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  • ‘I am Legend’ Sequel Will Ignore the Film’s Original Ending

    ‘I am Legend’ Sequel Will Ignore the Film’s Original Ending

    I Am Legend will return with a sequel starring not only Michael B. Jordan but will also see the return of Will Smith. In the original film that was released all the way back in 2007, Smith‘s character sacrificed his life. So, many wondered how exactly the film will tackle that original storyline with this sequel.

    In an interview with Akiva Goldsman, who is returning to Warner Bros. in a new multi-year first-look deal, he revealed to be involved with the upcoming I Am Legend sequel alongside the long-awaited Constantine sequel starring Keanu Reeves once again. In it, he teased what we can expect a return to that world a decade later and compares it to the recent success of The Last of Us.

    This will start a few decades later than the first. I’m obsessed with The Last of Us, where we see the world just post-apocalypse but also after a 20-30-year lapse. You see how the earth reclaims the world, and there’s something beautiful in the question of, as man steps away from being the primary tenant, what happens? That will be especially visual in New York. I don’t know if they’ll climb up to the empire state building, but the possibilities are endless.

    Akiva Goldsman

    That is not all, as he also reveals that the upcoming adaptation will just ignore the official ending of the film and jump straight into the alternative ending featured on the physical release. He also highlights they are set to “trace back tot he original Matheson book” potentially hinting at the Vampire-aspect being featured more.

    We trace back to the original Matheson book, and the alternate ending as opposed to the released ending in the original film. What Matheson was talking about was that man’s time on the planet as the dominant species had come to an end. That’s a really interesting thing we’re going to get to explore. There will be a little more fidelity to the original text

    Akiva Goldsman

    It’s definitely a curious decision to just ignore the ending most people watched in theaters. So, it may leave viewers quite confused but it definitely was a better ending and gives them the opportunity to have Will Smith return in the iconic role. Still, this may backfire potentially if viewers are just scratching their heads and wondering if this is some kind of cloning storyline.

    Source: Deadline

  • Kevin Feige Calls ‘Fantastic Four’ A Pillar of the MCU, Teases Forthcoming Updates

    Kevin Feige Calls ‘Fantastic Four’ A Pillar of the MCU, Teases Forthcoming Updates

    It’s been nearly four years since Kevin Feige announced that Marvel Studios was developing a Fantastic Four film. At the time, no details were shared about the project and, unfortunately, in the time that’s passed since the announcement, not much has changed on that front. The studio has provided information on the writers, director and release date but as the project continues to get pushed back, the lack of any solid information about it seems to be wearing on fans. It looks like that may change sooner rather than later, however.

    In an interview with EW, Marvel Studios’ gato grande gave a brief, but promising update on the state of Fantastic Four. Feige revealed that along with the two saga-ending Avengers films, Fantastic Four is one of the projects he is most excited about. “The only other one in terms of me personally and my 23-year history is the Fantastic Four,” Feige said of which upcoming projects peaked his personal interest. “We sort of talked about mutants and that whole aspect to the Marvel world, but Fantastic Four is the foundation for everything that came after in the comics,” he explained.

    Despite the wait, fans are certainly excited as well and, according to Feige, the wait may be ending soon. “People will start to hear more about that [Fantastic Four] soon,” pledged Feige. “We plan on that being a big pillar of the MCU going forward, just the way they’ve been in the comics for 50 or 60 years.” “Soon” is a very relative term. It could mean next week or it could mean July, but with a script complete and casting in the works, desperate fans will hope it’s the latter.

    Source: EW

  • REVIEW: ‘The Bad Batch’ Remembers How To Use Omega

    REVIEW: ‘The Bad Batch’ Remembers How To Use Omega

    Star Wars: The Bad Batch is usually at its best when it’s tackling one of two ideas – the state of the Galaxy in a post-Order 66 world, or the possible extent of humanity in its titular clones. This week’s episode, titled The Crossing, doubles down on the latter. After a tense midseason event altered the course of the series forever, the latest installment offers a bit of levity with an easier and more straightforward adventure, using its quieter moments as an opportunity for some much-needed character work. It does what more of its one-off episodes should do by standing alone as a semi-independent story while also progressing the development of its protagonists. In balancing these successfully, The Crossing continues the series’ current path toward a more interesting end to the season.

    When fans last saw their favorite band of intrepid misfits, they were bidding a fond farewell to one of their own. Dee Bradley Baker‘s Echo, a Star Wars: The Clone Wars staple who joined the team after their inaugural outing and then never really did much, left to rejoin his old friend, Dee Bradley Baker‘s Captain Rex, on a separate mission in the heart of Imperial territory. There’s no telling whether this means Echo is gone from the series for good, but it’s certainly something that concerns Michelle Ang‘s Omega, as she spends most of the episode coping with her loss alongside either Dee Bradley Baker‘s Wrecker or Dee Bradley Baker‘s Tech. Oddly enough, Echo’s presence is felt much harder when he’s not on the team, used expertly by the writers as a means of exploring Omega’s youthful perception of abandonment.

    (L-R): Omega, Tech, Hunter, and Wrecker in a scene from “STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH”, season 2 exclusively on Disney+. © 2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.

    The actual task at hand in The Crossing, which has Dee Bradley Baker‘s Hunter spearhead the group on a mission to extract dangerous resources from a remote mine, is not particularly interesting. If it weren’t for the tender, familial scenes shared between Omega and her older siblings, the episode may fall flat. Most of the action is unremarkable, and the story as a whole is not overly memorable. Luckily, that doesn’t seem to be the main purpose of the plot or its arcs. Throughout it all, Omega expresses immense concern over the fact Echo is no longer part of the Batch. It’s clear that Omega, a child who has just recently found a genuine family, is not used to the prospect of losing one of her own. The Bad Batch utilizes this as a means of taking a deeper dive into the compassion and individuality of the clones, and The Crossing is much better for it.

    So far this season, The Bad Batch has teetered precariously between redundancy and forward progress. Omega, as she’s always been, is the key to maintaining the momentum of the second option. The show is consistently more intriguing when it leans into her and what she has to offer as a wildly unique persona. Hopefully, the series continues to do this as the story moves on, and Omega is used as the centerpiece to a spectacular season finale.

  • REVIEW: A Sometimes Messy ‘Carnival Row’ Pulls It Together for a Solid Second Season

    REVIEW: A Sometimes Messy ‘Carnival Row’ Pulls It Together for a Solid Second Season

    After a long wait following its first season, Carnival Row returns to Amazon Prime Video for ten final episodes to conclude the story. The titular city continues to escalate its boiling tensions built around prejudice towards the immigration of mythical beings. After an extended hiatus, the audiences should be curious to follow if the conclusion to the epic fantasy series will be worthwhile. Having seen the entirety of the second season, the conclusion of Carnival Row will likely be well-received among already-existing fans of the series. However, there are noticeable faults that will hold back the quality for anyone who may be on the fence about one of Prime Video’s marquee series.

    Something worth discussing in season two of Carnival Row is how the pandemic adversely affected its production. Filming for the show faced multiple extended pauses following its start in November 2019 which meant it didn’t fully conclude until September 2021. With that information in mind, one can understand how the narrative pacing issues came to be, though as time passes, it will be harder for audiences to use this notion as a crutch for some faults with the show’s ending. 

    A potential silver lining for the extended production time is that the visual effects for Carnival Row are top-notch. The creative team behind this season put what was likely an extremely high budget from Amazon Studios to optimal use. This is especially the case with the mysterious monster who quickly should rise to the ranks of great fantasy villains for audiences.

    One major credit that Carnival Row deserves is its high-quality acting. Across the board, the ensemble cast predominately provides strong performances that help level the characters for the audience despite the fantastical nature of the story. In particular, Karla Crome soars as Tourmaline Larou in an elevated role from season one that places her right in the heart of the main plot throughout the ten episodes. The pairing of David Gyasi and Tamzin Merchant’s Argeus Astrayon and Imogen Spurnrose also provides many highlights for season two of Carnival Row. And one would be remiss not to mention how well Darius Sykes, played by Ariyon Bakare, fits in a supporting role to elevate his scene partners. This is especially the case in providing Orlando Bloom’s Philo with a stronger sense of relatability throughout his story.

    Even though Carnival Row is home to various great acting performances, the writing and directorial teams struggle to unify these performances into what feels like a cohesive television season. The most predominant flaw in these ten episodes is how disparate most plot threads are for most of the runtime. The issue is especially the case with Argeus and Imogen’s characters who are geographically and narratively distant from anything of significance to the main story for more than half of the final season.

    And even for the storylines based directly on the location of Carnival Row, the two protagonists in Orlando Bloom’s Philo and Cara Delevigne’s Vignette seldom connect for most episodes. The separation between the two plays into themes of issues between the reunited relationship, but there are critical moments in the plots for both characters that would’ve been resolved if Philo or Vignette simply communicated more often about their plans. Anyone who enjoyed the developed relationship between Philo and Vignette in season one is likely to be disappointed in this component of season two.

    In addition to the disparate nature of various storylines, their pacing is another issue season two of Carnival Row faces. Multiple important threads move slowly for the first three-fourths of the season but reach radical turning points towards the endgame that don’t appear in line with what got set up in earlier episodes. Audiences also will find a critical component of Philo’s character set up to be an important lynchpin ignored throughout most of the conclusion. It ultimately leads to a notion of if Carnival Row was always meant to only last two seasons. The scripting for the show would’ve been better served if the creative team divided the show into a solitary second season followed by a concluding third.

    But even with a rushed ending, audiences will greatly feel the stakes of the conclusion once it begins to be set into motion. While pacing for numerous threads is inconsistent, they all are successful in building towards an epic conclusion by the final few episodes. And the issues of disparate storylines are erased by the time of the last few episodes. The close of the series provides some truly unexpected moments through its willingness to kill off lead characters as needed for a robust ending.

    The process of setting up the finale is ultimately emblematic of Carnival Row’s final season as a whole. There are noticeable issues in how audiences reach their destination, but there are equally enough dynamic elements that it shouldn’t be considered a bad ending. Season Two of Carnival Row earns its stripes as a landmark Amazon Prime Video series.

  • ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Wraps Production With New Set Video

    ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Wraps Production With New Set Video

    It feels like it was yesterday when it was announced that director Wes Ball was going to revive the Planet of the Apes franchise with a new continuation taking place many years after War for the Planet of the Apes wrapped. Titled Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (wonder just how long these titles will become as the franchise continues to grow), the film will explore the legacy left behind by Caeser in a world where apes have become the dominant species.

    It feels like yesterday when they first announced the project with some concept art, but it seems that production has already wrapped on the project. Director Wes Ball took to his personal Twitter account to share that they have finished production with a nifty little video showing some of the early CG used to bring the various apes to life. They are seemingly reusing the technology made famous by the last trilogy, which was a standout blockbuster franchise due to the involvement of The Batman‘s Matt Reeves and it’s fun to get a little look at how they film with these CG-based characters.

    We also get a good look at the production title “Forbidden Zone” which may be a hint at where this Kingdom may take place in the canon of this new franchise continuation. It’ll be interesting to see how he carries on the franchise and if it’ll live up to the standard set by the previous ones. It’s also the first of this new adaptation that won’t feature Caeser as its main character, who was brought to life by the always-talented Andy Serkis. We’re entering a new era or rather a new kingdom.

    Source: Twitter

  • First Look at Harley Quinn from ‘Joker 2’

    First Look at Harley Quinn from ‘Joker 2’

    It’s Valentine’s Day and no couple loves harder than Harley Quinn and Joker. The crazed pair of lovers is set to share the stage in Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux and the director used today’s romantic holiday to give fans their first look at the duo.

    Lady Gaga will be bringing Phillips’ version of Harley Quinn to life in the Joker sequel, which will be, in part, a musical. The film, which is now part of DC’s Elseworlds brand, is slated to hit theaters on October 4th, 2024.

  • ‘The Penguin’ Adds ‘Runaways’ Alum

    ‘The Penguin’ Adds ‘Runaways’ Alum

    HBO Max’s The Penguin series has added a Marvel alum. Variety revealed on Monday that Rhenzy Feliz has joined the cast. Feliz, who previously headlined Marvel Television’s Runaways for Hulu, will join the previously announced Cristin Milioti who will star as Colin Farrell. They’ll both star alongside Colin Farrell who is reprising his role as the titular character following The Batman. Details regarding Feliz’s character are currently unknown.

    Feliz starred as Alex Wilder on Hulu’s Runaways which ran for three seasons on the streaming service. Since then, he has appeared in American Horror Stories, The Tender Bar and The Same Storm. Feliz also voiced Camilo in Disney’s Encanto. Other credits to Feliz’s name include MTV’s Teen Wolf series, Kevin (Probably) Saves the World and Casual.

    The eight-episode series is expected to take place following the events of The Batman. Lauren LeFranc is the writer, executive producer and showrunner on the series, which is also being executive produced by The Batman‘s Matt Reeves. Craig Zobel, who is also an executive producer on the series, will direct the first three episodes.

    Source: Variety.

  • ‘The Batman’s Gotham PD Spinoff May Be in Development After All

    ‘The Batman’s Gotham PD Spinoff May Be in Development After All

    The DC Cinematic Universe is about to unwind in a new direction, but that doesn’t mean that Matt Reeves‘ corner of the DC Multiverse is going away anytime soon. Luckily, the new Elseworld branding gives them the opportunity to expand The Batman franchise. Just recently we are finally seeing some movement on the Penguin-focused spinoff with Rhenzy Feliz joining the project. Yet, there’s an interesting detail tucked away.

    For a while, there was a Gotham PD-focused series in development for HBO Max. Yet, that project eventually ended up becoming something entirely different with the focus now set on Arkham Asylum. While we only know that the project is being spearheaded by Antonio Campos, it seems that a Gotham PD series is in development. Variety points out that it’s one of the three The Batman spinoffs Matt Reeves is using to expand his unique corner of the franchise.

    It’ll be interesting to see how Matt Reeves maps out these projects, as we won’t have the sequel to The Batman until 2025. So, we might have these series to bridge us until then. Gotham PD was originally going to be Batman’s Year One but that may have changed. If Arkham Asylum took over that timeline, this may be something that’ll be used to explore the aftermath of the events from the first film.

    We can only speculate and there’s no word about who might be involved with the project. There’s a good chance that it simply is still on the table while the main focus relies on the Arkham Asylum series, which still has no title. Actually, even the Penguin-focused spinoff doesn’t have a title quite yet. So, we’ll have to see what’s heading our way once Matt Reeves gets a chance to share what his universe plans are.

    Source: Variety

  • Kevin Feige Details Bucky’s Role in ‘Thunderbolts’

    Kevin Feige Details Bucky’s Role in ‘Thunderbolts’

    One of Marvel Studios’ most talked about upcoming projects is the 2024 theatrical release Thunderbolts. The team’s roster was revealed at D23 and while it certainly doesn’t resemble any particular iteration from the comics, its composition raised the collective eyebrows of fans. Serving as a quasi-sequel to Black Widow, Thunderbolts will see Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Olga Kurylenko reprise their respective roles as Yelena Belova, Red Guardian and Taskmaster. They are set to be joined by Hannah John-Kamen‘s Ghost, Wyatt Russell‘s U.S. Agent and the film’s MCU old-timer, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes.

    Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine has been busy assembling the titular Thunderbolts throughout the first phase of the Multiverse Saga, collecting Yelena and John Walker along the way. While some of the other characters set to join the team don’t come as a surprise, Bucky’s arc in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier didn’t seem to leave him in a place to be a “joiner.” In an interview with EW, Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige talked about the team of what he calls “barely heroes” and Bucky’s surprising inclusion.

    That’s another one. We’ve got a lot of things that start shooting relatively soon. What’s fun about that, and I sort of said this at D23, is that they are barely heroes. None of them would consider themselves heroes. When your de facto leader is Bucky Barnes, that’s sort of all you need to know. That’s the trickle down. But again, it goes to the amazing work that [casting director] Sarah Finn has done across the whole MCU. You’ve got David Harbour and Florence Pugh and these people who are at the top of their game and popping in everything they’re doing. They’re already here and established in the MCU, and we get to build the movie around them.

    Kevin Feige

    So what is Bucky doing on a team of non-heroes? It’s a great question and one that might have its answer in the character’s deep ties to Wakanda. He certainly isn’t in their good graces at the moment so perhaps some time as the White Wolf of Wakanda is in order.

    Thunderbolts is scheduled to hit theaters in July 2024.

    Source: EW

  • Newly Leaked ‘One Piece’ Set Props Tease Iconic Locations

    Newly Leaked ‘One Piece’ Set Props Tease Iconic Locations

    After a long wait, we finally got our first look at the upcoming live-action adaptation of One Piece. While the posters only give us a glimpse, it means we’re about to see more from it as the months go by for this adaptation. People are still nervous, as with any live-action adaptation of a popular manga or anime, but there is something promising about this offering, especially how enthusiastic the already existing fanbase is.

    @OP_Netflix_Fan and @OPLAfandom have seemingly uncovered a variety of set props that hint at different locations that’ll be featured in the live-action adaptation. Among these various props, the one that stands out the most is the Tangerine signs for Nami’s hometown, Coco Village. In the anime, it was known as Cocoyasi Village but shortened to Coco Village in the VIZ manga adaptation and the infamous 4Kids dub. It may still be named Cocoyasi but shortened for the adaptation.

    The next are two signs that are supposedly from Loguetown. One is a caffé and a pizzeria. The interesting thing here is the name “Dei Nuovi Inizi” which translates to “Of New Beginnings” fitting for Loguetown which acts as a prologue and epilogue to those journeying from and to the Grand Line.

    Last but not least, we have a familiar location already teased during last year’s Geeked Week. We saw the neon sign for Party’s Bar situated in Windmill Village, the hometown of Luffy. It’s run by Makino and plays a big part in Luffy’s origin story. While the image of the Cocktail menu doesn’t reveal anything, if you look closely you’ll see they are using the Berry symbol, which confirms it’ll keep the in-universe currency for the adaptation. It’s a bit hard to make out but you can see the top of the same symbol used in the manga.

    It’s definitely exciting to get a little glimpse behind the scenes as we continue the build-up toward the official release. We’ll have to see how long the wait will be until we get another glimpse at the project, but you can explore our feature on when the promotion might truly kick off by clicking here.

    Source: Twitter