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  • EXCLUSIVE: Brother Voodoo Was Never Planned for ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

    EXCLUSIVE: Brother Voodoo Was Never Planned for ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

    Even by Marvel Studios standards, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was a film shrouded in secrecy up until its release. The promise of secrets and surprises mixed with the multiversal nature of the movie led to plenty of rumors and speculations ahead of the release. Now that audiences have had a chance to experience the Doctor Strange sequel, fans are getting plenty of information about the actual contents of the film as well as the process of bringing them to the screen.

    Possibly above all else, fans are debating how the surprise appearances of certain characters, such as the Illuminati, compared to some of the widespread rumors of certain cameos being in Multiverse of Madness. In an exclusive interview with Murphy’s Multiverse, the film’s writer Michael Waldron spoke on the secrecy involved in making the film and the Illuminati.

    But Waldron also spoke on rumors that certain characters from the comics would play major roles or supporting leads in the Doctor Strange sequel that ultimately did not. In particular, the writer discussed the characters of Clea and Jericho Drumm, also known as Brother Voodoo. As we know from the mid-credits scene, Charlize Theron did make a brief and teasing appearance as Clea, but whether or not she was ever meant to be a significant character is unclear. Waldron simply noted that “I think Clea has always been on the table.”

    When asked about the rumor that Jericho Drumm had a role in the film, Waldron revealed that Brother Voodoo was never a part of Multiverse of Madness:

    I think there was definitely a discussion of Jericho Drumm, but never anything that I worked on.

    Michael Waldron

    The speculation that Drumm would make his way to the MCU made—and still makes—plenty of sense. First appearing in Strange Tales #169, the Haitian-born Jericho Drumm left for America to become a psychologist. Upon returning home, he found his brother, Daniel, dying from a spell cast on him. Daniel made Jericho promise to study to become a Houngan, starting his path towards eventually replacing Stephen Strange as the Sorcerer Supreme. We already saw Daniel be killed in the original Doctor Strange as the keeper of the New York Sanctum at the time.

    Alas, Brother Voodoo did not make an appearance in Multiverse of Madness, though his connections to Doctor Strange still make him a strong choice for future stories, including Doctor Strange 3. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now playing in theaters worldwide.

  • NBA Playoffs Notebook 

    NBA Playoffs Notebook 

    Celtics vs Bucks

    The defending champs had a chance to put the Celtics on the brink of elimination in Game 4. Giannis Antetokounmpo and the undermanned Bucks have continued to show their mental toughness but they were throttled by a veteran. Al Horford, at 35 years old, scored 16 of his 30 points in the 4th quarter leading Boston to a 116-108 victory. It was a truly incredible performance. Now we head to a pivotal Game 5 back in Boston to see who takes control of the series. It isn’t an exaggeration to say the winner of this series will be a big time title favorite.  

    Grizzlies vs Warriors

    In a series filled with flagrant fouls, suspensions, and trash talk, the veteran Golden State team finds itself on the brink of another conference finals trip. Steph Curry scored 32 points in Game 4 leading the Warriors back from a lackadaisical performance to win 101-98. All of this is marred by the injury that was sustained in Game 3 by Grizzlies star Ja Morant. Ja is going to miss the rest of the playoffs with a bone bruise in his knee. With a 3-1 series lead and Memphis injured and inexperienced, the Warriors are poised to close the series out. The Grizzlies have fought all season, and expect a fight from them in Game 5 at home.

    Heat vs Sixers 

    Miami took a 3-2 series lead with a dominant 120-85 victory Tuesday night in Miami. After two disappointing games on the road, the Heat was on as they shot 53 percent from the floor and hit 13 threes. Their defense was suffocating and more like the Heat team we’ve seen the whole season. Philadelphia struggled mightily, and star center Joel Embiid was not on his game. Considering what he’s been through-an orbital bone fracture and a concussion and torn ligaments in his thumb-you have to feel for him. Can the Sixers summon one more performance at home to force a game 7? Absolutely. However with the way the Heat have defended all postseason plus Embiid and James Harden’s lack of help around them? Winning this series seems like it would be a shock at this point.

    Suns vs Mavericks

    Dallas shot their way back into the series with 2 big wins at home with a barrage of 3 pointers. The Phoenix Suns got back to their defensive ways in Game 5, only allowing 80 points as the Mavs committed 18 turnovers. Dallas couldn’t get anyone besides Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson to hit a shot. Devin Booker led Phoenix with 28 points and the Suns can end the series Thursday in Dallas. The Mavericks showed a lot of heart tying the series, but now their feet are to the fire. Can they force a game 7? The odds are against them, and the Suns are the better team. Sometimes it just comes down to if you can make shots. 

    The Most Valuable Player

    According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Denver Nuggets star center Nikola Jokic will be announced as the MVP for a second consecutive year. Jokic would be the 13th player to do so, and it’s well deserved. Jokic (27.1 ppg 13.8 rpg 7.9 apg) carried a team that was missing its second and third best players all season. He improved on his first MVP season, showing growth in all facets of his game, including his much maligned defense. Truth be told, we haven’t seen a talent like him; an offensive hub at that size with passing skills like a guard is incredible. You can’t guard him as he has so many moves in his bag. Get that man some help. 

    Joel Embiid would be a great choice, too, and most wouldn’t have quibbled with it. He was deserving as well, and hopefully he’ll get his opportunity to win eventually. However this was Nikola Jokic’s year again and we can look forward to seeing this battle continue into next season.

  • Bryce Dallas Howard is Ready To Direct a ‘Star Wars’ Film

    Bryce Dallas Howard is Ready To Direct a ‘Star Wars’ Film

    Disney+ has given us a whole new look into the Star Wars Universe with its original series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Those series have featured multiple episodes directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, for what many fans believe to be some of the best of both shows. For a while now, people have to say Howard deserves a shot a directing a film, we hear have even talked about how she’d be perfect for one and even recently ranked her amongst our top picks for the new Fantastic Four director.

    In an interview with Gizmodo, while promoting her newest film, Jurassic World: Dominion, Bryce Dallas Howard was asked if she was ready to take the reigns of a Star Wars feature film, and it seems like she’s onboard if someone is willing to ask her.

    Oh, my goodness, I think it would take someone asking me.

    Bryce Dallas Howard

    Howard‘s episodes of The Mandalorian are seen as some of the most memorable with “Sanctuary” seeing the first meeting of Dinn Djarin and Cara Dune. In it, the pair band together to defend a village from a group of raiders who’ve taken control of an empire AT-ST. “The Heiress” was another one of her episodes, bringing Bo-Katan and the Night Owls into live-action, previously only seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels.

    But perhaps her most coveted work is in episode 5 of The Book of Boba Fett. In “The Return of The Mandalorian” we see the return of Dinn Djarin as he plans to visit Grogu, but is stopped by Ahsoka Tano in order to help him continue the youngling’s training. The episode also features the first on-screen meeting of Tano and Luke Skywalker, quite the monumental moment for fans of the franchise.

    While there’s no word on a possible project right now for Howard, Star Wars Celebration is rapidly approaching and we will hopefully get some news on the future there.

    Source: Gizmodo

  • Twenty-One Pilots Originally Worked on ‘Top Gun: Maverick’s Soundtrack

    Twenty-One Pilots Originally Worked on ‘Top Gun: Maverick’s Soundtrack

    Here’s a curious surprise, it seems that Twenty-One Pilots was originally meant to work on the soundtrack for Top Gun: Maverick. While many know that Lady Gaga took on that task with her ballad Hold My Hand, we may have gotten a very different soundtrack at an earlier point. The news comes from the Twenty-One Pilots frontman Tyler Joseph, who shared on the radio station KROQ the story, making the claim that it was the film’s main star and producer Tom Cruise who had them kicked off the project after already signing on by Paramount Pictures.

    I was working with the music placement person for the new ‘Top Gun’ on writing a new song for them, and then I believe Tom Cruise came in and just fired everyone. You’ve seen that new ‘Top Gun’ thing that he’s got? The trailer has been out for, like, three years, so there’s been a few overhauls, and I was a part of that, so, they moved on.

    Tyler Joseph

    It’s certainly not unheard of that Cruise has shown his influence over projects, especially a legacy sequel. He also highlighted that he worked on a few scenes to write the original music. So, it’s curious that they got kicked at a later point, highlighting it was around the time he saw the footage.

    It was actually pretty soon after they brought me in to show me parts of the movie and what they were looking for and stuff. Then I got word that there was like a wholesale swap.

    Tyler Joseph

    Lady Gaga took over at that point, but it’s unclear what may have exactly led to that “wholesale swap” as he points out. It’s not great when you start working on a project to suddenly get kicked, but it probably will never be confirmed if it truly was Cruise that got them kicked off the project.

    Source: IndieWire

  • Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively Set to Return for ‘A Simple Favor’ Sequel

    Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively Set to Return for ‘A Simple Favor’ Sequel

    Deadline is reporting that Lionsgate will be teaming up with Amazon Studios to produce a sequel to one of their most successful projects, A Simple Favor. Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively have been announced to return to the franchise, reprising their roles as Stephanie Smothers and Emily Nelson respectively. As well, respected film and television director Paul Feig is slated to return to helm the follow-up to his independent success with the first film. Jessica Sharzer is also returning to write the sequel’s screenplay in addition to serving as an executive producer for the film.

    2018’s A Simple Favor has been one of Lionsgate’s most successful projects on both a commercial and critical level. The Anna Kendrick-led film turned in a decent-sized financial profit-earning over $97.5M at the box office while also holding an 84% certified fresh rating with Rotten Tomatoes. A Simple Favor is the story of Stephanie (Kendrick), a widower and single mother, who vlogs through the surprising investigation pertaining to the disappearance of her friend Emily (Lively).

    Without getting into specific spoilers, the film left the door open for story opportunities for a hypothetical sequel. And now with the sequel becoming a reality and entering active development, fans of the independent darling will have the opportunity to potentially have some of the unresolved threads of the first film answered.

    Source: Deadline

  • The NBA’s Dearly Departed: Chicago Bulls Edition

    The NBA’s Dearly Departed: Chicago Bulls Edition

    Even with being eliminated from the Playoffs in the first round, this was a surprise season for the Bulls. Chicago had one goal this season and that was to surround Zach LaVine with as much talent as possible to sell him on the future of this team and convince him to reup with the team rather than look around as a free agent. With that in mind, the Bulls put together an impressively solid roster of veterans and defensive payers, improving their win total by over 40% YoY. There’s a lot to look forward to next season as the Bulls were injury prone this season, especially with their difference making defensive anchors, Caruso and Ball being out majority of the season, and in Balls case, the playoffs. The big question for the Bulls this offseason is, did they convince LaVine to stay?

    Notable Free Agents

    • Guard Zach LaVine
    • Guard Matt Thomas (Restricted)
    • Forward Derrick Jones Jr.
    • Forward Tony Brown Jr.
    • Forward Tyler Cook (Restricted)
    • Center Tony Bradley (Player Option)
    • Center Tristan Thompson

    Projected 2022-2023 Starting Lineup

    • PG Lonzo Ball
    • SG Zach LaVine (Free Agent)
    • SF DeMar Derozan
    • PF Patrick Williams
    • C Nikola Vucevic

    Will Zach LaVine Resign

    Outside of a few role players the Bulls are essentially running it back for the 22/23 season, but that’s assuming that LaVine resigns. Under the radar, Zach has proven himself to be a capable leader and scorer with the Bulls while also improving on the defensive end almost every season. With a ceiling that have yet to be hit, the Bulls are desperate to keep LaVine in the fold as the team is built to go as far as LaVine can take them. The question is, what is LaVine looking for? Is he looking to be to sole focus point? Is it a desired state to live in? Or is it a desire to be in the best place to win? If the goal is to win, then the Bulls is the best option as the next best teams with potential cap space to sign him would be the Portland Trailblazers or the Indiana Pacers.

    Winning on the Margin

    With a starting 5 set for the next season, and roll players like Caruso and White signed, look for the Bulls to focus on shoring up their bench with solid reliable veteran role players. Injuries killed the Bulls this season, which forced them to rely on young, inexpensive, and inexperienced players. This is their window if they successfully resign LaVine, and in order to maximize this window they will have to use their cap space wisely on real veteran presence on their bench. This is an important off season for the Bulls and it will be interesting to see if they can continue the positive momentum from this season.

  • Disney+’s ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ Adds ‘She-Hulk’s Director Kat Coiro

    Disney+’s ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ Adds ‘She-Hulk’s Director Kat Coiro

    Disney has been busy expanding its live-action repertoire for Disney+, and it seems that they are slowly moving forward with another one of their projects. The adaptation of the fantasy book series The Spiderwick Chronicles has been in development for some time, and it seems that they have now added She-Hulk director Kat Coiro to the mix.

    She will join to direct the first two episodes that will follow the Grace Family, as they move into an ancestral home that starts to unravel a dark mystery on a faerie-filled world existing parallel to theirs. It’s described as a “modern coming-of-age story combined with fantasy adventure.” Coiro will also be on-board as an executive producer for the series. Paramount television Studios and 20th Television are working on the series with Locke & Key‘s Aron Eli Coleite on board as showrunner.

    Coiro made a name for herself working on the rom-com Marry Me which starred Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson. She also worked on the six episodes of the other Disney+ series, She-Hulk where she directed the pilot episode. She’s also worked on Dead to Me, Shameless, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Modern Family to name just a few. So, she’s definitely made a splash in the industry’s TV endeavors.

    Source: Deadline

  • Amazon Orders a Third Season of ‘Upload’

    Amazon Orders a Third Season of ‘Upload’

    After a long wait, Season 2 of Upload is now available on Amazon Prime. More importantly, though, a third season of the series has been ordered by the streamer.

    It was announced today that Amazon has given a third season order to its hit series, Upload, starring Robbie Amell. The series tells the story of a twenty-something-year-old man, Nathan Brown (Amell), who finds himself adjusting to life in the afterlife following a mysterious car accident. The first season premiered in 2020 to critical acclaim, but the second season, unfortunately, took nearly two years to debut.

    After a cliffhanger of a season, Upload will return with (hopefully) more answers for fans eager to see what will become of Nathan and the others. The half-hour series hails from Greg Daniels, who has worked on titles such as Parks & Recreation, King of the Hill, and The Office to name a few.

    Read our review of Upload Season 2 here.

    Source: Twitter, Deadlinie

  • ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Surpasses $500M Worldwide

    ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Surpasses $500M Worldwide

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has officially surpassed $500 million at the worldwide box office.

    On Monday, the latest Marvel Studios blockbuster crossed the $200 million mark at the domestic box office after earning $13.3 million. And now, the film has hit yet another major milestone. As of Tuesday, the Doctor Strange sequel managed to cross $500 million at the worldwide box office. More impressively, though, it is nearing $300 million at the international box office – a feat it looks likely to accomplish by the end of the day.

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is expected to dominate the box office in its second weekend with little to no competition outside of Firestarter. Experts predict the film will pull in approximately $74 million, for an estimated 60% decline in its second outing. The only true competition Strange faces is Top Gun: Maverick, which will fly into theaters over Memorial Day weekend. That film is expected to open with anywhere between $70-$100 million in its opening weekend.

    When Multiverse of Madness opened, it managed to score the second biggest worldwide start for a Hollywood movie in the Pandemic era with a stunning $449.4 million worldwide debut – $187 million domestically and $262.4 million internationally. The film also secured the fourth biggest opening ever for the Marvel Cinematic Universe behind Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Not bad considering its predecessor finished its theatrical run with $677.7 million worldwide.

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now in theaters.

    Source: Deadline.

  • ‘Moon Knight’ Head Writer Says Marc Was Alive and “Busy” During the Blip

    ‘Moon Knight’ Head Writer Says Marc Was Alive and “Busy” During the Blip

    With the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness coming right on the heels of the finale of the Disney+ series Moon Knight, there has been a lot for Marvel fans to process over the last week. Still, information about the series has been pouring out after the relatively open-ended finale. In any Phase Four MCU project, though, there is one question always on audiences’ minds even if it is rarely answered—who survived the Blip?

    Considering the MCU’s post-Avengers: Endgame content all takes place relatively recently after half the universe’s population was eliminated and then brought back, it always seems fairly relevant. For their part, Marvel Studios often keeps discussions about the details of the Blip to a minimum for plenty of practical reasons. However, Moon Knight head writer and executive producer Jeremy Slater recently told The Direct how Oscar Isaac’s Marc Spector spent his time during the five-year period. As seemed reasonable, he first confirmed that Spector did indeed survive the Blip:

    We definitely, in the writers room, we all collectively thought he survived the Blip, that he wasn’t blipped away. Because I don’t know how you—I think if he had been blipped and come back, it would be something that you would have to address. It’s something you would have to deal with, especially as a character who is trying to find his place in the world, and has a lot of questions about his past. To not touch on the Blip of it all, felt weird. So we all kind of collectively assumed that he was part of the 50% that survived.

    Jeremy Slater

    Different clues throughout the series pointed to that conclusion, but it was never directly mentioned. Perhaps more interesting, Slater went on to say that he believes Moon Knight was “busy” during that time in a similar way to Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye/Ronin. He stated:

    But as to what was actually happening during that period, I mean, I think that they say in the show that Steven basically woke up about two years ago. That was the first time that they started living separate lives, and it was following the death of Marc’s mother. So that’s been the last two years, and we assume the three years before that was sort of Marc, just, there was probably, in the same way, that Hawkeye had his hands full as Ronin because the criminal underworld was running rampant during the Blip time, I assume Moon Knight was keeping very busy. But it was all being sort of done in the shadows, and he was sort of taking out a lot of threats that never surfaced or saw the light of day.

    Jeremy Slater

    While the character’s future in the MCU is still unclear, Slater’s description of Marc Spector’s vigilante-type past confirms that side of the superhero that we did not see in Moon Knight. It certainly helps explain the room full of the bodies of those Spector killed as the Fist of Khonshu, and it opens up plenty of space for telling stories about the character in the past or hints at how he may act in the future.

    All episodes of Moon Knight are now streaming on Disney +.

    Source: The Direct