Murphy's Multiverse

Blog

  • Sarah Polley to Direct a Live-Action ‘Bambi’ Film

    Sarah Polley to Direct a Live-Action ‘Bambi’ Film

    Bambi is about to return to theaters but this time in live-action. Disney continues its goal of adapting various of its animated classics into the new format. Now, they are set to tackle probably the one that destroyed many’s childhoods. Woman Talking director Sarah Polley has seemingly decided to tackle the live-action adaptation next, a project they’ve been trying to bring to life since 2020. Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Lindsey Beer were attached to write, but there’s no word if their script is being used.

    Of course, just because the film has a director, It doesn’t mean that they’ll also have someone set to write given the WGA strike. They might have made the deal to ensure they have someone attached to the project once the strike ends (if it does at this rate). This is the latest adaptation after The Little Mermaid just hit theaters, which currently has pulled in $414M in theaters.

    Bambi is actually an adaptation of a 1923 novel by Felix Salten titled Bambi, a Life in the Woods. Disney’s adaptation is only their fifth-ever animated movie directed by David Hand. It’ll be interesting if this adaptation is going to take the same route as Jon Favreau’s The Lion King with a “live-action adaptation” consisting of mostly CG characters. Perhaps they cast the infamous Hunter with an actual actor or he remains a shadow in the background.

    Source: Deadline

  • Marvel Studios Removes Two Films from Its 2025 Slate

    Marvel Studios Removes Two Films from Its 2025 Slate

    In addition to a staggering amount of moves to its upcoming theatrical slate, Marvel Studios has removed two films from its 2025 slate.

    Per an official release from Disney, a pair of untitled Marvel Studios films, originally dated July 25th, 2025 and November 7th, 2025, are no longer Marvel Studios films.

    UNTITLED DISNEY is the updated title of UNTITLED MARVEL dated on 7/25/25

    UNTITLED DISNEY is the updated title of UNTITLED MARVEL dated on 11/7/25

    It is likely that these changes come as a result of the ongoing WGA strike. With writers not working during the strike, development on any potential 2025 scripts will have halted completely.

    As it stands, the official updated slate only shows two Marvel Studios films will hit theaters in 2025. Blade, which has faced ongoing challenges in its development, has been tentatively rescheduled for February 14th, 2025 and Fantastic Four has, for now, been moved to May 2nd, 2025.

    At this time, the 2026 slate still features four films:

    Untitled Marvel on February 13th
    Avengers: Kang Dynasty on May 1st
    Untitled Marvel on July 24th
    Untitled Marvel on November 6th

    Updating…

  • Disney’s ‘Avatar’ Franchise Restructures Release Schedule

    Disney’s ‘Avatar’ Franchise Restructures Release Schedule

    As part of Disney’s sweeping changes to their theatrical slate, the release schedule for James Cameron‘s Avatar franchise has been significantly altered. While the next three films in the series were originally intended to roll out every other year beginning in 2024 and ending in 2028, the changes will now push the series into the next decade.

    Originally slated for a December 20th, 2024 release date, the untitled Avatar 3 will now release in December 2025. Avatar 4 will move from its intended 2026 release date into 2029 and Avatar 5, once set for 2028, is not looking at a 2031 release.

    Updating…

    Source: THR

  • Disney Adds Two Star Wars Films to Its 2026 Slate

    Disney Adds Two Star Wars Films to Its 2026 Slate

    At Star Wars Celebration 2023, it became clear that Lucasfilm intended to make a splash in their return to theaters. Just a few months later, the studio has staked out a pair of new theatrical dates.

    According to THR, Lucasfilm, which has not released a film since 2019’s Star Wars: Episode IX-The Rise of Skywalker, will now have two releases in 2026. The first of those, originally slated for 2025, will debut on May 22nd, 2026 and will be followed up with another theatrical release on December 18th, 2026. They are joined on the slate by the preexisting December 17th, 2027 date and it’s likely that those 3 dates will be occupied by the three films revealed at Star Wars Celebration.

    Of Lucasfilm’s 3 announced films, it’s believed that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy‘s New Jedi Order era film, which was being rewritten by Steven Knight after Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson left the project, is furthest along in development. That makes May 22nd, 2026 the likely landing spot for that film and it now seems likely that it will be joined that year by Dave Filoni‘s New Republic-era film which might occupy the new December 18th, 2026 date. James Mangold‘s Dawn of the Jedi-era project remains in development but given the director’s current slate, it seems likeliest to end up in 2027.

    Source: THR

  • Marvel Studios Makes Major Changes to Phase 5 and 6 Release Dates

    Marvel Studios Makes Major Changes to Phase 5 and 6 Release Dates

    As part of a multitude of moves made by Disney, Marvel Studios upcoming film slate has been changed significantly.

    Resultant to the production delays caused by the ongoing WGA strike, Marvel has made a series of changes beginning in 2024. Deadpool 3 will now kick off their theatrical offerings, opening on May 3, 2024, a date that was originally supposed to see the debut of Captain America: Brave New World. Sam Wilson’ first feature film as Captain America will now instead open on July 26, 2024–where Thunderbolts was slated. In turn, Thunderbolts, which has not yet begun production, will be released on December 20th, 2024 which was originally set aside for Avatar 3.

    Blade, which like Thunderbolts has not begun production because of the WGA strike, will now move to February 14th, 2025. The domino effect continues, moving Fantastic Four to May 2nd, 2025 where Avengers: The Kang Dynasty was originally intended to debut. That film is now slated for May 1, 2026 which was the original date of Avengers: Secret Wars and so, as you’ve probably guessed by now, Secret Wars will now release a full year later on May 7, 2027.

    Before

    May 3, 2024-Captain America: Brave New World

    July 26, 2024-Thunderbolts

    September 6, 2024-Blade

    November 8, 2024-Deadpool 3

    December 20, 2024-Avatar 3

    After

    May 3, 2024-Deadpool 3

    July 26, 2024-Captain America: Brave New World

    September 6, 2024-Untitled Disney

    November 8, 2024-The Amateur

    December 20, 2024-Thunderbolts

    The net result, of course, is one less Marvel Studios film in 2024.

    Source: THR

  • ‘Superman & Lois’ Renewed, ‘Gotham Knights’ Canceled

    ‘Superman & Lois’ Renewed, ‘Gotham Knights’ Canceled

    The CW has opted to renew Superman & Lois for a fourth season, while opting to cancel freshman series Gotham Knights. The news was announced on Monday evening. Both shows, along with All American: Homecoming, were the final shows from the network awaiting renewal decisions following the network’s upfronts last month.

    Now under new ownership, thanks to Nexstar, the CW is looking to rebrand and (hopefully) make the network profitable finally. Nexstar took time to evaluate each series – weighing the pros and cons before making any type of decision – and ultimately seemed to look at the views for each series. While Gotham Knights is said to be the cheapest of any DC series over the years, it lacked the audience to justify bringing it back. Superman & Lois, on the other hand, might’ve carried a hefty price tag but also managed to be the second most-watched show on the CW within the past year.

    Superman & Lois joins three others shows moving forward from the CW: All American, Walker, and All American: Homecoming. The show, which is returning for its fourth season, is expected to see an episode reduction in season four. As of now, Superman & Lois is expected to have a ten-episode fourth season, down three episodes from season three.

    Source: THR.

  • Al Ewing and Leonard Kirk Set to Open ‘Avengers Inc.’

    Al Ewing and Leonard Kirk Set to Open ‘Avengers Inc.’

    Immortal Hulk, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ultimates writer Al Ewing and Sabretooth and Sabretooth & The Exiles artist Leonard Kirk are launching a brand new take on the Avengers this Fall featuring one of the founding members of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. OG Avenger Janet Van Dyne will headline Avengers Inc., an ongoing series that will see her “out to solve the most amazing, fantastic and uncanny whodunnits the Marvel Universe has to offer!” according to Ewing.

    Her name is Janet Van Dyne. She’s a hero. She’s a celebrity. She’s hunting a killer. His name is Victor Shade. He’s a villain. He’s an enigma. He just got killed. And together, they’re out to solve every mystery in the Marvel Universe…starting with their own.

    Marvel.com

    The new book–which will feature “direct connections” to Jed MacKay and C.F. Villa’s main Avengers title–will begin “with a deadly conspiracy rooted in the ghosts of the Avengers’ past that only founding Avenger Wasp can solve. But she won’t be alone as she finds a new partner in Victor Shade! This former alias of Vision mysteriously resurfaces just as Janet discovers a score of Super Villain murders. Will he guide Wasp to the truth or is his familiar guise hiding the very clues Janet needs to crack the case?“

    As Ewing explains, “Avengers Inc. takes the beating, buzzing heart of the original Avengers, teams her up with an undead mystery man with an identity so secret even he doesn’t know it, and sends them both out to solve the most amazing, fantastic and uncanny whodunnits the Marvel Universe has to offer!” “It’s kind of a classic ‘will-they-won’t-they’ crime-solving partnership—or it would be if the ‘will-they’ in question was ‘save the world from…’ Well, that’d be telling. See you in September!” teased the author.

    “I am unsure what can be said of Avengers Inc. without spoiling anything for the readers,” said Kirk. “I can say this is a fun and intriguing take on some familiar characters that leans more into detective skills over super strength, wit rather than eye beams and cunning instead of small, genetically mutated, furry creatures. Al is doing a bang up job with this and I am having a load of fun. I hope the audience does too.“

    Source: Marvel.com

  • ‘Persona 3’ Remake Will Not Include Portable or FES Content

    ‘Persona 3’ Remake Will Not Include Portable or FES Content

    We’ve kind of expected it but luckily Persona 3 Reload producer Ryota Niitsuma and chief director Kazuhisa Wada did not let fans speculate for long if we’re going to see any additional content from previous Persona 3 editions included in the upcoming remake. In an interview with IGN, they confirmed that the game is a remake of the 2006 PlayStation 2 original.

    So first I’d like to mention that since the basic concept of the Persona 3 remake was to remake the Persona 3, we don’t have the FES and Portable contents included. We wanted to really genuinely work on recreating the Persona 3 experience.

    Ryota Niitsuma

    This might naturally annoy some as there’s the hunt for the “definite” edition of the iconic entry. FES is no longer accessible for those that don’t already won’t the game for PlayStation 2 and Portable doesn’t include that content. Plus, the female main character (FeMC as fans call her) was a great addition that brought along new social links and a new twist on the familiar story.

    So we can’t really go into the details at this point yet, but we have remade basically everything from scratch as for Persona 3 the original version,” Niitsuma said. “So we have newly recorded voices, we have new scenes and events. We also have both new and arranged music. We’ll be kind of releasing that information, following everything. So please look forward to that
    Ryota Niitsuma

    Their goal was to bring the original game to the modern era and preserve what made it stand out, while still taking the big learnings they had from Persona 5‘s experience. The franchise has changed quite a bit and while there is some skepticism on taking on these P5-esque elements, it does make sense they want to make sure of them to expand upon what made the original stand out.

    So the basic concept of recreating the Persona story was that we wanted to keep everything from the original version, but update everything to the modern day. So at the same level of Persona 5, basically. So we have the newest graphics, we have updated the system to the newest usability… We have the voice lines in [both Japanese and English.] We also have the text available in 13 languages. So you should be able to have similar experiences to that of Persona 5.

    Kazuhisa Wada

    Many are speculating that we might either see a new version that includes the missing content or we might even just have it as DLC. It’s surprising they didn’t just create two versions of the game similar to the Pokémon franchise but that might be for the best considering that those elements haven’t aged great for those wanting a fuller experience from a game. We’ll have to see if FES‘ story The Answer or even the FeMC might appear at a later point in this game.

    Source: IGN

  • New Details and Voice Cast Revealed for ‘Persona 3 Reload’

    New Details and Voice Cast Revealed for ‘Persona 3 Reload’

    Ahead of the Xbox Game Showcase, Atlus West accidentally leaked the trailer early for Persona 3 Reload; a remake of the iconic game that started the day system the franchise became famous for. Now that the trailer is officially released, we finally have some insights into what exactly we can expect from the new take on the iconic game that started Persona’s growth into the franchise it is today.

    The one complaint some had was that Junpei Iori’s design in the footage shown was a bit off. And interestingly enough, the new website, P3RE.jp (which was part of why we knew the remake was coming eventually) gave us some brand new character portraits highlighting the updated designs that pay a bit more tribute to the original designs.

    It also looks like they are, indeed, going to have a new dub for the entire game. Some of the voice acting hasn’t aged too well when replaying Persona 3 Portable’s remaster and it wasn’t too surprising they’d go down this route but it’s definitely great to get a confirmation that they will add a new voice cast. It’s uncertain if some will return but it seems the one’s confirmed so far are:

    • Dawn M. Bennett as Aigis
    • Allegra Clark as Mitsuru Kirijo
    • Alejandro Saab as Akihiko Sanada
    • Zeno Robinson as Junpei Iori
    • Suzie Yeung as Fuuka Yamagishi
    • Justine Lee as Ken Amada
    • Justice Slocum as Shinjiro Aragaki
    • Heather Gonzalez as Yukari Takeba
    • Aleks Le as the Protagonist

    That isn’t all, as a few screenshots from the game have also been released that offers a first look at some more gameplay with you interacting with some of the cast members. While the menu and everything remains pretty much the same (keep in mind this is very likely still an early version of the build that is being shown off and quite a few elements can change throughout the production) it does confirm that we are getting an animated opening and sequences. So, it won’t all just be in-game animations for this adaptation.

    The game looks quite promising and we’ll hopefully get a good look at more in the coming months. While the primary focus will very likely be on Persona 5 Tactica ahead of its release, they may still share a new trailer that confirms the already leaked multi-console release of the game. There’s already a second trailer that does seem to show some slight changes from the initial showcase so we’ll see what else they might share.

    Source: Twitter, P3RE, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter

  • ‘Transformers’ & ‘Spider-Man’ to Battle for Top Spot at the Domestic Box Office

    ‘Transformers’ & ‘Spider-Man’ to Battle for Top Spot at the Domestic Box Office

    Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has finally been released in theaters and is surprising quite a bit. While early predictions expected the film to open around $40M, it had a stronger Friday opening and is heading to $60M opening weekend at the domestic box office. Surprisingly though, that might not be enough to dethrone the current box office reign of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Currently, it is slightly edging out the film with $60M against $55.9M but Sunday could still make all the difference.

    The film overall is showing a strong international box office and is going to open north of $160M worldwide. China remains the biggest fan of this robot-in-disguise franchise with an $11.8M Friday. The market has overall shown quite a bit of healing over the last few months. The Little Mermaid struggled quite a bit but it seems Transformers might reignite the excitement before the next major release The Flash.

    It’s a strong jump from the initial expectations. While it didn’t hit the highs of the hopeful $70M, it does give the film a bit more of a chance to make its money back. There’s hoping to build up the iconic franchise again even after Bumblebee underperformed with $21.6M and The Last Knight’s $44.6M. There’s a chance that if they keep pushing it could return to a $100M+ opening again but it’s definitely a hopeful start for the franchise, especially with a decent A- CinemaScore.

    The big question is if the latest Spider-Verse entry will surprise given it already has shown some strong legs. The summer box office is stacked and it definitely has proven that family fare and strong word-of-mouth can carry quite a few projects. Fast X is the only big release that one could say lost any momentum going into its second weekend but we still have a few big releases that will show if people put all their money in early or not.

    Source: Deadline, Deadline (WW)