel Studios Have Not Finalized a Deal for Post-‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ After All

    Sony and Marvel Studios Have Not Finalized a Deal for Post-‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ After All

    Here’s a curious development. Sony and Marvel Studios’ third Spider-Man film is about to release with No Way Home. Just as the tickets went on sale, we are starting to get some teases of the future for Tom Holland‘s time as the webhead. Producer Amy Pascal earlier today revealed that they are already working on the next trilogy and confirmed that there’s already a deal in place for the upcoming three films. Well, turns out that might not be the full picture just yet.

    So, even though that quote seemed like a definite deal was in place, The Hollywood Reporter has shared that Sony insiders are not aware of any official plans being in place just yet. Yes, Sony wants to continue working with Holland and Feige but there’s nothing concrete finalized for any trilogy or future film.

    Of course, if cooperation is wanted on both sides, it’ll definitely happen. Plus, the MCU connection has boosted quite a few of their projects and it would be strange to pull the plug right after Venom: Let There Be Carnage teased a meeting between the two. Marvel Studios also likes to keep some cards close to the chest. So, we might get a clearer picture on Spidey’s future in the new year.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • Tom Burke to Replace Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in ‘Furiosa’

    Tom Burke to Replace Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in ‘Furiosa’

    Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is no longer starring in the Mad Max spinoff, Furiosa.

    The spinoff to George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road was to star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II alongside Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy, who portrays the titular character. Per Deadline, Abdul-Mateen is exiting the project due to scheduling conflicts. Interestingly enough, the outlet is unsure what project the actor is working on, it just notes that it’s a project Abdul-Mateen has been developing for some time. It’s thought production unexpectedly moved up on the mysterious project, forcing the actor to depart Furiosa.

    Replacing the actor is Tom Burke. This marks Burke’s first major studio film. He has previously starred in titles such as True Things and The Show. Burke’s role in the film is currently unknown.

    Furiosa will see Miller return behind the camera to direct from a script he co-wrote with Nick Lathouris. Miller will produce the film alongside his longtime Oscar-nominated producing partner Doug Mitchell.

    Furiosa hits theaters on May 24, 2024.

    Source: Deadline

  • Third ‘Magic Mike’ Film Heading to HBO Max, Channing Tatum Returning

    Third ‘Magic Mike’ Film Heading to HBO Max, Channing Tatum Returning

    It looks like Channing Tatum and Steven Soderbergh are back to continue the story of stripper Mike Lane, the titular Magic Mike. Warner Bros. has greenlit a third entry in the franchise that’ll premiere exclusively on their streaming service, HBO Max. Soderbergh will bring the script to life from Reid Carolin, who is also returning from the previous two entries. Magic Mike XXL‘s director, Gregory Jacobs, also return was the producer on this project alongside, Nick Wechsler, Peter Kiernan, and writer Carolin. Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman, Toby Emmerich, shared his excitement on the third film that’ll be titled Magic Mike’s Last Dance:

    Is there anybody on screen more charismatic and appealing than Magic Mike? We’re thrilled to be back in business with Channing, Steven and their creative team to bring back Magic Mike’s wonderful combination of dance, drama, romance and humor.

    Toby Emmerich

    The title of “Last Dance” seems to imply this might be the final film in the franchise moving forward. Tatum is quite excited to return to the character and highlights that “The stripperverse will never be the same.” Turns out, the reason they decided to add a third was due to the work on their live show. So, we’ll see what Mike Lang’s future will be like with the new