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‘THE MANDALORIAN’ CHAPTER 11: Welcome to the STAR WARS Cinematic Universe

There are times when expectations can make certain moments pale in comparison with what was initially envisioned. Even though The Mandalorian‘s storyline was leading to this (with trailer footage helping connect the dots) CHapter 11 managed to surpass what we expected of not only the moment in question but also improve the idea behind the show itself.

Even though we’ve already had several connections to other Star Wars events and characters through the previous ten episodes, this chapter felt like a pivotal point for the franchise. It was reminiscent of the post-credit scene of the first Iron Man when Nick Fury shows up at Tony’s Malibu mansion to say: “Mr. Stark, you’ve become part of a bigger universe; you just don’t know it yet.”. From that moment on, everyone knew things would change, not only for the Iron Man movies but for the idea of what we now know as the MCU could grow into one day. And that’s what Chapter 11 might mean for the Star Wars live-action universe going forward.

We already had a fairly prominent character introduced in The Clone Wars (and later appearing on Rebels) show up in a live-action project in Saw Gerrera. He even cameoed in the game Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen Order. But the level of connectivity this episode brings to overarching storylines from other media that haven’t yet been completely disclosed, the weight of the characters now introduced in the overall Star Wars lore, the way it shifts the focus from the movies and the boundaries they set on themselves to what we could now be getting through Disney+ is a whole new ballgame

What’s also of notice is the way the minds behind The Mandalorian managed to make it all seem so effortless, in a way, validating the choices made and the possibilities ahead. The idea of introducing characters with a massive backstory to new audiences might seem daunting to say the least, but they understood that there was no need for an exposition dump, where the audience had to endure a 5-minute crash course in 10 years of Star Wars content. Everything flowed naturally, with the interactions not being more than they had to be, making this one of the series’ best episodes yet in terms of pacing. Another hurdle surpassed was the consistency in taking cartoon characters and bringing them to live-action. There was no need to make things more grounded or more flashy. Trusting the source material was enough for everything to work, and the respect shown for it was palpable. If the series and, its future spin-offs, manage to keep the introduction of characters coming in from other corners of the universe so efficient, really adding to the story and then leaving the show equipped to lead their own show, the future is bright.

By hitting it out of the park in more ways than one, Chapter 11 has shown the way for what Season 2 could end up becoming, with the certainty that what got achieved in this episode can and will be a focal point of what Star Wars can aspire to accomplish in the coming years. Long live (this) Star Wars.

November 13, 2020
Star Wars’ ‘THE MANDALORIAN’: Who is Bo-Katan?

Ahead of The Mandalorian’s season 2, we give quick introductions to characters that have yet to debut on a live-action Star Wars project, but that most likely will show up on the Disney+ hit series in the coming weeks.

During the Clone Wars, Mandalore, the homeworld of the Mandalorians, was ruled by Duchess Sarine Kryze, Bo-Katan’s sister. Not happy with her sister’s pacifist beliefs, she decides to join Pre Vizsla, the governor of Mandalore’s moon Concordia, and his Death Watch, that sought control of their planet to restore Mandalore’s warrior heritage. By doing so, and since Pre Vizsla had also made a pact with Darth Maul, she ended up helping to set in motion the events that lead to her sister’s demise.

After Vizsla managed to successfully assume control of Mandalore, he turned on Maul, which leads to a death duel between the two. With Maul emerging victorious, killing Vizla, he would now be wielding the Madalore symbol of power: The Darksaber. Refusing to accept an outsider ruling over Mandalore, she escaped, but her sister, a close friend of Obi-Wan Kenobi, was murdered by Maul as he tried to lure his nemesis to deal with him once and for all. Bo-Katan manages to help Kenobi escape and then turned to both him and Ahsoka Tano for help in defeating Maul, their common enemy, and the Mandalorians that were still loyal to him. They eventually get behind her and support Bo-Katan’s Mandalorian forces as they regain control of Mandalore’s capital city, Sundari. The Republic took control over Mandalore to ensure a peaceful transition of power, but with the rise of Emperor Palpatine and by refusing to follow the Galactic Empire, Bo-Katan lost her position as Regent of Mandalore.

A couple of decades later, while wielding the Darksaber once again, alongside rebel and fellow Mandalorian Sabine Wren she was able to destroy an Arc Pulse Generator, an Imperial weapon that managed to incinerate whoever was wearing an armor made out of beskar. She regained the trust of several of Mandalore’s clans, uniting them under a single banner. After the Great Purge, that saw the Empire coming into conflict with the Mandalorians, stripping them of their beskar, Moff Gideon managed to take possession of the Darksaber, and Bo-Katan’s fate remains unclear.

For more details regarding The Mandalorian season two aswell as other Star Wars projects, check out the dedicated feature focused on the future of the Star Wars Universe.

November 13, 2020
Disney+ Surpasses Expectations with 73 Million Subscribers

It hasn’t been an easy year for any company. The pandemic has strongly influenced consumer behaviors and forced many companies to remain closed. Disney was no exception, as they struggled with the closing of their parks and theaters locking down. They had to postpone many of their biggest film releases. Black Widow was pushed back by an entire year as they struggled to figure out if they should focus on their streaming service. After a trial run with Mulan, it seemed like they were hoping to return to theatres. Even Pixar’s next entry Soul will be released for free on the service next month.

While they haven’t been able to make money at the Box Office, it looks like their investment with Disney+ has been a success. Their forecast was to reach between 60 to 90 million subscribers by 2024. They have reached that first threshold within the first nine months. Now, they already passed 73 million within the first 11 months.

The service makes use of a large part of Disney’s vault. The company had a list of shows entering production after The Mandalorian kicked-off the streaming service’s launch. Sadly, the pandemic delayed most of their high-profile releases, so most releases were for younger audiences. With the recent announcement of Marvel Studios’ first show WandaVision eyeing January, it could see another boost in subscribers by then. It’ll be interesting to see how fast this service grows to compete with Netflix’s 195 million users.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

November 12, 2020
EXCLU: Clint Barton Set to Lose His Hearing in ‘HAWKEYE’

We’ve all been waiting for some kind of news regarding the upcoming Hawkeye show. We still don’t know who is playing Kate Bishop even though She-Hulk and even Moon Knight were just recently cast. Still, we may have a minor detail that could further tie the show to the Matt Fraction run. In a recent casting sheet, we saw a variety of side characters being looked for to join an untitled production that started in November. There was one interesting giveaway that connects it to the archer’s upcoming Disney+ show.

They are actively looking for a middle-aged Chinese audiologist, who works in a rundown building and is off-the-books. Now, many fans of the archer might know that he is actually deaf and uses hearing aids. He destroyed his eardrums after using a sonic arrowhead on a villain. So far, it didn’t seem like Hawkeye had that issue in the MCU, well, at least until now. There is a good chance that in the show he makes the same mistake and is forced to use old contacts to get in touch with the audiologist.

This casting also could hint at the story featuring the famous archer on the run at some point. There is also a chance that the audiologist could turn out to be someone who treats Echo, who is also deaf in the comics. She was deaf from an early age so it could be someone she visits for a check-up. The casting also includes an elderly lady, or man as well as an Eastern European kid. These could turn out to be other patients from the audiologist. Still, it’ll be interesting how they approach Clint’s loss of hearing if they do go that direction.

November 12, 2020
‘THE MANDALORIAN’ Chapter 11 Primer

We can all agree that Chapter 10 of The Mandalorian, “The Passenger”, left us with something to look forward to. The episode left some unfinished business between Din Djarin and his new friend, the lovely frog lady. According to our frog lady, the eggs that she has are the last of her line and she needs them to hatch, so she made the Mandalorian promise to deliver her eggs so they can hatch safely. As we know, the Mandalorian doesn’t make promises he won’t keep, so we can probably think that he will deliver the eggs to where they have to go: the estuary moon of Trask.

The trailer that was released on September 15th definitely left some hints to the next episode including the one above which is probably one of the first shots of Chapter 11: the Razor Crest limping towards what appears to be a water planet (we know they are headed to an estuary moon, so yeah, a water planet). If we watch closely in the trailer, at exactly 45 seconds there is a frog man standing next to our frog lady. Who could this be you ask? It’s almost a sure to be frog lady’s husband! This means that the eggs have a good chance of being fertilized and hatching (unless Baby Yoda eats more of them!). Also the trailer shows a mysterious lady standing near the docks before vanishing. This character, played by Sasha Banks, and at this point, there seem to be two leading candidates for who she’s playing: Sabine Wren (who was first introduced in the show Star Wars Rebels) or Bo-Katan (who first appeared in Clone Wars Season 4). We have no evidence backing up which one she is playing but both Sabine Wren and Banks both have colorful hair, so maybe this is a clue. It is very much of an “out there” guess, but it still could be.

Arlyn’s Assumptions

Depending on how things go with Banks’ character, there are quite a few possibilities as to how thing could go. If Banks’s character is the “bad guy of the week”, she might kill the frog people while attacking Mando, leaving Djarin to deliver the eggs and keep his promise to keep them safe. We’ve also seen Djarin and the Child come across many helpful strangers along the way, so it’s possible she will help the Mandalorian on his journey to find others of Baby Yoda’s kind. Will Banks’s strange, new character turn out to be friend or foe? What it will be? We’ll find out tomorrow when Chapter 11 streams on Disney Plus!

November 12, 2020
‘WANDAVISION’ to Premiere on January 15th

It’s nearly twilight time.

We finally have the premiere date for WandaVision. In an announcement made today, Disney and Marvel Studios have now confirmed that the series will premiere on January 15th, 2021.

A new era arrives. Marvel Studios’ @WandaVision, an Original Series, is streaming Jan. 15 on #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/aejE6DNR35

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2020

Official Plot Synopsis: Starring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, “WandaVision” is a blend of classic television and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in which Wanda Maximoff and Vision—two super-powered beings living idealized suburban lives—begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems. The show features the return of Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis & Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, as well as the introduction of new faces, such as Teyonah Parris as an adult Monica Rambeau and Kathryn Hahn as the nosey neighbor, Agnes.

Rewatch the trailer here:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj9J2ecsSpo&w=560&h=315]

November 12, 2020
Jordan Peele’s Untitled Project May Be a Remake of ‘The People Under The Stairs’

We just ran the exclusive on Jordan Peele‘s next thriller, which will focus on a young man living on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Giving it some thought, it slowly dawned on us that there was one more project that the acclaimed director is currently working on. Empire revealed that he was going to be producing a remake of The People Under the Stairs. The original film was released in 1991 with Wes Craven as the director. It focused on a young resident named Poindexter Williams, who lived in the L.A. ghetto. He breaks into the house of his former landlord, who evicted his family from their apartment. There they discover a dark secret that will put their lives on the line.

Now, the only real connection we have between these projects is their location. We reported that the protagonist lives on the outskirts of the city, but there were no details or even a film title. So, if he started as a producer on the remake, he may have decided to use the concept to match a project he was working on. In his Business Insider interview from 2017, he already teased having four different projects planned out. He planned to release them throughout the next decade, so there is a chance he had a concept that was similar enough to The People Under the Stairs that he took over the project. It isn’t much to go on, but it is an interesting coincidence that he would produce and direct films that take place in Los Angeles. The lack of title may be an indication that it may just be inspired by the original rather than a direct remake. Peele might add a new twist to the original to adapt it to current social issues. Whatever it may end up being, we’ll be sure to keep an eye out as this project nears production.

Source: Empire, Deadline, Business Insider

November 11, 2020
EXCLU: Details on Jordan Peele’s Next Thriller

Jordan Peele has become quite the acclaimed director with films such as Get Out and Us. Deadline just recently reported that he is already working on his next theatrical release together with Universal Pictures. So far, we knew very little about the project, but we were able to get some first details on what we can expect from his next film.

The story will focus on a man between 20 to 32 old who lives on the outskirts of Los Angeles. He is a Walmart employee in the electronics section, who is described as perceptive, sincere, and “clutch”. They are currently looking to cast someone either with a Latino or Native American background for the role. This film is the third of the four social thrillers he teased a while back.

The best and scariest monsters in the world are human beings and what we are capable of especially when we get together. I’ve been working on these premises about these different social demons, these innately human monsters that are woven into the fabric of how we think and how we interact, and each one of my movies is going to be about a different one of these social demons.

These social demons could be connected to our main protagonists’ heritage or could be playing on entering society after leaving high school. Living in L.A., he might be an unsuccessful actor trying to get by with his job until that audition that could be the one. He might have to face some tough life changes when entering the industry. They plan to start filming from April to June 2021 on location in L.A., which would give them ample time in post-production before the 2022 release. Peele is also the writer of the project and acting as producer alongside Ian Cooper. Robert Graf set as the executive producer.

Source: Deadline, Business Insider

November 11, 2020
‘Peacemaker’ Expands Cast As Production Ramps Up

Back in September, James Gunn confirmed that he had begun work on a spin-off series of his highly anticipated upcoming film The Suicide Squad. It will focus solely on the character of Peacemaker, who is played by WWE wrestler and film star John Cena. The series is a prequel and gives us a look into the origin of the man, whose quest for peace knows no boundaries. Production on the show is going to begin early next year. Gunn already has made his way to Canada to start his two-week quarantine before the production begins.

We’ve known for a while that John Cena would be reprising his role as the titular character. He will be joined by Steve Agee, who’d be reprising one of his two roles from the upcoming film, John Economos, the warden of Belle Reve. Now The Hollywood Reporter reported several additions to the films’ cast with Danielle Brooks set to play Leota Adebayo, Robert Patrick as Auggie Smith, Chris Conrad as Adrian Chase a.k.a. The Vigilante. Also, reprising her role from the film is Jennifer Holland as Dr. Emilia Harcourt.

Peacemaker will begin production early next year with James Gunn at the helm, writing and directing multiple episodes of the series and will produce the series alongside Peter Safran. The show is an HBO Max exclusive but currently has no release date set.

SOURCE: Hollywood Reporter

November 11, 2020
‘WANDAVISION’ To Have its Own BTS Gallery Episodes

While many fans are understandably underwhelmed with the amount of original Disney Plus content from their two “big time” properties (Star Wars and Marvel), there’s really no argument to be made that, so far, what they have delivered has been pretty impressive. One of the impressive and unexpected surprises for fans has been Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian.

Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian was a BTS documentary, told over the course of 8 episodes, that gave an incredible amount of insight into everything that went into creating Disney Plus’s first live-action Star Wars streaming series. Much of the series consisted of a roundtable style conversation between Jon Favreau and the creatives who worked on Season 1 such as Deborah Chow, Dave Filoni, Rick Famuyiwa, Bryce Dallas Howard and Taikia Waititi and any number of guests that ranged from cast to crew. Episodes featured conversations about topics such as the show’s practical effects, the innovative Volume technology created for the series, influences on the series, and more. The Gallery aired roughly 4 months after Mando’s first season and was truly a treasure trove of information. It seems that the series made a big enough impact that Marvel Studios has decided to jump on board and produce a similar BTS feature for WandaVision!

While I can’t speak to the episode count nor the content, I do know that Marvel Studios was filming behind the scenes footage and interviews for the series during production on WandaVision as early as during Episode 1, the 1950’s set “live studio audience” episode, and the episode in which I expect the dinner with the Hearts, seen in the first trailer, to appear. Revisiting the days of live studio audiences and speaking with the cast and crew about the challenges of working in that type of environment seems like an episode unto itself. Given the lack of original Marvel Studios content on Disney Plus, it will certainly be a welcome addition to the streaming service. Unfortunately, I have no word on whether or not the studio will be producing similar BTS documentaries for their other projects, but given how warmly Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian was received and that WandaVision began production after The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, meaning it wasn’t planned to be the first Marvel Studios series to stream, I’d say it’s likely that these “galleries” are more likely to be the rule than the exception.

WandaVision is STILL expected to stream on Disney Plus sometime in 2020.

November 11, 2020