Disney’s live-action reimagining of the 1989 animated classic, The Little Mermaid, looks set to have one of the top five Memorial Day box office takes of all time with experts predicting as much as $125M. Critics have given the film mostly positive reviews and given it a thumbs up as a worthy companion to the beloved original. Now, following its opening night, audiences have given their opinion.
After taking in the film on its first Friday, audiences have spoken loud and clear about where they stand on the remaining with it grading out with an A according to Cinemascore.
Critics and audiences seem to agree that the film, carried by the strong performance Halle Bailey as Ariel, stands tall among Disney’s efforts to reimagine its catalog of animated classics. That’s good news for the studio whose Disney Plus release of Peter Pan & Wendy certainly didn’t catch the same positivity.
The Little Mermaid is set to continue Disney’s trend of bringing their beloved animated classics to a new generation in live-action. It’s not an easy task and while there have been many discussions on if it truly played out for the studio, there’s a lot of hope with the talents behind this project that it’ll stand out from what came before.
During the official press conference for the Disney remake, Jonah Hauer-King, who plays Prince Eric, got a chance to share what he believes makes this version of the iconic romance between his character and Ariel stand out from the original. He highlights that it’s “friendship” and how they tackle what connects these characters rather than the love at first sight trope.
Friendship, I think. Disney romances are always, you know, they’re filled with that instinctive attraction to one another. We all wanna see that. But I think what was fun about this, and I think a lot of it came from our off-screen selves as well, was looking at Ariel and Eric as two people who were kindred spirits. Who felt a little bit restless, who felt like they were behind the four walls of their respective castles, and were very much looking outwards and not in.
Jonah Hauer-King
It’s definitely a great move to add a bit more depth to their romance by having them share a common theme. Ariel’s journey is all about going beyond the world she knows, and having Eric reflect that on the surface adds a little something extra to give more insight into what connects them.
And I think what was nice about that was that it meant that their relationship feels really earnt. They both felt like they were teaching each other things. They were excited and fascinated by each other’s worlds although they didn’t actually know it until the end.
Jonah Hauer-King
Of course, it’s one thing saying that this was their approach and something pushed further by their bond behind the scenes, the challenge will definitely be in how they showcase it for viewers. The Little Mermaid’s remake will be longer than the original and they might make use of that additional time to add a bit more depth to the story and just give them more time to share their experiences.
Who do you trust? Unless it’s Patti LuPone, it’s probably not any actor or actress rumored to be part of a Marvel Studios project. Over the years, the lying and dissembling has grown farcical as the talent attached to projects roll out the same tired denials. Of course, every now and then, someone rumored to be boarding a project actually isn’t; however, given the growing number of denials, it’s often hard for fans to discern who they can trust…especially when it’s someone they’d like to see in their favorite franchise. Now it looks like fans are facing another decision as Secret Invasion’s debut approaches.
In an interview with Screen Rant, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actress Chloe Bennet, who has been rumored to appear in Marvel Studios next big streaming series denied that she’ll be appearing in any Marvel Studios projects. In fact, Bennet said that while she would love to reprise her role as Quake, she’s never been contacted by the studio for a role in any of their projects.
“Of course. Of course, I would be open to it,” said Bennet of the opportunity to return to the role she filled on the ABC series. “Listen, there’s a lot of stuff around that. I so deeply love S.H.I.E.L.D.’s fans because it’s this tenacity that got the show on air to begin with.”
Despite her willingness to suit back up, however, it seems the studio just hasn’t found the right project for her return. “I have not once been approached or asked or involved in anything after I wrapped S.H.I.E.L.D.,” claimed Bennet. “And I am not involved in anything that is coming out. I’ve not been asked, but I would be more than excited to put on the suit again. And, of course, of course, Daisy is a big part of who I am. So I would love to, but I have not been communicated [with] about it.“
For fans who have been around the denial block a time or two, most of what Bennet had to say sounds awfully familiar. Over the past few years, Charlie Cox, Andrew Garfield, Jonathan Majors and Tatiana Maslanyjoined the prestigious list of actors forced to lie to fans despite their involvement in projects being fairly well-known. Has Bennet joined them? Or are all the rumors, hints and teases of her role in Secret Invasion all false? Who do you trust?
Be seeing you…and apparently sooner rather than later. During an earnings call, Lionsgate’s Joe Drake revealed that a fifth installment in the central franchise of the expanding Wickverse was in development. With the streaming series The Continental set to roll out on Peacock in September and the Ana de Armas-led spinoff, Ballerina, hitting theaters in 2024 fans of the wild, assassin-filled universe will have plenty of content to keep them entertained despite what appeared to be the end of John’s story in John Wick 4. It turns out that John may not get to rest after all.
“What is official is that, as you know, Ballerina is the first spinoff that comes out next year,” said Drake. “We’re in development on three others, including five and including the television series, The Continental, which will be airing soon,” he revealed, adding “we’re building out the world and when that five movie comes, it will be organic — will be organically grown out of how we’re starting to tell those stories. But you can rely on a regular cadence of John Wick.”
John Wick 4 debuted in theaters in March of 2023 and opened to a franchise-best first weekend at the box office. Following its debut, director Chad Stahelski indicated that while a fifth film in the series might be an option at some point, he had hoped to let the character enjoy his well-earned respite. It seems as though Lionsgate has other plans for the character and the world that’s been built around him.
As production delays begin to stack up amid the ongoing WGA strike, fans are becoming increasingly concerned that Marvel Studios 2024 slate will be wiped out. While that’s certainly one possibility at this point, there are plenty of other options that are far rosier. With the content-less 2020 still fresh in fans’ minds, it’s worth taking a look at how the dips and dives of 2023 might help dodge a deserted 2024.
The Original Plan
Just over a year ago, Kevin Feige rolled out a massive slate update at SDCC ’22. That slate included an ambitious 2024 plan that included two Phase Five series (Agatha: Coven of Chaos and Daredevil: Born Again), two Phase Five films (Captain America: New World Order and Thunderbolts) three untitled Phase Six series and one Phase Six film (Fantastic Four).
Ch-ch-ch-changes
By late September 2022, another Phase Five movie was added when Deadpool 3 was officially announced. Just a month later, Blade was given a September 6, 2024 release date, moving Deadpool 3 to November 8, 2024 and pushing 2024’s Phase Five film total to 4 and sliding Fantastic Four into 2025.. Bob Iger’s return to Disney further altered the 2024 slate as his new mandates concerning the curation of the company’s streaming content shuffled Marvel Studios’ 2023 plans a bit, pushing Agatha: Coven of Chaos firmly out of 2023 and indefinitely delaying the release of Ironheart.
It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to understand that if these projects don’t restart/start production in a reasonable amount of time then they won’t make their 2024 release dates. Could fans be looking at another content-less year in 2024?
Potential New Scenarios
The answer is almost definitely not thanks to streaming. In March, Marvel Studios seemingly accidentally tipped their hand and revealed what looks to be a pretty accurate slate for their LIVE-ACTION series on Disney Plus.Ironheart looks slated to kick off 2024 and there have been no reports that any reshoots or additional photography have been or will be impacted by the strike. It seems most of the work being done on that series is in post-production VFX and it’ll be ready to stream whenever Iger gives it the go-ahead. Principal photography on Agatha: Coven of Chaos should be wrapped by June-ish allowing the show to go into post-production and get ready for a 2024 release. Like every Marvel Studios project, it’s certainly scheduled for a round of reshoots/additional photography and while that likely can’t happen while the strike is ongoing (they would have to have written the reshoots before the strike), they could take place at any time after the strike ends in 2023 or 2024 and still make its way to Disney Plus by mid-2024. Given its nearly year-long shoot, Daredevil: Born Again‘s status is far more tenuous than either of the other two aforementioned projects but so far, so good. It’s also set to be an 18-episode series with recent rumors suggesting it will be broken into two, nine-episode chunks and it’s safe to say that given the shooting schedule, they’ve probably filmed 4 or 5 of those episodes already. While it’s no sure thing, the first nine episodes could be ready to roll for late 2024.
It would seem there is far less certainty surrounding the studio’s 2024 theatrical offerings. Captain America: New World Order has completed a significant chunk of its production and, so far, has not been shut down as a result of the strike; however, reshoots are built-in and as mentioned above will not be done until after the strike. It’s currently set for a May 3, 2024 release, so unless the strike goes on through the end of the year, that date is manageable, though it’s beginning to look like the studio won’t have to hold it.
Even though the delay was just announced, it’s already tough to imagine that Thunderbolts will hit its July 26th, 2024 theatrical release. The strike would likely have to end in the next 4-6 weeks to allow the project to avoid the sort of rushed post-productions that have had Marvel Studios in the spotlight for the last year. Should the strike go on longer than that, it wouldn’t be too hard to imagine Captain America: New World Order being moved to July and having Thunderbolts move as well. But where would it land?
That answer might depend on the content of Deadpool 3. Should production on that project go on uninterrupted, it would be reasonable to assume that it would be ready to hit theaters by next July, should Captain America: New World Order be able to make its May 3, 2024 date. Whether or not the plot of Deadpool 3 is reliant on the other projects currently slated to release before it or not is another consideration and one that we can’t answer at present. However, if it can be moved and it does continue production, it could be ready for July or September, stepping in where it once was before Blade moved there.
While there’s no guarantee, Captain America: New World Order and Deadpool 3 are currently the best bets to release in 2024. The statuses of Thunderbolts and Blade, however, are inextricably tied to the timeline of the resolution of the WGA strike. Films that aren’t filmed can’t be released, so it is currently impossible to know when they’ll hit theaters. However, should the strike end by mid-to-late July, it’s possible that both films could still end up in 2024 with one taking the September 6th date and the other taking November 8th. Which one ends up where would simply then become a matter of which one is further along in production.
All that is contingent on Marvel Studios even feeling as though they need to stay on track with their current scheduled dates which is in no way certain because they are hardly the only studio whose slate will be impacted by the strike. Dates could shuffle at any time which is something we just can’t predict but if we assume they keep the four dates, dozens of scenarios unfold with a few that seem more likely than others.
Best Case Scenario
Q1-Ironheart May 3-Captain America: New World Order Q2-Agatha: Coven of Chaos July 26th-Deadpool 3 September 6-Blade/Thunderbolts Q4-Daredevil: Born Again November 8-Thunderbolts/Blade
A Scenario That Is Neither Best Case Nor Worse Case
Q1-Ironheart May 3-Captain America: New World Order Q2-Agatha: Coven of Chaos July 26th-Deadpool 3 Q4-Daredevil: Born Again
Not Quite Worst Case Scenario
Q1-Ironheart July 26-Captain America: New World Order Q3-Agatha: Coven of Chaos
While the last scenario seems improbable, it’s still on the table. Should the strike stretch out across the summer and into the fall, Marvel Studios will have to greatly rethink their slate. Should the strike end before SDCC ’23, it’s possible that Kevin Feige will stroll on stage with an updated slate; however, given how much things have changed since last year, how seriously should fans even take it?
As the writers’ strike continues, Hollywood is being forced to hit pause on upcoming projects. Two of the most recent projects impacted by the strike are Marvel Studios’ Wonder Man and Thunderbolts, with the former having already begun production and the latter having been readying for a June start.
Wonder Man and Thunderbolts join Blade as Marvel Studios projects now on hold indefinitely. Wonder Man has no official release window but Thunderbolts and Blade are tentatively slated for July 26th, 2024 and September 6, 2024 releases, respectively. It would seem that should the strike continue through the Summer and, perhaps, beyond that meeting those release dates would begin to become unrealistic for Marvel Studios.
As it currently stands, productions for Agatha: Coven of Chaos, Captain America: New World Order,Daredevil: Born Again and the third Deadpool film are still up and running. While principal photography on Kathryn Hahn‘s Agatha Harkness spinoff is coming to a close, the Deadpool and Wolverine team-up is just getting underway in the UK. It’s unknown how the strike might impact additional photography and/or reshoots which are a built-in part of every Marvel Studios production.
Here’s a surprise but it seems the summer tentpoles are showing quite a bit of a slowdown. The Little Mermaid is heading to a strong $120M+ opening weekend over Memorial Day, which puts it at $100M over three days. That is slightly behind the other Disney releases Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantmania but still a strong opening if the film has legs like the previous Guardians film.
The Flash is currently heading for $70M. It’s quite a bit lower than what Warner Bros. Discovery is banking on given that they used all of Shazam: Fury of the Gods‘ marketing budget on this film that they are pushing as “the best superhero film of all time.” The question remains if it’ll have strong word-of-mouth and legs afterward. If it offers what is promised, it does have a good chance but it’s still far from where you’d want your $250M+ film to open.
There’s also the depressing development of Pixar’s box office due to the Disney+ releases throughout the last few years. Elemental is looking at a $40M similar to Transformers, which would put it on track with Onward and The Good Dinosaur but even Ratatouille managed to become a success with a soft $47M. They just need to hope that old momentum carries over.
The Boogeyman, at its core, gets at the most basic of premises: What if the monster in the shadows that we feared as a child was real? Our protagonist Harper Family — a recently widowed father and his two daughters — represent the stages of life where that fear goes from real to remote, and as the story progresses, we experience the foreboding and the terror of a monster lurking in the place you forgot to look.
The film is carried by its cast, as Sophie Thatcher of Yellowjacketsfame brings a certain outcast quality along with her savvy. As the teenage daughter Sadie Harper, she’s too old for monsters, but she is nonetheless no stranger to trauma, as she is still steeped in sadness about her mother’s death. She’s the big sister that is expected to be the strong one, but grief casts a pall over her ability to see what she needs to see to protect her sister Sawyer from the very real danger that stalks them.
In her portrayal of Sawyer, Vivien Lyra Blair (Young Leia from Obi-Wan Kenobi) gives us a child who is desperate not to be the monster’s next victim but is also terrified (and rightfully so). As these types of movies are wont to do, we get a lot of scenes where we’re alone with her in rooms where the monster can be anywhere, and as viewers, her paranoia becomes ours, and her frustration at no one believing her invests us in her fate.
Chris Messina, on the other hand, is in the toughest spot as Will. He’s the dad, a therapist whose patient tells him about a monster, and whose children tell him about a monster as well, but his natural response is to conclude that the answer is more therapy, because monsters couldn’t possibly be real. His own grief, as he grapples with the loss of his wife is conveyed well by Messina, so even though his decisions aren’t particularly helpful in the face of the dangers his daughters face, he never crosses the line into unsympathetic.
This is a really good script, economical and well-paced, and director Rob Savage gives us the suspense shots and jump scares at the appropriate times. Characters get the right amount of screen time and don’t outstay their welcome. I won’t spoil the final body count here, but unsurprisingly, not everyone we meet makes it. And the creature design is solid. The screams are earned. I would say that if you’re a fan of gore, it might not scratch that particular itch, as it’s less about blood and guts and more about the psychological horror of a monster that doesn’t just want to gut you, but wants you to anticipate it.
Overall, The Boogeyman is a good thriller of a horror movie. It doesn’t necessarily tread new ground or push the genre forward, but with its capable leads, a solid emotional core, and terrifying sequences that will have you reconsidering every creepy crevice in your own home, it delivers the goods.
The Persona rumor mill continues to go haywire after a recent leak claimed a Persona 5 spinoff is joining the already hinted Persona 6 and rumored Persona 3 Remake. It’s Persona everywhere for the next two years, but there’s still nothing concrete. Sony’s PlayStation Showcase was a no-show for the franchise but a new website listing may be hinting at something Persona-related happening after all.
A new listing has been uncovered by Twitter user @MbKKssTBhz5, which is P5T.JP. The domain has just been created and fits the usual naming we see with anything Persona 5-related such as P5R for Persona 5 Royal, P5S for Persona 5 Strikers, and more. So, it would match the usual naming and adds more weight to the recent rumors of a potential spinoff.
The question now is what exactly the domain’s “T” stands for. Some are hoping for a fighting spinoff like the Arena series from Persona 4, but it may also be a direct sequel similar to Strikers. Though, it might get confusing for fans of Royal given that the first official sequel to P5 is actually only for the vanilla game. So, we’ll have to see just how they are interested in expanding this part o the franchise and how it might stand out between a Persona 3 Remake and the long-awaited sixth entry.
No, he’s sadly not going to play Boba Fett but Temuera Morrison will once again reprise his role as one of the many clones still out there in the vast galaxy in The Mandalorian spinoff series, Ahsoka. Though, this time around he’s going to be playing the fan-favorite character Captain Rex or also known as CT-7567 according to One Take News. There’s no word if Morrison is also going to play other clones, as they played a big role in Ahsoka Tano’s story throughout The Clone Wars and even Star Wars Rebels.
Captain Rex is one of the more popular members as he was one of the few that didn’t fall victim to the Order 66 inhibitor chip. He even returned in Star Wars Rebels and The Bad Batch due to his popularity. Dee Bradley Baker had the pleasure of voicing the clones throughout the animated ventures, but it’s great to see Morrison get the many opportunities to play the characters he originally brought to life.
He actually recently got the chance to play a veteran Clone, as he appears in Obi-Wan Kenobi for a brief cameo that highlights the fallout of the Clone Wars. At the time, many speculated if it might even be Rex down on his luck in a world that doesn’t need him anymore but it wouldn’t quite match what we saw of him during Rebels. For now, there’s no word if he’s in a flashback or the current day so we’ll have to wait and see once the series releases.
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