Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Predictions Eyeing $40M to $60M+ Domestic Opening

    ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Predictions Eyeing $40M to $60M+ Domestic Opening

    The signs are getting better and better for the box office’s revival. After Shang-Chi dominated and James Bond‘s next film No Time to Die eyeing a great $90M international start, things are looking up for the industry. Now, early predictions are also hinting at some good numbers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage. It’s currently eyeing between $40M to $60M+ over the course of three days at 4,200 locations. These are great numbers

    Deadline also shared that the fan screenings were filmed to the brim this Monday, which adds some hope that it’ll surpass the higher end of its predictions. Shang-Chi originally was hovering around a $50M+ prediction before it managed to beat expectations. Let There Be Carnage is a theater-only release and that has proven quite successful. Even if the lowest predictions are closer to A Quiet Place 2‘s box office, it’s still showing a positive development within the market.

    The original Venom opened to the best domestic opening in October with $80.2M. While it was trumped by Joker a year later, it still was an impressive feat by the Spider-Man spinoff without the wallcrawler involved. It’s going up against The Addams Family 2 and The Many Saints of Newark, which will both have digital alternatives. The only question remains if Sony will be happy, even considering the current pandemic, with the sequel performing less than its first entry, especially with its initial Rotten Tomatoes rating by critics. Though, fans did quite enjoy it as it stands at 81% audience score. So, it might all depend on critic reactions and word-of-mouth to push the sequel.

    Source: Deadline, Rotten Tomatoes

  • Lee Majdoub to Return as Dr. Stone in ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Sequel

    Lee Majdoub to Return as Dr. Stone in ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Sequel

    Ever since the Sonic the Hedgehog sequel announced that Idris Elba would voice Knuckles, we haven’t heard much about the project. It’ll return to the little town of Green Hills, as Sonic tries to live a normal life with the Wachowskis. Yet, as the post-credit sequence of the first film teased, he’ll get wrapped up in more chaos from his former life. Of course, there’s also the disappearance of Dr. Robotnik into a mushroom dimension and his potential return. Luckily, it seems someone will be keeping his seat warm until his eventual return, as Lee Majdoub will officially return as Dr. Stone.

    His return does signal the potential appearance of Robotnik in the sequel. Jim Carrey‘s performance was a highlight of the first film, especially his dynamic with his assistant. The touch of using National Coffee Day to reference Robotnik’s love for his latte with steamed Austrian goatmilk. They made a great duo and there’s a lot of potentials to explore the vacuum left behind by the manic genius.

    They did work with the government in the first film. Perhaps his involvement could lead to the creation of GUN, which has also been teased some time ago. Robotnik’s drones might be useful in the right hands, and with the existence of little creatures running fast enough to create a sonic boom, they’d prepare for anything. It’s also a great way to integrate elements from Sonic Adventures 2 to expand the film’s adaptation of the character.

    Source: Twitter

  • Disney+ Planning to Release 10+ ‘Star Wars’ Series in the Next Few Years

    Disney+ Planning to Release 10+ ‘Star Wars’ Series in the Next Few Years

    After a long wait, we finally got a poster and release date for Star Wars‘ next Disney+ series, The Book of Boba Fett. It’s been a while since we visited The Mandalorian‘s part of the galaxy far far away, but luckily it won’t take much longer. There’s still some uncertainty about when we can expect the third season featuring Din Djarin, but it looks like the streaming service and the House of Mouse has big plans for the franchise. In a recent report by The Hollywood Reporter, they’ve shared that Disney is currently eyeing 11 Star Wars series to release in the upcoming years.

    They haven’t specified if this also includes repeat seasons, which are only confirmed for The Mandalorian and The Bad Batch. If these are excluded, we are currently only aware of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka, Andor, Lando, A Droid Story, and Acolyte. If the Boba Fett-centric story isn’t included in the list, there are five unannounced series heading to Disney+. Disney+ Day won’t feature a showcase of their future projects, but we may get a few teases of the already announced projects.

    So, we’ll likely get future announcements if Disney holds another Investor’s Day this December. Keep in mind, this also doesn’t include potential films or specials as they use the wording “series” specifically. It’s great to see how much potential Disney sees in their streaming service, as they continue to expand. Hopefully, we’ll get a clearer picture of what their future releases entail as we enter 2022.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Eternals’ Actor Haaz Steiman Celebrates the Film’s LGBTQ+ Representation

    ‘Eternals’ Actor Haaz Steiman Celebrates the Film’s LGBTQ+ Representation

    When it comes to Marvel Studios’ Eternals, there are many reasons to be excited.

    Not only is the film directed by Academy Award winner Chloé Zhao, but it will also feature the studio’s first LGBTQ+ couple on the big screen. For LGBTQ+ fans who have sought representation in the MCU, this is a big deal. After the studio received pushback following its “first” gay character in Avengers: Endgame, Eternals will include a gay couple raising a family together. For actor Haaz Steiman it’s all incredibly exciting.

    Haaz will play the husband to Brian Tyree Henry‘s Phastos, something worth celebrating in its own right. However, the duo will also be seen raising a child together on screen and kissing – something not seen often in big Hollywood films, especially superhero ones. In a new interview for Out magazine, Haaz teased his excitement over the film.

    I feel lucky, and I’m grateful. And…I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I feel like Marvel, they were very smart to cast me in it. Because I got to humanize the hell out of it. I got to humanize an LGBTQ+ family and show how beautiful they are.

    Haaz Steiman

    Eternals is about a race of immortal beings with superhuman powers who have secretly lived on Earth for thousands of years, reunite to battle the evil Deviants. The film is written by Chloé Zhao, Ryan Firpo and Kaz Firpo. It will hit theaters exclusively on November 5th.

  • Alan Taylor Would Love a Director’s Cut of ‘Thor: The Dark World’

    Alan Taylor Would Love a Director’s Cut of ‘Thor: The Dark World’

    Veteran director Alan Taylor is currently riding high from the promotional tour of his new film The Many Saints of Newark, but that doesn’t mean he’s unwilling to revisit moments from his past. In a recent interview with Inverse, the filmmaker once again discussed his history working with Marvel Studios, a collaboration that resulted in the sequel, Thor: The Dark World. Taylor, who was selected to helm the second Thor feature after impressing the studio with his work on shows like Game of Thrones, shared his original cut of the story. The director has hinted at a plot that involved more “wonder”, and now, he thinks he’s like to see it come to fruition.

    I was cheering for Zack Snyder when he was doing that and thinking, Will he pull this off? This is amazing. I think every director was kind of rooting for that. I would love to, I mean to. Can you imagine that? They give me however many millions of dollars they gave him to go back in. Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to get that phone call.

    Alan Taylor

    It would seem the experimental “Snyder Cut”, a full-length re-release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, has given Taylor the spark he needed to find interest in going back to revisit his work with Marvel. In the same interview, he acknowledged his massive respect for Marvel boss Kevin Feige and the success of the MCU since his days with the company. While The Dark World doesn’t quite have the same widespread fanbase as Justice League, it would still be interesting to see what the original version of that story looked like. Unfortunately, with the MCU’s tightly woven web of interconnectivity already moving well beyond the year 2013, it seems unlikely Feige and crew would be willing to go back and change anything. Still, one never knows what the future may hold.

    Source: Inverse

  • Ravencraft Could Offer Enough Villains for Future ‘Venom’ Sequels

    Ravencraft Could Offer Enough Villains for Future ‘Venom’ Sequels

    The upcoming Venom sequel will introduce the world to his most iconic offspring, Carnage. Even as the franchise has not connected to Spider-Man, it is trying to build up its universe and rules. Of course, throwing out one of the biggest characters from the symbiote family in the second film seems like Sony is already showing their hand too early. Yet, director Andy Serkis believes that there’s enough to play around with for sequels. In an interview with ScreenRant, he teases that we might have just scratched the surface for potential villains.

    But I think there’s real mileage in some of the other supervillains that reside in Ravencroft. There’s such fertile ground to be uncovered there. That would be the sandbox I’d be really interested in playing. Who’s lurking in there that could break out?

    Andy Serkis

    It’s certainly curious and might be a good sign that the film’s hiding some Easter eggs once we enter Ravencroft. Trailers did show Carnage’s escape, which might be how some of these bad guys find their way onto the streets. So, Let There Be Carnage may also kickstart the franchise and introduce a variety of thugs for our favorite symbiote to take on. If they start connecting the universes, it would be interesting to see if they would also introduce a new host for Venom. Imagine Tom Hardy‘s Eddie Brock losing him to a character like Mac Gargan. They have built up their relationship quite a bit and seeing a fallout between them, only for Venom to realize how good he had it would make for some fun drama. Plus, they’d not rely too much on a symbiote vs. symbiote format for these films.

    Source: ScreenRant

  • ‘Spider-Man 2’ to be Insomniac’s ‘Empire Strikes Back’

    ‘Spider-Man 2’ to be Insomniac’s ‘Empire Strikes Back’

    After a long wait, the sequel to 2018’s Spider-Man game finally got its first trailer. Not only that, we even got a good look at the long-teased antagonist, Venom. Of course, his inclusion raises a lot of questions about what we can expect from the sequel. Luckily, Vice President of Marvel Games, Bill Roseman, teased that the sequel might be a darker story from the previous entry. In the latest podcast entry of This Week in Marvel, he briefly touched upon the upcoming sequel and compared it to the original Star Wars trilogy.

    If the first Spider-Man game was Star Wars, Spider-Man 2 is [our] Empire Strikes Back.

    It’s certainly a tall order to compare it to The Empire Strikes Back. The sequel became the modern standard for what any franchise tries to accomplish. Not only does it continue the story, but it pushes our heroes to a brand new breaking point. There’s no true hope that it’ll end on a positive note. So, who knows what the future has in store for Miles Morales and Peter Parker as they face off against Venom.

    It’s crazy to think that the sequel would be even darker than the first. Peter had to make the most depressing decision he ever had at the end of that game, which might be the toughest sacrifice we’ve ever seen a version of this hero make. The game showcased who is the host for the Venom symbiote, which also makes his inclusion quite a personal story once he realizes who it is.

    Source: This Week in Marvel

  • Will Smith Explains Deadshot’s Absence in ‘The Suicide Squad’

    Will Smith Explains Deadshot’s Absence in ‘The Suicide Squad’

    Perhaps one of the brightest spots in the original Suicide Squad film was Will Smith, who played Floyd Lawton, AKA Deadshot. Smith however did not return for the follow-up, and initially was almost recast. Early reports indicated that Idris Elba would take over the role of Deadshot, but that ultimately didn’t pan out so that the door may be left often for Smith’s return. Elba would go on to play Robert Dubois, aka Bloodsport, with no mention of Deadshot in the film.

    Recently Smith participated in a special interview with GQ in which he’d gone incognito on social media to answer some of his fan’s questions. One of the many questions that came up was “Why is Will Smith’s Deadshot not in the Suicide Squad, Maybe bc he didn’t want to reprise the role??”. Smith responded to the question with the following quote.

    Yeah, I was working and they were ready to shoot. It was a timing issue, I can come back.

    It seems he was aware of the initial reports that the studio was eyeing Elba as his replacement, as he ask those around him about the status of Deadshot in the DCEU.

    They didn’t cast anybody in Deadshot? they left Deadshot out, right?…So Idris playing a different character he’s not playing, or is he playing Deadshot? Different character? Alright cool so I can come back!

    It’s great to see Smith so excited that the door is still open for him to return as Floyd Lawton, maybe in another Suicide Squad film or a potential Secret Six project. While there’s no current plan to bring Will Smith back in any upcoming project we sure hope he pops up again somewhere in the DCEU.

    SOURCE: GQ

  • Marvel Studios Currently Juggling 30+ Projects

    Marvel Studios Currently Juggling 30+ Projects

    Marvel Studios has always been an overachiever in the business. Not only did they build a connected universe on the silver screen, but decided to expand it through streaming on Disney+. Recently, they even ventured out into animation while adding new talent to continue their efforts to expand. We only get a glimpse into what they are working on with each grand announcement, which hopefully expands once Disney+ Day arrives.

    They also recently gave Victoria Alonso, who has been with the company since 2008’s Iron Man, a promotion. In an interview with 221radio, she offered some insight into her current schedule, which was brought to our attention through our very own Discord. While discussing her time on The Marvel‘s set, and lunch with Salma Hayek, she also offered a small window in just how many projects are currently in development over at Marvel Studios. After the interviewer asked if they were working on 35 projects, she corrected them with the actual number and that not everyone makes it out of some form of development.

    We are currently working on 31 projects, don’t add 4 more, please. (Laughs) It is a question about how are we handling multiple plates in the air at the same time, and the biggest thing is that sometimes the plates fall, and, you know, what are you going to do then? We want people to understand that the idea that we have, to tell these connected stories, it is important that the world knows that the characters we create, their stories have to do with how humans interact with each other.

    Victoria Alonso

    The number makes sense, as currently there are seven films alone in production, as confirmed by the President of Physical and Post Production, Visual Effects, and Animation Production. She did also highlight that they are venturing into animation more in the future. She also highlights that some might just not make it out of a specific step of development. It’s crazy to think how many projects they are currently working on, and the number might only continue to rise as time goes on.

    Source: 221radio

  • Alice Waddington to Adapt Dark Horse’s ‘Dept.H’ for Netflix

    Alice Waddington to Adapt Dark Horse’s ‘Dept.H’ for Netflix

    Netflix continues its ongoing adaptation spree, as Deadline shared that Paradise Hills‘ Alice Waddington has joined the upcoming adaptation of Dept.H. T.S. Nowlin, who penned The Maze Runner, will tackle the script with Mike Richardson, Keith Goldberg, and Paul Schwake of Dark Horse Entertainment producing. It’ll explore the story of how the death of a scientist leads his estranged daughter six miles below the ocean floor to uncover what lead to his untimely end. It becomes a race against the time as it might become her underwater grave.

    Dept.H was written and illustrated by Matt Kindt, which started under the Dark Horse banner back in 2015. Ever since their success with Umbrella Academy, they’ve been expanding their ventures with Dark Horse Entertainment, such as the recent announcement of Grendel. The streaming market has been quite competitive and it continues to grow with each new competitor.

    Netflix has been focusing more and more on developing well-known IPs to build its brand. Umbrella Academy proved that their model has some potential, and we’re seeing recent developments with them going beyond just Dark Horse. They are tackling live-action adaptations of popular Anime, such as the recent showcase of Cowboy Bebop. It’s going to be interesting to see how it continues to grow moving forward.

    Source: Deadline