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  • Marvel Studios Phase 4: It’s Not Them, It’s You

    Marvel Studios Phase 4: It’s Not Them, It’s You

    Marvel Studios concluded its thirteenth project of Phase 4 this past Wednesday as Ms. Marvel shocked us all with an impactful finale. Revealing Kamala Khan as a mutant was a game changer. More importantly, it was a reminder that the MCU is still evolving, growing, and-pun intended-embiggening. When the pandemic shut things down for 2020 we as a collective were starved for content. Any morsel of footage we were grateful for. We waited for Disney+ day and it came and we got trailers and previews and titles. It was exciting, and then WandaVision happened.

    When WandaVision first aired on a Friday in mid-January of 2021 we were satiated. Everything we missed about the MCU was back, except it was different. We were going week to week as opposed to the normal 3-4 month wait between movies. Simply put, watching WandaVision was a phenomenon. There was a level of captivation that brought the theory boards and connecting of Easter eggs. Remember when we thought that space engineer was Reed Richards? Or how about the calls for Mephisto? Yes, that was us. Now none of those things happened, and WandaVision ended with Wanda Maximoff becoming The Scarlet Witch. That should’ve been enough right? Monica Rambeau’s debut and her getting her powers on screen? Should’ve been enough you think?

    Instead what followed was a collective groan from a vocal part of fans annoyed that their theories didn’t come true. Also even with the explanation from show-runners and producers as to how the pandemic changed filming we didn’t take that into account. It became a demerit. Even if you enjoyed WandaVision-and many did-it didn’t quite hit the same as when it started. Two weeks later, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier debuted. We didn’t have the time to really digest what happened and why we became so hypercritical. It was odd to say the least.

    12 additional projects later, the fandom generally seems ornery. Between leaks coloring fans’ views before things come out and critics mocking the formula of the MCU, we as a collective are in an interesting place. As Thor: Love And Thunder came out last week to mixed reviews the whispers seem to be getting louder. VFX and CGI have become apart of everyone’s vocabulary in a way we’ve never heard before. Now social media should never be the end all be all in judging a product. The bottom line should be. Yet, you almost can’t deny a feeling of impatience amongst the masses.

    Where are we going? What’s the main story? These questions are in blogs, and on peoples’ minds. The answers seem to be there. It feels like Loki told us the answers. Ms. Marvel just gave us more. The truth is the real answer is the MCU is telling new stories. The Infinity Saga is over. It was fantastic. Akin to a dynasty in sports. Now it’s time to rebuild. Kevin Feige is leaning more on source material. We have new characters. These movies are more comic book like than ever dropping us in for a ride and taking us home at the end. Seems reasonable enough. Not to us though.

    We’ve heard the ridiculous and misogynistic phrases like “MidCU” and “MSheU”. Stories of representation are being told and it’s still not enough. So at some point the question needs to be asked, is it them or is it us? Now Marvel does have work to do. They’re still trying to figure out structure on this streaming platform. These finales often seem rushed, undercutting more than one thing even if the overall stories are rewarding. Movies are always subjective so you can always quibble with that. Let’s take a look at what happened to us.

    Endgame is now over three years old. Since then we have experienced a time period of going from no content for nearly two of those years to content all the time. It’s changed us. We view these things differently and it’s not because of fatigue. The truth of it all is that we aren’t the same people we were in 2019. We’ve grown, and we’ve seen a lot of terrible things in the world. All of that is bound to increase cynicism of everything. Plenty of people who consume this content make a living off of it. That trough has only grown. Of course this doesn’t reflect everyone, but with that becomes not only the responsibility to be honest but enough care to zoom out and ask yourself this question. Is it really them, or is it us?

    Essentially what’s happened is paralysis by over-analysis. The fun many of us grew up with reading comics and enjoying that escapism has been replaced by the blurred lines of our lives and the ones of characters on screen. The drug of nostalgia has been dosed with a chaser of “fatigue” and “CGI” and “director choices.” Truthfully, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. When it’s all said and done, we are on the fast train to Secret Wars, Kang The Conqueror, and Mutants. You can make the argument Phase 4 is doing just fine. How are you though?

  • First ‘Madame Web’ Set Photos Hint at Early 2000s NYC

    First ‘Madame Web’ Set Photos Hint at Early 2000s NYC

    We just recently heard that production has already started on Sony’s Madame Web film. Sydney Sweeney revealed it in a brief interview and right after, it seems we already got our first look at the set. It seems that Sony is turning Boston into New York City of the early 200s0s as shared by Boston’s Kevin Slane. It’s certainly an interesting choice and could be our first hint at where the project is going, most certainly given the connection between Tobey Maguire‘s Spider-Man having released around that time.

    There’s no confirmation that this is definitely going to tie together, but it’s definitely something interesting to note given the time period. Madame Web has a close connection to the Spider-Verse and it would be a fun way to mix up what we’d initially expect from the Sony film. With hints that Marvel Studios is potentially involved as well, they may be using this opportunity to pull in the characters they’d want to include in a potential multiverse-focused Avengers storyline.

    If they do manage to tease a connection similar to Morbius, who knows if this might connect to those films. Aaron Taylor-Johnson has also taken on the role of Kraven the Hunter which may tie in some way or another to whatever Sony has planned. The post-credit sequence confirmed Vulture is stuck in another dimension and Venom also exists within that timeline, but there are still many questions surrounding how it might all tie together. We can only speculate for now.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Marcel the Shell With Shoes On’ Director to Adapt Live-Action ‘Lilo & Stitch’

    ‘Marcel the Shell With Shoes On’ Director to Adapt Live-Action ‘Lilo & Stitch’

    Now, this is quite the surprising reveal but it seems that Dean Fleischer-Camp already has set his next major project after the critical darling that is Marcel The Shell With Shoes On. Deadline has revealed that he’s attached to direct the live-action adaption of the popular animated film Lilo & Stitch. Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich are producing the project with Ryan Halprin set to executive produce. There is no word if the film is currently going to be a theatrical one or even land on Disney+.

    Chris Kekianiokalani Bright is currently in negotiations to write the film’s script that retell the story of the human girl Lilo who finds herself an adorable pet, who she names Stitch. The fact that he’s actually a creature that was engineered to destroy everything in its path and is also a fugitive from the space’s equivalent of the police. This will be the first live-action film for Fleischer-Camp who has hit it big with his work on the A24 film.

    It’s definitely going to be interesting to see how they tackle this project and his background in animation is likely going to help with bringing Stitch to life. This film marks the latest addition to the family of live-action reboots for Disney classics, which have been quite successful for the studio. As deals are finalizing, we may get some casting announcements sooner than later.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Passes $200M Internationally

    ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Passes $200M Internationally

    Thor: Love and Thunder has been an interesting release, as it was welcomed with some more mixed arms by viewers. While Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness also faced a similar fate, mostly due to its horror roots, the B+ CinemaScore didn’t stop it from reaching creeping closely to $950M. Now, Thor: Love and Thunder may not have opened to thunderous applause, its box office numbers are certainly impressive.

    Just a few days into its first week after a strong international and domestic opening weekend; only missing the third-highest grossing opening weekend of the year by a million. Now, the film has already passed $200M worldwide after pulling in $16.4M. It now stands at $203.5M domestically

    The film opened to a $2.9M bow in France, which was one of the last to release and is an impressive +53% ahead of Thor: Ragnarok‘s release. Only slightly behind Jurassic World Dominion, as we saw domestically as well. Korea is seemingly the one market that has slowed down quite a bit given it got a worse ranking there, which is surprising given its strong standing with previous entries.

    The film is likely to pass $200M domestically by Friday, which sets it up for a strong weekend that could be on the lowe rend of Marvel’s recent high drops. Still, it seems its overall weekend to day seven is on the lower spectrum of the multiplier. A big drop is expected in the second weekend around the 60%+ but leg it out throughout the rest of the summer.

    Even Minions: the Rise of Gru faced a surprising harsh drop in its second weekend with only Top Gun: Maverick defying all expectations. It already pulled in $178.9M and has passed F9‘s $173M. So, it’ll be interesting what the weekend has planned for the latest Marvel venture.

    Source: Box Office Pro, Twitter, Forbes

  • Wild ‘Fantastic Four’s Director Rumors Debunked

    Wild ‘Fantastic Four’s Director Rumors Debunked

    It’s been a wild day, as quite a few rumors have made their way online as of late. Among them was who exactly is going to be spearheading the Fantastic Four movie. After Jon Watts left the project to focus on his Star Wars Disney+ series, many wondered who could fill his shoes. Suddenly, directing icon Steven Spielberg became a wildly rumored choice for the film with some even stating that Marvel Studios reached out.

    Now, Variety’s Adam B. Vary has put out a quick tweet debunking those wild rumors and highlighting that they have never been true. So, it seems we’re still without a clear indicator of who exactly is going to take over the project and give us the third attempt at a live-action adaptation of the Fantastic Four.

    https://twitter.com/adambvary/status/1547641254011293696

    UPDATING

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Ms. Marvel’ Head Writer Clarifies What Happens in the Post-Credit Sequence

    ‘Ms. Marvel’ Head Writer Clarifies What Happens in the Post-Credit Sequence

    The following article will include spoilers on the post-credit sequences of Ms. Marvel. So, only continue at your own risk.

    Ms. Marvel‘s post-credit sequence may be among the Disney+ series’ best, especially given how it offers a curious segway into the upcoming The Marvels while also keeping things a bit confusing to let Nia DaCosta put the pieces together as she needs it. Luckily, Ms. Marvel’s head writer confirmed one thing: that wasn’t Kamala Khan transforming into Brie Larson‘s Carol Danvers but rather them switching places.

    Kamala doesn’t turn into Carol. […] It’s an important distinction, just because in the comic books, that’s something that [Kamala] does —  she can change the way she looks and she looks like Carol Danvers in Issue 1 of the comic book. She’s not turning into Carol [on the show]. That’s Carol Danvers standing in Kamala’s bedroom.

    Bisha K. Ali

    It definitely had many wondering what exactly happened, as it opened up many questions about how they swapped places, how it connects to her bangle, and the reveal of her potentially having the mutant gene. At this point, there are a lot of possibilities going into the The Marvels and how they might tackle her relationship with Carol. Who knows how she’ll be meeting her idol who found out she has a room filled with posters of her face plastered across them.

    Source: Variety

  • Ms. Marvel Creator Reveals The [SPOILER] Disney+ Reveal Was Their Original Plan in the Comics

    Ms. Marvel Creator Reveals The [SPOILER] Disney+ Reveal Was Their Original Plan in the Comics

    If you haven’t yet missed out on the latest episode of Ms. Marvel, it’s about time you do so before continuing to read up on the big reveal from the finale.

    The latest episode of Ms. Marvel has arrived with a bombshell of a revelation. Towards the end of the episode, Kamala Khan’s friend uses the wording “mutation” with the theme song that’ll be used in X-Men ’97. As it turns out, it seems that was the initial idea when they were creating Ms. Marvel as revealed by one of her co-creators, Sana Amanat.

    Here’s a really important thing that people do not know – when we were thinking about the character of Kamala back, back, back in the day in 2012, 2013, when [G.] Willow [Wilson, comic book writer] and myself were ideating, we originally wanted to make her a mutant. That was the whole intention, to be able to do that.” In the series, they were able to get back to that initial idea. “Is she a mutant, question mark?

    Sana Amanat

    It’s not surprising that they considered it, especially with how the Terrigen bomb concept was introduced for a new race, the NuHumans which technically were a new generation of Inhumans. She goes on to highlight what their main focus always was when it came to her character in the Disney+ service, which she helped produce.

    The bigger story really is the origin of Kamala, and everyone has been just trying to pin down what she is. We leaned into that – it’s like, we’re not going to give you that answer, because when you’re telling a story about identity, everyone is so obsessed with labelling people and putting them in a box. I think that’s the journey of this entire season – she’s been looking for that box, even though she doesn’t need it.

    Sana Amanat

    The fact they managed to pull off their initial plans in the series is a nice touch, which brings their ideas full circle. Especially in how they added elements to make the name and even her logo part of her cultural background rather than purely inspired by Captain Marvel. If they get a chance to further explore it, it’ll be interesting to see where her character goes.

    Source: Empire

  • ‘Scream 6’ Adds Samara Weaving and Tony Revolori to Cast

    ‘Scream 6’ Adds Samara Weaving and Tony Revolori to Cast

    The Scream franchise has officially expanded its ensemble with two marquee additions for its next film. As initially reported on by Bloody Disgusting and later confirmed by Deadline, both Samara Weaving and Tony Revolori have been cast in undisclosed roles for Scream 6. The latest installment in Paramount Pictures’ horror franchise is currently in production and is slated to release theatrically on March 31, 2023.

    In addition to the new names, Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, and Jenna Ortega return after appearing in the initial revival film earlier this year. In addition, this film will see the return of Hayden Panettiere to the world of Scream as her character Kirby Reed. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are helming this new film after their work on the most recent Scream film.

    The young Tony Revolori has established himself as a mainstay in the landscape of Hollywood and this currently untitled Scream sequel has the potential to continue to elevate him as a performer. He’s best known from his work as Flash Thompson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man trilogy and especially for his critically acclaimed performance in Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.

    Meanwhile, this film serves as a reuniting of Samara Weaving and directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett after working together on 2019’s Ready or Not. The comedy horror film served as a launching pad for Weaving’s career into more mainstream attention that she has been capitalizing on moving forward. As well, Weaving confirmed to Collider previously that she was approached for a role in this most recent Scream film, but scheduling conflicts prevented her from appearing.

    We were talking about it, but our schedules aren’t gonna work, which is a bummer. We talked about it a lot, but unfortunately, because of scheduling, I couldn’t do it. I’ll still be [in Australia], working on Nine Perfect Strangers, so we couldn’t make it work. Traveling is very difficult these days.

    Samara Weaving

    It certainly will be interesting to follow any further developments for Scream 6 in the year heading into its release and what it may mean for the future of the franchise.

    Sources: Bloody Disgusting, Deadline, Collider  

  • ‘Ms. Marvel’ Head Writer Had Bigger Plans for the Clandestines

    ‘Ms. Marvel’ Head Writer Had Bigger Plans for the Clandestines

    Ms. Marvel is definitely among the best of what Disney+ has to offer. Yet, it did fumble one aspect a bit and that was the main antagonists throughout the season, the Clandestines. We don’t get a lot of time with them and while early on their introductions are quite menacing, the resolution surrounding them was quite rushed and may have left some scratching their head.

    Now, head writer Bisha K. Ali revealed that they originally had bigger plans for them, but due to COVID, they ended up losing out on some opportunities. As some might forget, we’re still in the middle of COVID with many restrictions still affecting productions worldwide. So, scheduling and availability are still an issue.

    No. I would say that a lot is missing. There are, like, essays we’ve written about the Clandestines, the Noor dimension, the Red Daggers and about how it’s all connected to everything else. There are huge swathes of character arcs that for the purpose of being able to make this in the time that we had, with the situation that changed [due to] COVID — I think we miss out a lot on some of the parallels between the two different kinds of families. I think we’ve missed out a lot on some of the character development for the Clandestines. I wish I could have shown you more of what we had.

    Bisha K. Ali

    There were definitely some parallels hinted at with the family holding together, but sadly the six-episode format doesn’t really offer the time to explore it fully, which has been criticized by many as one of the Disney+ series’ flaws.

    So that emotional climax was about two women, a different kind of mother and about Kamala representing her kind of family. And those two things completely smashing into each other. That moment was all about Kamala coming into her fight style, which is always defensive. She always talks people down first. Her goal is always, “Hey, how are you feeling? Can we resolve this without anyone getting hurt?” You see that again in the finale as well. So it was always built that way, that this event where the universe gets subsumed by another universe, that wouldn’t happen.

    Bisha K. Ali

    It definitely is a shame, and we’ll hopefully get more opportunities to explore the dimension Noor in the future. Many are hoping for the series to get a second season, which would allow her to further explore her connection to that dimension, and potentially wrap up where exactly the story is heading with Kamran. So, here’s hoping an announcement is just around the corner.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘Ms. Marvel’ Star Hopes a Season 2 is Inspired by the ‘Spider-Man’ Franchise

    ‘Ms. Marvel’ Star Hopes a Season 2 is Inspired by the ‘Spider-Man’ Franchise

    Ms. Marvel has sadly come to an end with quite an exciting post-credit sequence teasing her arrival in The Marvels. Many believed the film would just lead into the film, but it is left open in a perfectly ambiguous way for anyone to interpret whatever it might mean. Yet, there’s also hope that Ms. Marvel ends up getting multiple seasons moving forward and it seems the main star, Iman Vellani, shares that sentiment as well. She also hinted she would love to explore something similar to Spider-Man‘s films acting as fallout of big events.

    Yet, it seems that the actress may have also given away a tiny plot point we can expect in the Captain Marvel sequel. In her interview with Stylecaster, the actress reveals that she would love to explore Kamala’s storyline after the events of The Marvel‘s, where “she’s fought with her idol.”

    It would be fun to see Kamala post-’The Marvels’ after she’s fought with her idol. It’s similar to what Spider-Man went through after fighting with the Avengers in ‘Civil War’ and going back to the friendly neighborhood thing.

    Iman Vellani

    We have no idea what the storyline is going to be, but it does seem fitting if they explore her connection to Captain Marvel. Ms. Marvel is definitely among the disney+ shows that deserve a second season and there’s a lot of potential in seeing how she adjusts to doing something more grounded.

    Source: Stylecaster