Murphy's Multiverse

Blog

  • Jeremy Slater Set to Write ‘Mortal Kombat’ Sequel

    Jeremy Slater Set to Write ‘Mortal Kombat’ Sequel

    In 2021, the pandemic shifted the way most studios released titles. While many continued to push out releases, Warner Bros. attempted a new release strategy by shifting its entire theatrical slate to a day and date release that saw the film’s debut on HBO Max, alongside theaters. One of those films was the highly anticipated Mortal Kombat reboot. While the film didn’t smash any box office records with just $83.8 million worldwide, it did perform well on HBO Max, pulling in 3.8 million streams during its debut weekend. This led many to question whether or not Mortal Kombat would receive a sequel.

    Thankfully, it appears the story isn’t over yet. Deadline is reporting that New Line is officially moving forward with a sequel to the 2021 film. Jeremy Slater, who most recently worked on Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight, has been tapped to write the script for the sequel. Producer Todd Garner and Lewis Tan have confirmed that they will return for the sequel. 

    https://twitter.com/todd_garner/status/1486393378702987264?s=21

    The first film saw the introduction of an original character Cole Young, revealed to be a descendant of Hanzo Hasashi, aka Scorpion. Cole is recruited to help repel the forces of Shang Tsung, who has sent his fighters to Earthrealm to kill Raidens champions so that Outworld will be able to secure its tenth victory in the Mortal Kombat that it can invade Earthrealm. With a sequel on the horizon, it looks as if we could see that Johnny Cage tease come to fruition.

    Mortal Kombat 2 currently has no set release or director and, outside of Tan, it’s unknown just cast members will be returning.

    SOURCE: Deadline, Twitter

  • Hey, Look, Everyone…It’s Bryce Dallas Howard

    Hey, Look, Everyone…It’s Bryce Dallas Howard

    Through its first four episodes, Lucasfilm’s latest Star Wars streaming series, The Book of Boba Fett, hadn’t generated the same volume of discussion around the proverbial water cooler as had its predecessor on Disney Plus, The Mandalorian. While The Book of Boba Fett hasn’t really been divisive among fans and has been treated kindly by critics, it simply seemed to lack the same “pop” as Mando.

    Surely some of that is the result of the reality of the show not matching fan expectations: fans wanted Boba Fett kicking ass like he did when he first appeared in The Mandalorian but, instead, have seen a story unfold much more along the lines of The Godfather: Part II, in which flashbacks a bring us up to speed on how Fett rose to his current station. And so, through its first four episodes, much of the buzz had been generated by the live-action debut of Black Krrsantan, Danny Trejo’s Rancor keeper and the hope of something greater just around the corner. And today, in Chapter 5, “The Return of The Mandalorian”, the hope that fans had been clinging to arrived.

    The episode waited roughly 20 seconds before introducing Din Djarin to the story and, from there, the character never relinquished the spotlight. As fans have rightly pointed out, this episode was in every way, shape and form, an episode of The Mandalorian that happened to be part of The Book of Boba Fett. It’s not until the end that Fett is even named and the events of this episode have nothing to do with the events of the first four episodes of the series. Outside of the setting and a brief reference to the Pyke Syndicate, Chapter 5 doesn’t even share the same narrative tapestry as the rest of the series.

    What it is, however, is a great reminder that The Book of Boba Fett is part of much larger narrative that’s been developing for nearly 15 years, since Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau started to plant the seeds of it over the course of several season of The Clone Wars. Filoni and Favreau seem to have a deep and true understanding of the Galaxy Far, Far Away that George Lucas dreamt up and created. They have a passion and knowledge for the stories and characters that have built Star Wars into the entertainment empire it has become and have rightfully been lauded for their work with the direction they’ve begun to steer the live-action Star Wars series. Following today’s episode, it’s clear that fans need to start sending some of that praise in the direction of director Bryce Dallas Howard.

    Chapter 5 stands apart from the rest of the chapters of The Book of Boba Fett. Sure it’s not telling a story about Fett, though it’s obvious Djarin is going to play a big role in the remainder of the series (the creators were kind enough to throw some metahumor at us “Hey, look, everyone. It’s Mando”, as if we had forgotten about him), but it’s also the best episode of the series so far despite a decent chunk of time in it being spent watching Djarin and Peli Motto rattle off a bunch of crazy names for parts of the Naboo starfighter they are rebuilding. Howard shares that same deep understanding of Star Wars that fans love to use to adulate Filoni and Favreau and she shares it because, just like them, she’s a lifelong fan of the franchise.

    Howard’s father, Ron Howard, worked on the 1988 film Willow, written by Lucas, and Bryce has talked in the past about how Lucas both mentored her father through his directing career and gave her advice ahead of her directorial debut on The Mandalorian in the first season’s fourth episode. Howard was even present at a dinner in which her father and Lucas met with Akria Kurosawa, the legendary Japanese director whose 1958 film, The Hidden Fortress, served as inspiration for Lucas to create Star Wars and whose influence is still felt even as creators other than Lucas are now taking the reigns of the franchise. Chapter 13 of The Mandalorian, “The Jedi”, directed by Filoni, was the most overt homage to Kurosawa, but it is very clear that Howard values Kurosawa’s influence on the franchise, too. Her first episode of The Mandalorian, “Sanctuary”, was very much in the Kurosawa mold.

    What “The Return of the Mandalorian” made very clear was that while Filoni and Favreau may be creating the live-action world unfolding on Disney Plus and are the ones driving the shared narrative that certainly seems like it’s headed for a big battle to reclaim Mandalore, they are incredibly comfortable letting Howard take the wheel and be in charge as they lay the groundwork. Chapter 11 of The Mandalorian, “The Heiress”, also directed by Howard, introduced key characters, storylines and artifacts into live-action that will play major roles in the resolution of this shared narrative. In “The Return of the Mandalorian”, Howard’s voice was again the one Filoni and Favreau chose to tell not only the past of Mandalore (with a little Terminator influence thrown in for good measure), but also set up some key points for the future, such as how Djarin can redeem himself in his religion. For an episode that spent a lot of time repairing a beat up ship, it sure seems like it was a can’t miss to understand things moving forward.

    And so with Chapter 5 of The Book of Boba Fett, “The Return of The Mandalorian”, the hope fans were waiting for did arrive…and her name is Bryce Dallas Howard.

  • REVIEW: ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ Chapter 5 – Return of the Mandalorian

    REVIEW: ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ Chapter 5 – Return of the Mandalorian

    After what can perhaps be described as a rather lackluster series so far, The Book of Boba Fett has delivered not only its best episode yet, but probably one of the best Star Wars Disney+ episodes ever. It’s interesting how it managed that on an episode where the titular character doesn’t show up, even if the reasons for that tend to be pretty obvious. Let’s dive in.

    After the obvious hints on last week’s episode, it’s no surprise that Din Djarin finally made his debut on the show. And much like Ahsoka Tano’s introduction on Chapter 13 of The Mandalorian, we didn’t have to wait long for that to happen, with the series putting aside an endless tease and going straight into it. By giving us an entire episode following Din the show cashed in on the growing expectations to see what was to come next in the journeys of Din Djarin, following Grogu’s departure and his acquiring of the Darksaber. By expanding his story and also tying it with Boba Fett’s it managed to deliver a compelling addendum to both The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian.

    One might say that a few of the issues that have made The Book of Boba Fett pale in comparison to its predecessor might come to the (lack of) novelty of it all. Having a show not only set on Tatooine, perhaps the most uninteresting of the interesting planets of the Star Wars universe but also focusing half of your runtime on flashbacks that do little more than connecting dots one already knew existed doesn’t exactly invite the awe of discovery one often associates with Star Wars. With the flashbacks presumably ending in Chapter 4, given Boba Fett being finally healed of the injuries inflicted on him by the Sarlacc, it was now time to move forward and bring something new to the table.

    This breath of fresh air is personified by the return of Din Djarin. His on-screen magnetism is perhaps best explained through the tracking shot set between 07:05 and 09:21. We follow him go up an elevator, delivering his bounty, collecting the information he needed, and then leaving, all on a single take, with the camera focusing on him at all times. The Disney+ shows have been known for doing something similar to what Peli Motto did with Din’s new ship when she states “Not a gram of fat on her!” in order to make it go faster. They always seem to be able to cut the superfluous shots and give us the bare essentials that the story needs in order to move forward at a more pleasant pace. So it is interesting to see an episode take its time with the reintroduction of a character so that when it’s done everybody had the opportunity to settle in and begin the episode on the same page. That can only speak of how much the character means to so many, even if it’s only been around for a little over two years.

    By making Din Djarin the star of the show we managed to get off-planet and onto some new and interesting locations, one of the aspects where The Book of Boba Fett doesn’t really deliver. Elysium and Interstellar came to mind when we got to the city in space where Din delivers his bounty. But the references within the new and exciting location and action shots didn’t stop there as the flashbacks to the destruction of Mandalore was reminiscent of Terminator 2: Judgment Day with the KX-series security droids taking the place of the Terminators stepping on human skulls. All these references, combined with the connections to past Star Wars projects as seen when Din is testing out his Naboo N-1 Starfighter through Beggar’s Canyon, Motto’s BD droid, and a few more, could feel gratuitous but they all end up shining by flowing nicely into the plot and being used as an integral part of the story.

    At the end of the day having a Din Djarin-centered episode also benefits his future endeavors. Besides setting up what is sure to be a transformative final act for The Book of Boba Fett, having Chapter 5 explore the present state of The Tribe, the group hidden in the Mandalorian covert in the sewers of Nevarro, first introduced and mostly destroyed in The Mandalorian, also perfectly sets up what a The Mandalorian season 3 might be all about by addressing the legacy of the Darksaber and how that impacts Din’s relationship with his fellow Mandalorians. With Din left on his own, and much like in his own show battling his teachings after realizing there were other ways to honor his Mandalorian background, his search for Grogu will now begin as he plans to deliver him his own mesh armor made out of beskar. 

    This chapter feels like one that jumpstarts the show from its lethargic state, giving it a much-needed energy boost as we get to the final two episodes with a greater sense of urgency, with more dynamic character dynamics on the horizon. The Book of Boba Fett might not be living up to the hype, but there is no reason why it can’t still surpass it. 

  • New ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Merch Features All Three Spider-Men

    New ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Merch Features All Three Spider-Men

    It looks like it took some time until we finally got some merchandise featuring all three Spider-Men from Spider-Man: No Way Home. It’s been dominating the box office since its December release, but Sony wanted to keep it a secret for long as possible. Luckily, the wait is over, as new merchandise has found its way online featuring Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland‘s take on the characters finally united. The first t-shirt replicates the iconic “I love you guys!” moment from the finale.

    Spider-Man trio t-shirt

    Always wanted socks featuring each Spider-Man’s iconic logo in addition to the numbering they are given in the film’s finale as Peter 1, Peter 2, and Peter 3.

    Spider-Man socks

    There’s also a great one featuring everyone’s iconic design with the statement that “The Multiverse is Real!” Doctor Strange certainly isn’t going to be happy about that aspect once his film releases in May of this year.

    Multiverse t-shirt

    Probably a personal favorite is an overlay of all three Spider-Man logos, which ironically had a fake leak around a month before it’s release, as the discussions surrounding their arrival in the project was at its peak without a confirmation.

    Stacked Spider-Man shirt

    The new merchandise showcased on the Marvel site includes quite a bit more, as the various villains also got their own focus, such as some new logos designed inspired by Electro, Green Goblin, and Dock Ock. There are some great designs and Marvel is certainly banking on some of the iconic moments from the film. We’ll see if this is just the beginning of their merchanidse roll-out as they milk this cash cow as much as they can.

    Source: Marvel

  • Matt Reeves Shares How Nirvana Inspired ‘The Batman’s Script

    Matt Reeves Shares How Nirvana Inspired ‘The Batman’s Script

    There are always some surprising influences on various projects. Sometimes a music cue or even a painting could become the center point of one’s approach to storytelling. In the case of The Batman‘s director Matt Reeves, it seems that his biggest influence was the music by Nirvana. It seems that the songs and lead singer Kurt Cobain became a main point of influence while writing his take on the Caped Crusader, who will be played by Robert Pattinson. He goes on to say that:

    Early on, when I was writing, I started listening to Nirvana, and there was something about [Nevermind song] ‘Something in the Way’, which is in the first trailer, which is part of the voice of that character. When I considered, ‘How do you do Bruce Wayne in a way that hasn’t been seen before?’ I started thinking, ‘What if some tragedy happened and this guy becomes so reclusive, we don’t know what he’s doing? Is this guy some kind of wayward, reckless, drug addict?’ And the truth is that he is a kind of drug addict. His drug is his addiction to this drive for revenge. He’s like a Batman Kurt Cobain.

    Matt Reeves

    As he points out, the song was a highlight of the initial trailer that was revealed during DC FanDome. It set quite a tone, as we got our first true look at the film’s new take of the Dark Knight and its detective noir storytelling. It’ll be interesting to see if we see any of Nirvana’s songs scattered across the film’s now confirmed 3-hour runtime. As such, we get the longest entry in the iconic comic book adaptation with the most unique take on the franchise.

    Source: Esquire

  • ‘The Suicide Squad’s Flula Borg to Reprise ‘Pitch Perfect’ Role in Spinoff Series

    ‘The Suicide Squad’s Flula Borg to Reprise ‘Pitch Perfect’ Role in Spinoff Series

    It looks like the Pitch Perfect franchise is ready to get its first spinoff with the German actor Flula Borg returning to reprise his role of Piëter Krämer from the second film entry. He’ll join Adam DeVine in the new Peacock original series, where he signs Bumper Allen, DeVine‘s character, as his client and tries to make his dreams a reality after one of his songs becomes a hit there.

    Borg has been making quite a name for himself with his short-lived but memorable tenure as Javelin in James Gunn‘s The Suicide Squad. He also appeared in Trolls World Tour, Ferdinand, and Buddymoon. He’s also has worked with DeVine in the past, such as on Workaholics.

    Megan Amram will write the spinoff series and also act as showrunner and executive producer on the piece. Brownstone Productions is also executive producing with Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman involved alongside Gold Circle Films’ Paul Brooks and Scott Neimeyer. DeVine also has an executive producing role. It seems the project doesn’t have a name as of yet.

    Source: Variety

  • Lucy Liu to Star in Stephen King’s ‘Later’ Adaptation by ‘True Blood’s Raelle Tucker

    Lucy Liu to Star in Stephen King’s ‘Later’ Adaptation by ‘True Blood’s Raelle Tucker

    Stephen King‘s 2021 novel, Later, is going to be turned into a limited series with Lucy Liu set to take on the main role. Raelle Tucker will act as showrunner and wrote the script for the pilot. She previously worked on HBO’s True Blood and the Sacred Lies anthology series together with Blumhouse Television who landed the rights for the project and are spearheading the project moving forward. She shared her excitement about getting another chance to work with Jason Blum.

    I’ve wanted to work with Jason Blum for years, and now we have two projects together. Go, me! Later is terrifying and touching and wonderfully weird — of course it is, it’s Stephen King. Adapting one of my favorite writers of all time, with an incredible partner like Blumhouse and the incomparable Lucy Liu, is a dream come true

    Raelle Tucker

    The adaptation will explore the story of Tia (Lucy Liu), the owner of a literary agency, is facing the end of her career due to the death of her star writer. Without his promised work, she’s about to face bankruptcy and is alone raising her son Jamie. Luckily, he has the ability to speak to the dead – as one does – and is able to help her finish the book after uncovering the original plans by its original author post-mortem. Yet, it wouldn’t be a story without any conflict, as Tia’s girlfriend finds out and he might be over his head.

    Source: Deadline

  • Ivory Aquino Confirmed as Alysia Yeoh in ‘Batgirl’

    Ivory Aquino Confirmed as Alysia Yeoh in ‘Batgirl’

    Even as cameras are rolling on the upcoming Batgirl solo film in Glasgow, thw cast continues to grow. A ton of set photos have made their way online recently, giving us countless new looks at the set and Batgirl herself. Photos last week revealed that actress Ivory Aquino looked to be a part of the film, as she was seen in many scenes with Leslie Grace. We first reported on these photos and speculated that Aquino could be playing the role of Alysia Yeoh.

    Variety has confirmed that Aquino is indeed playing the role of Yeoh, Barbara Gordon’s best friend and roommate. The character was created by Gail Simone and Adrian Syaf, first appearing in Batgirl Volume 4 issue #1. It was first speculated that Yeoh could be playing a role in the film when the project was casting an Asain transgender actress under the name of “Alanna”. It seems like the project could be setting up a strong friendship between the two.

    Aquino is best known for her work in When We Rise and Tales of the City. This will be her first role in a comic book film and will also be the first transgender character in the DC Extended Universe.

    Batgirl currently has no set release date but is slated to release sometime in 2022.

    SOURCE: Variety

  • Disney Responds to Peter Dinklage’s Scathing ‘Snow White’ Criticism

    Disney Responds to Peter Dinklage’s Scathing ‘Snow White’ Criticism

    Today, Disney issued a statement in response to sharp criticism by Emmy-winning actor Peter Dinklage regarding the upcoming live-action remake of Snow White. The Game of Thrones alum spoke harshly about Disney’s intention to retell the 1937 animated film on the WTF podcast on Monday:

    Literally no offense to anyone, but I was a little taken aback when they were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White — but you’re still telling the story of Snow White and the  Seven Dwarfs,” Dinklage told Maron. “Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there. It makes no sense to me. You’re progressive in one way, but then you’re still making that fucking backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together. What the fuck are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough.

    Peter Dinklage

    Dinklage’s comments come after the lauded casting of West Side Story star Rachel Zegler as the titular princess Snow White.

    Disney was quick to respond with an attempt to defend against the cirticism. A spoesperson for the company told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement:

    To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community. We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.

    Disney

    While the Snow White remake is still years away, it will employ cultural consultants similar to the live-action Disney reimaginings Aladdin and Mulan. Alongside Zegler, Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot is set to play the Evil Queen with Marc Webb directing.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • REVIEW: ‘How I Met Your Father’ Episode 3 – The Fixer

    REVIEW: ‘How I Met Your Father’ Episode 3 – The Fixer

    Sophie’s love story continues. This time, Jesse takes the spotlight, as they both try and conquer their return to the dating world. Last week, I shared my thoughts on the premiere of How I Met Your Father and had some complaints about the series. Luckily, it seems those may have been answered. During the premiere episodes, I felt the humor was a bit lacking, and the connections to How I Met Your Mother were great, but I felt the feel was a bit off. In a way, it was almost like the show was trying desperately to recreate the atmosphere of the original, but wasn’t quite hitting the mark. Episode 3, however, answers these problems and then some.

    As I had suggested last week, I feel the first two episodes may have only felt off due to it being a premiere and, therefore, needing to set up multiple different characters and relationships. One thing I did love last week was that I had already started to get a feeling for the characters and have grown to love a few of them already. That helped tremendously in the third episode, which is by far the best one out of the three. It follows Sophie and Jesse returning to the dating world, both feeling a bit defeated on their search for love. As romantic sitcoms go, the episode concludes with both characters hyping each other up, and having new prospects and views on their current dating life.

    Episode 3 was both charming and funny. The humor that I felt missed the mark last week was dead on this time around, obviously not all jokes will land with everyone, but I felt that laugh tracks weren’t placed in humorless moments as often. The characters once again stand out, and the more I watch them – especially Jesse and Sophie – the more I am falling in love with them. I am invested in this journey. In my last review, I noted the clever approach to already hinting at who might be the father. Yet, this new episode defied expectations and introduced a new possible father, Josh Peck‘s Drew, as we learn he met Sophie briefly on the first night while asking for a charger. This new development not only adds another father into the mix but also opens up the possibility of many new men that could be the aforementioned father. I mean, it was a party that filled up a bar, after all.

    On top of the love story, the supporting cast also made some leaps this week. Just like with How I Met Your Mother, the show followed Sophie and Jesse on their “main journey,” but also spent some time with the other members of the group while they live their respective lives. This week, we followed Valentina and Sid trying to improve their long-distance relationship, as well as Ellen and Charlie house hunting in New York. The character pair-ups were a bit odd to me at first, but as the episode continued, you immediately felt the chemistry between them. This cohesive friend group continues to impress me with how natural it feels.

    From the character sitting around the apartment to the humor to the charming love story, this episode landed so perfectly in its attempt to capture the feeling of the original. How I Met Your Father had an uphill battle in trying to live up to one of the most beloved sitcoms in the last 20 years, and somehow, they managed to do it. Episode 3 had me truly feel like this was an extension of How I Met Your Mother and that it’s expanding the world of the original. I was quite impressed with how fast the problems seemed to just disappear, and how fast the show has managed to grip me.

    How I Met Your Father is starting to line up as a great premiere in a crowded 2022 schedule. If they can continue to deliver as they did with this entry, they may have a stand-out new show on their hands that is worth your attention. As the streaming wars continue, IP is like gold. So, when a new show manages to deliver on its predecessors, it’s a true treat for fans. So far, How I Met Your Father is a good show worth checking out, but if they can keep up this momentum, it may just become a must-watch. I hope it continues on this path, if they do, I truly believe it may possibly live up to and maybe fix the problems of How I Met Your Mother.