There are many discussions surrounding what is going on with Marvel. While some believe they have lost their edge, it’s hard to deny (even if the web tries) that recent events shook the entire industry in an unprecedented way. What seemed like a straight-forward march into 2020 ended up derailing an entire industry for years to come. As such, costs were exploding beyond what you’d usually see with shows, especially in a streaming war to produce the best “content” possible (even if that wording has soured quite a bit in the industry).
She-Hulk, Attorney at Law was one of the shows that seemingly suffered, as in a new Variety report they claim that a single episode would end up being more expensive than even the final episodes of Game of Thrones. However, it’s not surprising given just how big Marvel was that they’d invest heavily to promote the streamer as much as possible, especially with a purely CG character as part of the cast and we know that Marvel has a bad habit of generally reshooting many sequences leading to more CG work.
It definitely isn’t a good sign if their costs continue to pile up and who knows if the current strikes also affected the 2024 releases. We may not know until next year, but it wasn’t a secret that the Disney+ shows cost a pretty penny, especially grounded shows like Secret Invasion saw its costs balloon during production in recent reports.
Marvel Studios wasn’t quite prepared to start a new venture like long-form storytelling and then getting hit by a pandemic that completely threw everyone off. We’re still feeling the aftermath of that time as it was still just under a year ago that we were living it. Now, we are also facing strikes that are redefining the entire industry, at this point while Marvel is certainly facing shaky grounds, it’s not something that seems specific to them looking at how few films performed in 2023.
In a market increasingly filled with comic book adaptations, there truly is nothing quite like Amazon’s Invincible. Like Robert Kirkman‘s long-running comic book, the turbulent first season of Invincible took unsuspecting audiences by surprise and was almost universally well-received, something that’s just about impossible given the present climate around comic book-based media. Over two and a half years after Season 1’s debut, the first half of Season 2 is set to premiere on Amazon on Friday, November 3rd and the four episodes that comprise it are every bit as riotous, unrestrained and sublime as the hit first season.
While the savage and sanguinary nature of the superhero action depicted in the series attracts the lion’s share of attention, it’s hardly what makes Invincible great. Another Amazon superhero series, The Boys, is equally disruptive in that regard and is even more jarring in its live-action depiction of just how brutal superheroes can be when they unleash the true depths of their powers. Rather what truly sets Invincible apart and keeps it on top through the first four episodes of Season 2 is its ability to make the audience succumb to its pathos. That’s a consequence, of course, of having one of the most sympathetic and relatable main characters in the genre in Mark Grayson. As is the case with Peter Parker–a hero to whom Invincible is often compared and even teamed up with once–there’s as much time spent on Grayson’s everyday dilemmas as there is his time in the suit.
What truly makes it work is the fact that there’s so much overlap between the two. While Season 2 is absolutely loaded (almost bloated) with new plot elements, the first four episodes take place in the wake of Mark’s battle with his father, Nolan, aka Omni-Man. The revelation of Nolan’s true nature took as much, if not more, of a toll on Mark’s life as their fight did on Chicago. The sophomore season tracks Mark as he tries to re-anchor himself in his personal life while being pulled exponentially harder into the void as Earth’s savior that was created by his father’s disappearance. Gone, not forgotten and destined to return, Nolan has a major presence in the second season even before he’s seen on screen.
Further excavation and exploration of just why Invincible continues to work so well when other adaptations often fall short of expectations present an interesting possibility for other studios to consider. While it’s not a perfect one-to-one page-to-screen adaptation of the comics, Amazon’s Invincible is far more direct than any of the recent works presented by the competition. That’s almost certainly a result of having Kirkman, who created the character in 2003 and has curated him now for over two decades, deeply involved in the development of the series. While it’s not a hard and fast rule, nobody loves and understands characters quite like the people who created them. Kirkman’s role in overseeing the translation of the comic into the animated series has ensured that any changes made to the source material are in line with who the characters were intended to be. While it’s a show full of violence, gore and things you may wish you’d never seen, the love and care taken to develop, produce and present Invincible as an animated adventure gush forth in every episode.
If there’s anything to bemoan in the first part of Season 2 it’s that for as wonderful of a job as it does continuing Mark’s story and the story of the stories of the supporting cast, it also feels just a bit too busy. Interestingly enough, it’s Invincible’s coherence to comic book conventions that create that quandary. With plans for a third season already established, some of the screentime in Season 2 is spent introducing characters–I’m looking at you, Angstrom Levy–who played a role in the 144 issues of Kirkman’s comic but don’t really have much of a role in THIS season…at least so far. Truth be told, there’s no mountain to be made out of this molehill and most fans who aren’t familiar with the comics will likely forget about the characters and subplots entirely until they need to Google or rewatch episodes in order to remember.
Every bit as frenetic and enjoyable as its first season, Invincible Season 2 looks to be a can’t-miss/must-see for fans of the genre. From the animation style reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons like Inspector Gadget and Transformers to the inclusion of iconic voice talents such as Mark Hamill and Peter Cullen, ’80s kid Kirkman is having a blast bringing his comic series to the screen and it shows.
Some might be wondering what makes an opening of $68M record-breaking may have forgotten that horror films may have legs but they aren’t big openers. Five Nights at Freddy’s is the next major video game adaptation of the year that has seemingly kicked off with Thursday night previews of $10.3M. That helped catapult it to a powerful $34M Friday opening and is setting the film on a path to open at around $68M. Word-of-mouth is going to be critical especially with this being a day-and-date release on Peacock.
That opening is higher than Halloween Kills ($49.9M) and Halloween Ends ($40M). It has now gained the biggest opening weekend for any horror release. It’s the third biggest opening for a video game adaptation; it may still dethrone Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s $72M if word-of-mouth is strong, and it’s even the second biggest Blumhouse opening. It’s also the second largest day-and-date release since Black Widow during the peak of COVID, which opened to $80.3M.
The film has strong Social Media coverage given how large the fandom surrounding Five Nights at Freddy’s has grown. The film is based on a video game franchise from a single person that started as his final gamble of finding a foot in the industry before it ballooned into one of the biggest horror gaming franchises based on an indie property. The film is facing the usual PostTrak exits of its genre so the weekend hold is going to be interesting moving forward.
It’s been a wild ride for Disney+ and Marvel Studios. Now that the WGA regulations are in place based on the new deal, the studio’s head writer concept has been scrapped to return to a more traditional showrunner method. The Punisher’sDario Scardapane is seemingly taking over as showrunner for the Daredevil: Born Again series (uncertain if that name will remain) and is joined by the directing duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who are making quite a name for themselves with their work on the Loki Season 2 episodes that are getting quite a bit of social media attention.
The series was filmed in New York but after it was paused due to the strikes, it seemed that Marvel Studios wasn’t quite satisfied with what they got and original head writers Matt Corman and Chris Ord left the project. Given the character’s history with the Netflix series considered one of the best adaptations, it’s no surprise that they are trying to make sure that this one truly sticks the landing. Benson and Moorhead are attached to direct the new episodes to finish out the first season but no one knows how much they will overhaul the entire show.
The strikes are turning 2024 into a wasteland at this rate. While some projects were pushed back, the hope that perhaps everything gets cleared in time to promote major releases is becoming a major issue. Marvel Studios is still sticking to its The Marvels release but it’s not been rosy for theaters looking towards the next year, or even 2025.
Still, it seems Tom Cruise’s next major entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise has been delayed by an entire year as Paramount has also pushed A Quiet Place: Day One back around two months. Seems they are being quite cautious going into next year. The other bizarre decision is that Dead Reckoning Part Two is going to get its own title. That is kind of a weird way to react after already naming the previous one Dead Reckoning Part 1.
It seems production wasn’t finalized on the film, which has now been bumped back to May 23rd, 2025 from its initial June 28th, 2024 release. There’s also a high expectation of other major releases getting pushed back even further. Even Spongebob Squarepants’ new film has been pushed back to December 19th, 2025, as it gave its release date to Mission Impossible. We’ll have to see what remains of next year’s slate.
This is an adorable middle-grade graphic novel. That’s the easiest way to describe this book. Billie Blaster and the Robot Army from Outer Space is an out-there, ridiculous story that has just as much wit as it does heart. It did take me a bit to read this one, but that wasn’t due to the book. Once I was able to dedicate enough time to dive back into the book, I found myself wondering why it had taken me so long.
Billie Blaster is about a young girl named Billie Blaster who is incredibly smart and enjoys creating over-the-top science experiments; this, of course, isn’t entirely surprising given her parents are both renown scientists. Unfortunately, though, Hector, a student in her class, doesn’t think Billie is worthy of the praise and success she’s had over the years. He’s grown tired of coming in second-place at the science fair every year and sets out to take her down.
What ensues is a story that is otherworldly, hilarious, and wonderfully strange. While the book focuses on the weird – toilet weasels, fart guns, and evil pigeons – it also takes the time to show the differences between Billie and Hector. As Billie comes to learn, Hector might have a legitimate reason to be upset. Unlike her, he doesn’t have a lab at his hands to develop any and everything he’d like to create. He’s forced to work out of his parents’ house in the same room they do laundry. He works harder than her, because he has to, and Billie is understanding about his desire to be better than her – although, despite her best attempts, Hector is unwilling to reason with Billie.
Billie Blaster is the perfect book for middle-grade students to read. At that age, it’s all about developing an identity and trying to be the best version of themselves. Billie Blaster is the perfect read for that – and the artwork is pretty great to look at.
Editor’s Note: This very is very delayed due to personal tragedies that I’ve had over the past few months. I would like to apologize to Amulet Books for the late review.
The headlines surrounding The Marvels are surprisingly harsher than you’d expect from a tentpole summer release like The Flash. DC’s general struggle this summer has led to some mixed feelings on what the future has in store for the superhero genre yet other releases seem to hint that the genre isn’t fully out. At the same time, there are enough examples throughout the entire summer that blockbuster fatigue is a bigger issue looming over cinemas going into a strike-affected 2024.
The current projection for The Marvels have been a bit all over the place. Box Office Pro has a more subdued $50M with a high point of $70M. Its pre-sales trackings are quite a bit behind other Marvel tentpoles, especially 2023 releases. It also simply be a showcase that the frontloading era these films have enjoyed fizzled out early on, as even Elemental proves there are still some legs for Disney releases.
Projections by The Hollywood Reporter are a bit more positive with a potential high of $80M for the Marvel Studios release, which may be quite a bit behind the initial Captain Marvel with its $153.4M. Three female leads are a big selling point of the project, especially after the success of Barbie a few months back It also grew from its initial $70M prediction but word-of-mouth is going to be the deciding factor here. However, the fact that its leads can’t actually promote the film is likely a huge factor.
What also seems to be easily forgotten is that Captain Marvel enjoyed the build-up towards Avengers: Endgame and her potentially major role in that franchise “ender” as some claim it was. So, we might be seeing what the film originally might have opened to plus the name-change could also be a factor that people aren’t seeing it necessarily as a sequel even if trailers try to highlight that aspect (to be fair, barely any MCU entry acts like a true sequel but rather just an additional chapter for a specific character).
Is it the end of Marvel Studios? Who knows at this point, but they are still holding on better than DC is with a questionable reboot. What everyone believed was the “biggest flop” of the year with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania turned out to be a high bar barely any major release would reach. Even after the summer blockbuster, the film remains the eight highest-grosser of the year domestically.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Barbie were the exceptions rather than the rule this summer which saw major franchises like The Flash, Dungeons & Dragons, Shazam, Transformers, Indiana Jones, Blue Beetle, and even Mission Impossible fizzle out with huge post-COVID budgets. Exhibitors should be more scared that going to the movies is becoming a rarer occurrence and relying on two or three tentpoles per year is not going to keep the box office afloat long-term; even if some are hailing the end of superhero movies and its fatigue discussions.
Marvel Studios’ Deadpool 3 has reportedly vacated its release date. Deadline reports that the superhero flick will no longer make its previously announced May 2024 release date. This, of course, is due to the ongoing actors strike. The outlet further reports that, even if the strike should be resolved soon, the film isn’t expected to resume production until early 2024.
It’s thought that Captain America: Brave New World, which was set for a July release, could move up to May 3rd. That film, unlike Deadpool 3, managed to finish production prior to the strike. However, nothing has been decided as of now. Should the film move, that would open up the July 26th date, as well as the December 20th date, which originally belonged to the delayed Thunderbolts film.
The ongoing strike is expected to impact even more films, so it’s likely we’ll see even more films pushed back soon. Until the studios opt to finally meet the demands of the actors.
It seems that the iconic Disney cartoon from the 1990s is making its way to Disney+ once more, but this time as a live-action series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gary Dauberman and James Wan’s Atomic Monster is set to help develop the series based on the iconic series that featured, you guessed it, Gargoyles living in modern-day facing unlikely enemies. It’s in early development and it seems Wan alongside Michael Clear is attached to executive produce while Dauberman will act as showrunner and writer on the series. This also signifies the WGA contract moving Disney+ away from their head writer experiment.
Gargoyles ran for three seasons between 1994 to 1997, which saw a bunch of gargoyles end up in modern-day New York. They are released from a thousand-year curse and end up becoming the protectors of the city at night, as they are but simple statues during the day. Greg Weisman originally created the series and it became an iconic part of 90s’ cartoon culture alongside X-Men: The Animated Series and Batman: The Animated Series with is more adult themes.
It seems that Disney considered an adaptation back in 2010 but after the flop of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, they did not move along anymore. Dauberman is a big get given his success with horror franchise Annabelle and his involvement with The Conjuring. He also made his directorial debut with Annabelle Comes Home, which opens up the possibility that he’ll also act as director on the series in some format, but that has not been confirmed in any way.
Despite some positive momentum in the immediate aftermath of the settlement of the WGA strike, actors remain on strike as negotiations between SAG and AMPTP have broken down once again. As such, productions for screens both big and small remain on hold and with the strike now looking like it might drag into November or beyond, 2024 release dates are certainly in jeopardy. One project with such a date is Marvel Studios Deadpool 3 which was already deep in production in London when the strikes shut everything down. Should the SAG strike resolve soon, could the Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman team-up make its May 3rd, 2024 release date?
It doesn’t sound good, according to director Shawn Levy. In a recent interview with Yahoo!, Levy, who worked with Reynolds on Free Guy and The Adam Project and with Jackman on Real Steel, admitted that while “half the movie” has been shot and edited, he’s uncertain if they can make the date…or if the film is even still slated for May 3rd.
I wish I knew. I don’t even know if we officially have [a release date]. I know we were gonna be May 3. Certainly, the actors’ strike and the long pause in production have put that release date in true risk. We’ve shot half the movie. I’ve edited half the movie. We’re dying to get back to work and get this movie out next year.
Shawn Levy on the chances that Deadpool 3 makes its release date
After reshuffling its entire release slate in June, Disney has remained silent about what to expect in 2024 and beyond since, even skipping SDCC where they’ve often had a big presence. Should cameras roll on Deadpool 3 again in 2023, it might be possible for the film to make the May 3rd date; however, given recent concerns with VFX workers at Marvel Studios, it seems more likely that it might end up being pushed down the road a bit. Perhaps it might find itself filling the staked-out July 26th, 2024 release date that once belonged to Thunderbolts (which will certainly not end up in theaters until 2025) and is now set aside for Captain America: Brave New World. As fun as speculating is, however, it’s fruitless to think too hard about all these dates until the SAG strike is resolved AND cameras start to roll again.
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