Here’s an interesting surprise. As the first The Mandalorian spin-off, we all assumed that The Book of Boba Fett will also run for the usual eight-episode season. Yet, it turns out that the upcoming Disney+ series will have a shorter run, as the official Star Wars account just revealed it’ll consist of seven episodes once it premieres on December 29th. It’s great to see that the shows aren’t going to be clustered by a specific length and we’ll see how jam-packed the upcoming episodes will be with a shorter runtime. It’s curious though they’d just sneak this information into a tweet. Yet, it certainly got our attention alongside the amazing character posters for Boba and Fennec Shand.
While the trailers offered a tiny glimpse into what the spinoff series has to offer, it’ll be interesting to see Boba Fett’s conflict in his new role. We’ve always associated him as a badass bounty hunter, but never as a true leader. While he can certainly kick-ass, it doesn’t mean he can keep Tatooine’s underbelly at bay. So, while he can take on anyone that wants to steal his throne, he’s likely going to face quite the uphill battle.
We’ve all been waiting for some more news on the upcoming Aquaman sequel that’ll explore the mysteriously lost kingdom. James Wan has still remained coy on what exactly the film’s title is hinting at and what the future of the franchise has in store for us. We did learn that Dolph Lundgren would reprise his role back in October, as he shared an Instagram post with part of his wig already on from the set. It was an interesting surprise due to his role as King Nereus and it opened up many questions about how he might tie into the story.
In an interview with THR, the actor didn’t quite give away any details on what to expect but did tease that we can expect quite a bit of an upgrade from the previous entry. The films take place in Atlantis and it was no small task filming everyone in a way that makes them feel like they’re truly underwater. According to Lundgren, the effects have already come a long way to make that effect even easier and praise Wan‘s involvement.
That whole picture is just a class act. I think [Aquaman 2] is better. I think the script is stronger and it’s more exciting. The technology has moved forward in four years, so I was really pleased to be a part of it. James Wan is just going to blow everybody away again by this tremendous world that he creates. He’s involved in every little detail, even every little piece of every weapon, and I think it’s going to be great.
He’s certainly excited about the upcoming sequel and it’ll be interesting to see how the new technology may have changed elements from the production. We’ll likely not spend all the time underwater due to the adventure-vibe the first film gave off. With the first photo teasing an icy location, we’ll get quite a few new locations to explore in the sequel. If it’s anything like the first film, we’re in for a great time.
It looks like Tom Holland may just be stuck playing Spider-Man until he’s 30 after all. In an interview with Fandango, Sony Pictures producer Amy Pascal revealed that Sony and Marvel Studios have plans to continue to work together on a new trilogy of Spider-Man films, saying “Marvel and Sony are going to keep going together as partners.“
Tickets for Spider-Man: No Way Home went on sale last night and caused chaos. With press screenings for the film set for this week, the press cycle has officially kicked off and Pascal told Fandango that not only is No Way Home not the end of the road for the unprecedented deal, but that the two studios are planning another trilogy:
This is not the last movie that we are going to make with Marvel – [this is not] the last Spider-Man movie. We are getting ready to make the next Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Marvel. We’re thinking of this as three films, and now we’re going to go onto the next three. This is not the last of our MCU movies.
It’s unknown what further collaboration between the two studios will look like, but with Tom Hardy’s Venom crossing over into the MCU it’s possible that future could include Holland’s Spidey coming face-to-face with the symbiote.
We’ll continue to cover this story as it develops.
The first episodes of Hawkeye shot onto our streaming screens last week with aplomb. The confidence with which the show mixed character moments within the shared storyworld of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is worthy of a bullseye. The story feels contained so far in connecting to Clint and Kate while also allowing for small flourishes of a wider world. One of the show’s directors Rhys Thomas spoke to The Ringer-Verse podcast about how Kevin Feige and Trinh Tran managed to help the show create that contained yet subtly expansive quality.
While speaking to The Ringer, Thomas was asked about whether Marvel Studios gave those working on the show existing characters and storylines they had to integrate into the story. He goes on to say, while there were some natural elements like that, a lot of the show is created without knowledge of the storyworld. Knowledge of other MCU projects would only arrive through pitching something similar to what was being produced at the time.
There’s sort of these character packets and some storylines, but they do, interestingly, I think, allow the shows to kind of exist within their own little sandbox for, you know, for quite a while. And sometimes the only way you find out about what might be happening in another show is just when you come in excitedly in the morning and pitch an idea, only to discover that it’s already happening somewhere else. And, again, that happened multiple times, where in the middle of the night, like, ‘Oh, my God, this is it. This is the thing that’s gonna fix the thing.’ And then you come in, and they’re like, ‘No, we can’t do that.’ Sometimes Kevin will be the only one that knows that. So you might even get a few tiers in and finally pitch it. And then it’s like,‘No buddy.’ That’s what you’re relying on is Trinh and Kevin. They will come in with certain things, whether it’s a character crossover, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it was always there at the beginning. That’s what’s kind of amazing about what they’re doing. It’s such a vast enterprise now, in terms of all the shows, and that, I think, it’s kind of a moving target. And they do allow room, I think, for the show’s to evolve.
Rhys Thomas
It’s fascinating that the shared storyworld aspect of the MCU is marshaled by the producers. While Trinh Tran focused on guiding Hawkeye’s writers, directors, cast and crew to make the best show it can be in a self-contained way, it’s also clear she and Kevin Feige are looking out for project crossovers. There are clearly some elements of the story that Rhys Thomas pitched that were also happening in other projects so those ideas didn’t move forward beyond. Even more fascinating still, is that some of these ideas might have made it past an initial pitch with Trinh Tran before Kevin Feige revealed something similar was happening elsewhere in the MCU. There are some interesting levels of secrets to crossover aspects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe! It’s intriguing to think about how Marvel Studios’ producers keep that shared momentum up, as well as what aspects of Hawkeye could exist elsewhere in the upcoming MCU.
Disney+ series has quite the flexible runtime from episode to episode. Not only do we have to take into account that there are also quite a few minutes included for credits, but each series doesn’t force each episode to follow a specific runtime structure. The first two episodes of Hawkeye were quite extensive and it looks like the next two entries might be going for a shorter runtime.
Insider Amit Chaudhari has shared a new tweet hinting that the next two episodes will run for around 80 minutes combined. That is quite a bit different from the first two, which ran for 50 and 52 minutes. Keep in mind, these are not the full length of the actual story but also include the credits. So, the actual story part might be closer to around 35 minutes each. Of course, it’s uncertain how exact these numbers are and it could just be a general hint rather than the exact runtime.
While Marvel Studios has set a benchmark for their different types, such as dramas focusing on one-hour episodes and comedies moving closer to 30-minutes, they never forced a specific runtime on their talent. So, it’s great that they try to make each episode work at its own speed and we’ll see if the short runtime might be a hint at more action taking place. We already got a tease in the Disney+ Day MCU special. So, we’ll see how the episodes build upon each other.
The numbers are finally in for the weekend, as Encanto has taken the top spot for the weekend with $40.3M over 5-days. It’s noticeable that 52% of its cume is from Latino and Hispanic audiences. Internationally, the animated Disney film kicked off with $70M. Ghostbusters: afterlife was the film’s biggest competition with a strong $35.3M weekend. As Deadline points out, their audiences had a strong crossover and may have taken a bite out of each other’s success over the weekend.
Technically, Encanto made $27M over three days. That is a tight race for the top spot if you discount the early release for the film. The positive aspect is that it proves families are slowly entering theaters more and more again. Universal and Illumination have high hopes for the upcoming December release of Sing 2 that has a similar audience structure. Still, it was a mellow weekend overall which was down quite a bit in comparison to pre-pandemic numbers.
Still, House of Gucci was the first drama to really find an audience over the weekend, as it had the highest opening for a drama with $14.2M in three days, even growing to $21.8M in five. For comparison’s sake, as Deadline points, we haven’t had a strong drama opening since 2910’s Little Women over Christmas. We’ll see if this is a sign that they will also see more recovery in the coming weeks.
I’m not going to tell you the answer to that. You’re going to have to ascertain for yourself. I’m a member of three goddesses: Lucy Liu as Kalypso and the third goddess played by Rachel Zegler, who will be a huge star in a very short space of time. So there are three of us together, and that was really a great experience because it’s so infrequent that you get to spend a whole of a movie with two other women. So often you’re the only woman in the cast. Here we were a trio, and that was great. I loved it.
Helen Mirren
What doesn’t help the confirmation by Mirren is that Rachel Zegler took to Twitter and had a very curious reaction towards the statement shared by @ShazamNews that adds more fuel to the fire on her being the third sister.
So, it is safe to say that our story was on the money with her role. The reason she is still being kept a secret might be due to her role of going undercover. We saw her alongside Jack Dylan Grazer‘s Freddy Freeman. We’ll see if there’s a curious twist not only surrounding her identity but also her alliance moving forward.
The numbers are beginning to roll in and it looks like Disney’s Encanto will take the top spot at the box office this weekend. The film pulled in $11 million on Friday, with its 3-day settling around $30 million with the potential to reach $45 million over the Thanksgiving weekend. While that’s not a huge opening compared to life pre-Pandemic, the Thanksgiving box office is up from last year.
Expected to come in second place is Ghostbusters: Afterlife with $36.3 million. That’s with $9.75 million on Friday with $26 million for the weekend. That brings its domestic haul to approximately $88 million in its second outing. With little competition, Afterlife should go on to cross the $100 million domestic mark in the coming weeks. Following Afterlife is the newest release from Ridley Scott, House of Gucci, earning $22.5 million over the five day weekend.
Marvel Studios’ Eternals finishes in fourth place with $11 million, bringing its total to $150.3 million domestically. Finally, in fifth place is the latest Resident Evil movie: Welcome to Raccoon City. That film, unfortunately, looks to be a box office disaster with just $8.85 million over the Thanksgiving weekend.
‘Loki’ Cast Members Getting into the Madness of ‘Doctor Strange 2’
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is undergoing extensive reshoots which are designed, as star Bandicoot Snugglesnatch explained, to help realize the full potential of the film. Whether that means getting people on set who couldn’t be there before, when the film was shooting in the UK, or adding/reshooting some things, it’s ultimately a positive part of the filmmaking process for a pro like Sam Raimi and part of Raimi’s vision for this film apparently includes having Loki, Mobius and Sylvie in it. A recent IMDB update shows that stunt doubles for the actors behind those characters have recently joined the production. Additionally, Owen Wilson has been spotted in Los Angeles, a place he does NOT frequent unless he’s working. We’ll see how mad it all gets next May.
‘The Marvels’ Wraps Principal Photography
As the Doctor Strange sequel keeps on keeping on, the Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels, has wrapped principal photography after just shy of 3 months of work. Ironically enough, after going the entire duration of filming without a leak, a few set photos leaked the day after filming wrapped. The film is now slated for a February 17th, 2023 release.
‘AMTW:Q’ WPAWAWNSITCFN2Y
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania wrapped production as well and will not sit in the can for nearly 2 years before it releases in July of 2023. Of course it’ll undergo some additional photography at some point, which will inspire some intrepid internet personality to claim it’s a disaster and that the entire film is being reworked, but such is the cycle. It’s rumored that by the time the film does hit theaters, Rudd will look exactly the same as he did when filming began.
Netflix Go Going for a Power Rangers Universe
After crashing and burning with the launch of their Millar-verse when Jupiter’s Legacy turned out to be D.O.A., Netflix isn’t giving up. The streaming network, in an effort to keep up with the competition, is working on mapping out a Power Rangers Cinematic Universe, full of interconnected shows and films. Dragon shit!!
Chris Pratt to Americanize Italy’s Greatest Hero in Upcoming Film Adaptation
One of the more original indie comics of 2021, Nocterra, is now in the pipeline to be adapted at Netflix. Nocterra, created by Scott Snyder of Batman fame, is a horror series that tells of a dystopian future where the lights all went out and a lot of bad shit started happening to people, including being turned into terrifying monsters. It truly is a wonderful book that you should check out before it gets turned into a trash series on Netflix.
More Blade Runner on the Way
Ridley Scott was a little grumpy this week, but in one of his kinder moments, he did mention that he had pitched a 10-episode season of a Blade Runner live-action series. It was a little confusing because on one hand, he railed against millennials while, on the other hand, realizing that streaming is the future of entertainment. With an Alien series already in development, it looks like 2 of Scott’s most iconic franchises will continue to live on and that’s almost certainly a good thing.
‘Dead Boy Detectives’ Cast Gets Recast During Casting for Dead Boy Detectives
The Doom Patrol spinoff series, Dead Boy Detectives, found it’s 3 leads this week. The new crew, who will replace the crew that appeared on the most recent season of Doom Patrol, is comprised of George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri and Kassius Nelson. I have no idea who these actors or characters are, but I think JJ liked them.
Earlier this week, Warner Bros. announced it plans to re-release Dune for a limited IMAX run in December. The news came as the film was on the cusp of hitting $100 million at the domestic box office. With the re-release planned, it was all but certain the film would achieve the feat, it was just a matter of when. And as it turns out, Dune was able to hit $100 million domestically without the help of the re-release.
#Dune broke the $100M mark at the domestic #boxoffice on Thanksgiving THU and is on track for about $2.2M for the wknd lifting cume to $102M making it the top grossing movie among all WB/HBOMax releases.
The numbers are in and Dune is on track for $2.2 million this weekend. That is enough to bring the film’s domestic haul to $102 million. In the Pandemic-era, crossing the $100-million mark at the domestic box office is an impressive feat. Gone are the days where $200 million is the norm. In fact, to date, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Venom: Let There be Carnage are the only releases this year to hit that milestone. While a $200 million domestic haul is still up in the air, Dune now retains the title of the top-grossing movie release among all Warner Bros. and HBO Max releases for 2021.
With its planned IMAX re-release still set for Dec. 3, it’s likely Dune will see an uptick in its domestic haul. As it stands, IMAX screenings brought in $50 million of the film’s overall domestic gross. Releasing the film back in IMAX should help boost that number even more.
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