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  • Harrison Ford Explains Decision to Join the MCU

    Harrison Ford Explains Decision to Join the MCU

    Back in October, when rumors first began to circulate that legendary actor Harrison Ford had signed on to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it took many fans by surprise. Especially as Ford has starred in franchises such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones, the former of which he has long grown tired of. Many assumed the actor wouldn’t want to join yet another massive franchise, however, a new interview with Ford has revealed that he was looking to do something different – and the MCU is different for him.

    “Hey, look, I’ve done a lot of things. I now want to do some of the things I haven’t done.”

    Ford is stepping into the role of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in Captain America: New World Order replacing the late William Hurt. The role of Ross brings many possibilities including using motion capture to become the Red Hulk. When asked about his involvement in such things, Ford was mum, effectively “zipping” his lips. Production on New World Order is expected to begin next year, with the film currently set to hit theaters on May 3rd, 2024.

    Source: The Playlist.

  • Artificial Intelligence Might Kill the Movie Star

    Artificial Intelligence Might Kill the Movie Star

    Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer foreign to the general public. If you’re reading this article because you clicked the link on Twitter, you likely came across at least one AI-based creation on your social media feeds in the past month. Integrating AI into our daily lives is becoming increasingly common in various industries, including entertainment.

    AI has been heavily used in the entertainment industry in the production of visual effects. In recent years, AI algorithms have been employed to generate complex visual effects in television shows, such as The Mandalorian. In this series, AI technology was used to recreate the highly realistic image of a young Luke Skywalker and synthesize his voice with great detail. While some see the use of AI in the entertainment industry as a valuable tool that can enhance the creative process and revolutionize visual effects production, others worry about the potential displacement of “traditional” production methods and the loss of jobs for those working in the industry.

    Does History Repeat Itself?

    Some people have drawn comparisons between the use of AI in the entertainment industry and two significant technological developments in the past: sound and CGI. In the 1920s, filmmakers and actors were concerned that introducing sound would make actors obsolete, as audiences were accustomed to focusing on physical gestures and facial expressions. Similarly, in the 1990s, the emergence of CGI led to concerns that practical effects in cinema would be replaced by computer-generated imagery and actors would be replaced by computer-generated characters.

    However, using AI in the entertainment industry is a different matter entirely. While it may be a helpful tool, it is not necessarily “necessary.” It can be used as an excuse for major studios to replace human labor with algorithms, as it is often cheaper. This is not a far-fetched possibility, as we have seen reports of companies such as Warner seeking to reduce their tax expenses.

    The poor performance of projects like Facebook Metaverse and the NFT craze of the early 2020s suggests that our current obsession with AI may be detrimental due to an overreliance on technology and a belief in its ability to solve all problems. This can lead to a lack of critical thinking and neglect of necessary ethical considerations. Fortunately, directors like Christopher Nolan and Damien Leone are pushing back against this trend and promoting practical effects to enhance the viewing experience and make moviegoers fall in love again with practical effects.

    It is up to the entertainment industry and its stakeholders to ensure that AI adoption is done responsibly and ethically, considering the values and concerns of all parties involved. Ultimately, the role of AI in the entertainment industry will depend on how it is used and the priorities of those who implement it.

  • Sony Releases the First Poster For ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’

    Sony Releases the First Poster For ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’

    Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse will feature more than 240 characters and will be set in 6 universes! The second trailer for the new installment in Sony’s Spider-Verse saga featured more than 20 webslingers, and this was just the beginning. The first plot details for the sequel have already confirmed Miles going rogue against the other variants, which we can’t wait to see.

    As explained by director Kemp Powers in an interview with Empire, Miguel O’Hara, voiced by Oscar Isaac, will be the leader of a “band of fighters that are trying to clean up the consequences of the collider explosion at the end of the first movie.” As seen in the trailer, the fighters are obviously variants of Spider-Man who will be part of an organization working against The Spot.

    However, the variants won’t be the main villains of the movie. As confirmed by the film’s producers and director, The Spot will be the villain of both the sequels to Into The Spider-Verse. Powers teased a secret connection between Miles and The Spot, which will be explored in the movie.

    The Spot is an interesting villain because he seems like a joke, but when you really look at his powers, there’s incredible potential. His ability to open portals across dimensions sets him up perfectly for the Spider-Verse. He’s the villain of the next two films… and let’s just say that the Spot and Miles are connected in surprising ways.

    Kemp Powers

    New Poster For ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’

    Sony Pictures Animation has released the first official poster for Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. Feast your eyes on it below:

    Spider-Man
    First poster for Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse.

    In case you’re not sure about every single Spidey featured in the post, check out our feature on every notable Spider-Variant in Across The Spider-Verse.

    Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse releases in theaters on June 2, 2023.

    Source: Sony

  • Hugh Jackman Confirms Major ‘Deadpool 3’ Spoiler

    Hugh Jackman Confirms Major ‘Deadpool 3’ Spoiler

    The hype for Marvel Studios’ untitled Deadpool and Wolverine film has been steadily growing over the past couple of months. Following the official announcement of the return of Hugh Jackman as Logan, rumors of the plot of the film began to populate the usual channels. One of the more interesting and sensible rumors indicated that Owen Wilson‘s Mobius and his employer, the Time Variance Authority were set to play a key role in the film. It looks like those rumors stand a strong chance of being proven true down the road.

    While explaining in an interview with Sirius XM how his character, who died in 2017’s Logan, would be able to make an appearance in the new film, Jackman gave a pretty simple answer…time travel!

    But all because of this device they have in the Marvel world of moving around timelines, now we can go back because, you know, it’s science. And so I don’t have to screw with the Logan timeline, which was important to me, and I think probably to the fans too.

    Hugh Jackman

    That handy little device Jackman referenced could well be one of the TVA’s TemPads, first seen in Season 1 of Loki. Jackman’s comments also indicate that, according to MCU logic, the events of the Deadpool and Wolverine film are going to create an alternate timeline and, most likely, an incursion. Given the most popular theories about the film include Deadpool visiting timelines from past Marvel films like Fantastic Four and the Fox X-Men franchise, it’s possible that his meddling in those timelines creates a number of incursions. Deadpool creating a mess that the new team of Avengers would end up having to clean up sounds like just the right way to bring the Merc with a Mouth into the MCU.

    Source: Sirius XM

  • Holy Vecna! ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Will Be “Epic”

    Holy Vecna! ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Will Be “Epic”

    One month after Season Four wrapped, work on the final season of Stranger Things began. Producer Shawn Levy revealed in a recent interview that the writers and the producers of the show, the Duffer brothers, are hard at work. “Oh, man, it’s going great,” Levy said. Fans should expect the final season to thread together some remaining loose storylines and answer many questions related to the Upside Down. Levy also gave fans this nugget: it will be “epic” and “emotional”.

    “…When we sat there and heard the two-hour-long pitch-out for the storyline of this final season, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room by the time the brothers were done… so, yeah, this last season will be both epic and very emotional. I think making it will be pretty damn emotional, too, since this show has changed the life of every one of us who have worked on it.”

    Ryan O’Rourke, Collider

    As the cast and crew prepare for this final adventure, Levy was very reflective about how much he enjoyed working on the show and how much the younger cast has grown. He spoke about how the show has defined their career paths, saying it was refreshing to work on a series that “championed its actors’ individual strengths.” Levy was very complimentary of the Duffer brothers’ ability to customize each character (and every line) to the particular actor.

    Production for Stranger Things Season Five begins in 2023.

  • ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Producer Would Love to See Johnny Depp Return

    ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Producer Would Love to See Johnny Depp Return

    Pirates of the Caribbean has been on a bit of a hiatus. The franchise was one of Hollywood’s strongest and created a newfound love for pirates. Sadly, it never really picked up; here’s hoping One Piece can gain a similar momentum with its unique take on pirates next year, but Disney still hopes to bring the franchise back with style. There isn’t just one but two new entries planned to bring it back to life, but it’s still looking like rough seas ahead.

    There have been some conflicting reports, however. Margot Robbie believed her new entry was dead in the water, but it turned out not to be according to long-time producer Jerry Bruckheimer. So far, we don’t have any details on the second entry but it seems they are moving forward at their own pace. Still, Bruckheimer has once again talked about Pirates of the Caribbean in a recent interview with THR, where he revealed that not only is he excited for the franchise’s future but also would love for one actor to return.

    I would love to have him in the movie. He’s a friend, a terrific actor and it’s unfortunate that personal lives creep into everything we do.

    Jeff Bruckheimer

    Johnny Depp has been out of the business for some time. He lost his role in the Fantastic Beasts franchise due to the controversy surrounding his marriage to Amber Heard. The trial gained quite a bit of attention online and it does seem like he is trying to make his way back into the business. Though, Depp has also openly stated that he has no interest in ever returning due to how Disney treated him after the controversy got everyone’s attention. It seems Captain Jack Sparrow is unlikely to return, but who knows what might happen in the future.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is Hollywood’s Most Expensive Film to Date

    ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is Hollywood’s Most Expensive Film to Date

    After a strong but surprisingly below-expectation opening weekend, Avatar: The Way of Water still made an impressive global $435M opening weekend. It won’t break any records but going by its hold over the weekend, it’ll likely have the legs any other James Cameron film has though just how far it’ll go remains uncertain. Still, the pressure is on as the film must make at least $2 billion to be profitable, at least that is what Cameron has shared in the past.

    We never knew exactly just how big the budget was for the film, but it turns out that it’s far more massive than any of us could’ve imagined. Even Avengers: Endgame and its multitude of big-name stars had a production budget of around $300M. The CG-heavily film has a massive budget of $460M according to a new report by Deadline. That’s quite impressive and makes sense given they also filmed the first two sequels back-to-back.

    The film’s budget is definitely impressive and there are currently no fears the film will perform incredibly well moving forward. It’s entering the holiday season where the normal day acts like a weekend. Presales factor about 20% for its post-release window and even Marvel averages around 5%. Cameron will likely do what he always does similar to what Top Gun: Maverick accomplished earlier in the year. Now, the only question remains: just how far will it go, and will it inspire Disney to go all in with Cameron‘s plans for the franchise?

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Evil Dead Rise’ Director Teases a Film “Fueled by Blood”

    ‘Evil Dead Rise’ Director Teases a Film “Fueled by Blood”

    Evil Dead is back, and one of the few projects to actually benefit from Warner Bros. Discovery’s recent mismanagement. Originally, the film was set to become an HBO Max original and they didn’t scrap it like some other unlucky projects. Instead, Evil Dead Rise by director Lee Cronin was made a theatrically exclusive release and 2023 will finally give us the return to a much-loved horror franchise.

    Sadly, Cronin can’t give us any details regarding what we can expect from the Deadite’s return, but he makes one clear promise: there shall be blood! The franchise has never shied away from making good use of bloodshed and it seems that the film “straps you onto a rocket that’s fueled by blood” in a recent interview with Empire.

    It straps you onto a rocket that’s fueled by blood. You can either get off or you stay on ’til it explodes.

    Lee Cronin

    A rocket fueled by blood sounds exactly like what one would want from an Evil Dead entry. It’s unclear still if this is a continuation of the original trilogy or perhaps we might even see this as a direct sequel to the remake from 2013. It’s crazy to think that it has taken another 10+ years to get to this point and hopefully a trailer isn’t too far anymore to get a good feeling for how this project might stay true to the previous entries.

    Source: Empire

  • Netflix No Longer Moving Forward with ‘Klaus’ Director’s Next Film

    Netflix No Longer Moving Forward with ‘Klaus’ Director’s Next Film

    Why is it always animation when companies need to save money? Sadly, it seems that Netflix has decided they are no longer moving forward with a hand-drawn animated film by director Sergio Pablos. The mastermind behind the amazingly animated Klaus was going to direct a film titled Ember but surprisingly this might not have been scratched for cost-saving measures but rather due to creative decisions.

    Pablos is not losing the rights to Ember, however, and is openly looking to show the film at another studio. The director has worked on projects like Despicable Me and Smallfoot. So, perhaps he’ll find a new home as part of Dreamworks’ current new direction but there’s also always the chance that they could try their hand at Disney getting their hands on it.

    The only thing we know about the film was its description as an “epic adventure tale of humankind’s quest for fire told through the eyes of young Dikika who embarks on an impossible race to a distant volcano to retrieve the precious spark that will save her tribe.” It was only hinted as a hand-drawn animated project but there are no details if it would’ve shared a similar art style to Klaus.

    Animation has been going through a rough patch and here’s hoping that we’ll see a more positive development. While Netflix still released some of its projects like the recent Wendell & Wild or even Pinocchio, it also decided to scratch quite a few productions. Animated TV projects like Wings of Fire, and With Kind Regards From Kindergarten never got a chance to get going.

    Source: Variety

  • DC Studios’ Head Confronts “Uproarious” Fans’ Reactions to Recent Events

    DC Studios’ Head Confronts “Uproarious” Fans’ Reactions to Recent Events

    Let’s be frank, DC Extended Universe had its ups and downs. It wasn’t an easy ride for everyone involved, especially surrounding the Justice League film. What seems like a sure-fire billion dollar blockbuster project it just ended up sizzling out before it got going. Then a subsection of the internet started an entire campaign to revive the original vision by director Zack Snyder, which led to a four-hour epic that gave an existing film a newly formatted paint.

    Now, Peter Safran and director James Gunn are at the helm to revive the entire project and it comes with some sacrifices along the way. Henry Cavill is out as Superman and the future of the Wonder Woman franchise remains a mystery at the moment after director Patty Jenkins moved on from the project due to creative differences. Now, Gunn took to his Twitter to openly discuss his thoughts on a certain fandom.

    Gunn has always been quite outspoken on his feelings towards this new job and also used the opportunity of his Social Media to swiftly take down any rumors or statements that weren’t verified in any way. It’s never an easy task to become the new leader of an entire cinematic universe, but it does seem like we have nothing to worry about. It’s also great to see him be so upfront about this and share his love for what he’s about to create. No matter how one feels about the current developments, Gunn isn’t taking this lightly and is dedicated.

    Source: Twitter