Here’s a curious hint. There have been many discussions if Marvel Studios will manage to release any films in China this year due to various factors. Shang-Chi still hasn’t gotten one and there was no sign Eternals wouldn’t face the same fate. Chloé Zhao‘s win at the Oscars was heavily praised by the country until comments surfaced that changed their attitude to muting anything in relation to the director online. As such, it seemed unlikely her film will get a Chinese release. Yet, a new banner may have hinted at
Twitter user @FILMemesTW shared a banner that reveals Eternals will release in Hong Kong theaters as of November 4th. The curious aspect is that it would be a day before it releases in the States. There hasn’t been an official statement so we might still need to take this with a grain of salt for now but it popping up online is curious.
China has been very strict with its releases as of late, which has kept many productions from hitting any record numbers in their international box office. F9 and Godzilla vs. Kong have made around $200M alone in the Eastern country, which boosted their international standing quite a bit. The current leading film worldwide is a Chinese propaganda film that has garnered almost one billion in the country alone.
Marvel Studios has still been performing well even without their usual Chinese release. Shang-Chi seems to be on route to pass $400M in its runtime which would be on par with films like Ant-Man in non-pandemic times. Black Widow also had the added benefit of releasing on Disney+ Premier Access which gave it a nice boost in numbers but added its own issues when it came to a foreign release. Still, it’ll be interesting to see if the Chinese release gets announced and how it may benefit the Zhao-directed project’s overall box office performance.
Superhero movies and television have dramatically increased in quantity in this early part of the 21st century. Where only the most iconic heroes used to be recognized by the general public – think Superman, Batman, Spider-Man – even non-comic book fans now can list their favorite superheroes by the dozen. While DC entertainment and its characters seem eternally well-known and loved, the change in the conversation around superheroes on screen is in no small part due to the wild success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Superheroes and their film and television exploits in particular have found their way into what feels like nearly every part of society. They routinely bring in over one billion dollars per film at the box office and inspire millions of fans. Still, the biggest award shows in the game, the Academy Awards and the Emmys, have long notoriously snubbed superheroes, or anything comic book-related. While WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier have managed to secure Marvel Studios’ first Emmy nominations, its WandaVision’s astonishing 23 nominations – and currently 2 wins – are making headlines and history. So, is Marvel Studios’ first Emmy-winning series simply an anomaly? Almost certainly not. Looking at the history of how superhero visual entertainment has fared at major award shows, it’s pretty clear that the trend going forward is more critical recognition of the genre. In honor of WandaVision, let’s look at the Emmys. It’s an incredibly shortlist of winners.
In 1978, Mariette Hartley was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for The Incredible Hulk and actually took home the same Emmy in 1979, marking the first nomination and win for a comic book superhero franchise. The Incredible Hulk’s success remained the only Emmy recognition for a whopping 42 years until DC’s Watchmen opened the floodgates in 2020. The series won 11 Emmys out of 26 nominations including Best Limited Series, Outstanding Lead Actress, Supporting Actor, and Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series. Watchmen’s resounding success after virtually no recognition of the genre hasn’t slipped away quietly.
This year’s Emmys have recognized several comic book adaptation series including WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The Boys, and The Umbrella Academy.WandaVision (along with The Boys) also follows Watchmen’s recognition in major above-the-line categories. Those include Outstanding Lead Actress, Actor, Limited Series, Supporting Actress, Directing, and Writing (twice) for a Limited or Anthology Series. The door for comic book superhero movies apparently blew right open for the Television Academy.
Historically, superhero films have fared slightly better as the Academy Awards, or Oscars. Still, only nine comic book superhero movies have actually secured a win—and they are not at all what you would guess. Superhero movies have been recognized, generally, in technical categories, such as Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Visual Effects, etc. In fact, Suicide Squad (2016)is an Oscar-winner for the former category, and Spider-Man 2 also took home an awardin the latter. Two wins have been as Best Animated Features. In 2009, The Dark Knight became the first to win an Oscar in a major, above-line category with Heath Ledger’s posthumous award for Best Supporting Actor, and boasted 8 total nominations.
It was not until ten years later in 2019 that Black Panther, among its seven nominations, became the first comic book superhero movie to be nominated for the coveted Best Picture category. It also took home 3 awards, giving Marvel Studios its first Oscars. In 2020, though, Joker, the iconic DC character made history again with a superhero record-breaking 11 nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography. The film nabbed only two awards though, including Best Score and Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix’s performance.
It is clear that award shows are beginning to recognize the superhero genre. Still, it has not been a gradual increase over the decades. Instead, it arguably did not begin until the 2000s, and truly not until the late 2010s and early 2020s. As clear with this year’s Emmys, superhero film and television are finally getting the official acclaim that is arguably long overdue. The question is why, and more importantly, why so much seemingly all at once. Are superhero series and movies actually getting better or are more and more critics simply becoming fans themselves? The answer is probably both.
The superhero genre of the past was traditionally represented by flat “popcorn” flicks that simply brought comic book characters directly off the pages they came from. The goal was pure, simple entertainment with “shiny” action and larger-than-life science fiction-type stories devoid of much else. To some, the genre still carries that stigma and the assumption is that these movies and television series are nothing more than fun money-making ploys. However, as anyone who has watched enough of them can tell you, there is so much more going on lately.
The sheer amount of films and shows have created an entirely new following and system of storytelling. An easy explanation is that, with countless properties being adapted and created, each one has to fight its way to being better than others in order for itself to stay afloat. A better explanation, though, is that the world has become so accustomed to superheroes and their stories that film and television makers can now shift their focus away from the classic empty but shiny plots to showcase and deliver deeper and more meaningful stories, using the genre as a vessel to do so.
While award shows have not traditionally been kind to comic book superheroes, the change can be seen, particularly just in the past few years. If this year’s Emmys, with WandaVision’s already noteworthy success, are any indication of what is to come, these beloved stories might be poised to be at the podium in record number in the near future.
There are many theories out there on the ongoing development of the One Piece manga. Of course, many focus on the Void Century, or what exactly is the One Piece and how it ties into the finale. There’s one rather important mystery that’s been teased throughout the manga’s entire run but never given much insight even as we’ve passed the 1000th chapter mark. It’s a dominant figure that remains a blank slate throughout, the infamous pirate Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach. The first canon wielder of two Devil Fruits broke every single rule, and there’s a chance he might even be the wielder of a third when we meet him again.
When he first meets our crew in chapter 223, they imply that he isn’t just a singular person but rather a “they.” Many believed it could simply be a shoutout to his crew scattered across the town. Yet, we get more hints that something is different about the wielder of the Yami Yami no Mi, the Darkness fruit. The moment he stole Whitebeard’s Gura Gura no Mi, the Quake fruit, and used it alongside his first fruit broke everything we know about the established rules of this franchise. It also added more questions to the earlier comments on him being more than one person.
The reason there’s strong evidence for Blackbeard to one day own a third Devil fruits lies in the use of the number three throughout the franchise. Oda is infamous for using numbers in creative ways, such as Luffy repeatedly receiving the 59. In Japanese, they get pronounced as “Gomu,” which is the Japanese word for rubber. The three connection exists in Teach’s design and prominently jolly roger, which consists of three skulls. He also wields three pistols, and, after the time skip, he has three braids in his beard. The number also exists in how many types of Devil Fruit exist in this world, Paramecia, Logia, and Zoan. He currently possesses the Logia fruit of darkness and the Paramecia fruit of quake. So, naturally, it seems likely he’ll gain access to a Zoan fruit ahead of the final confrontation with Luffy.
So, we know the likelihood of what fruit he’ll gain, but the question remains which one. Popular theories believe he’ll steal his last fruit from the current Wano arc and take over Kaido’s Uo Uo no Mi (Model: Seiryu). Yet, it would be strange to have Luffy fight another dragon after being the main focus of this arc. Plus, we already have Momonosuke with the same abilities, which would make his inclusion repetitive. Yet, at the same time, it would be in line with the use of threes in the series. Yet, the path of it being a mythical Zoan doesn’t seem so out of this realm. YouTuber 333VIL believed that the three might correlate to a Kraken-type Devil Fruit, as octopi possess three hearts.
In the Enies Lobby arc, Jabra thought he’d exploded if he is near the literal fruit as a devil might jump out of his body. So, perhaps a person requires multiple hearts to resist the curse of inhabiting more than one fruit. Yet, it still opens up why his jolly roger highlights three skulls. We learn that Teach doesn’t sleep, which would match up with how octopuses sleep in intervals of seconds. That would explain why people believe he is never fully asleep. Yet, one could easily also use the fact that he may inhabit multiple personalities to circumvent that. There just hasn’t been a time where we witnessed any personality changes throughout the series or a real hint at him possessing a devil fruit before he joins the Whitebeard pirates.
The final and a personal favorite theory is that he most likely will have the mystical Zoan fruit modeled after Cerberus. Not only would the three heads match his flag, but it also might add to the revelation of what exactly is so special about this pirate. There’s also the theming we’ve seen with past Emperors. Kaido has a strong following of dinosaur-themed Zoan users, while Big Mom’s crew utilizes food-related abilities. Blackbeard’s crew are more varied, but one prominent member wields a dog fruit, the Inu Ino no Mi, of the Kyubi no Kitsune model. Her prominence as the first real new fruit reveal could be a subtle hint at the correlation. It’s also one of the more recurring fruit variants throughout the series.
What adds a curious layer to him possessing three personalities is that his inspiration, the real-life Blackbeard pirate Edward Teach, was split into three characters. Edward Newgate, also known as Whitebeard, Blackbeard and the man he murdered for the Yami Yami no Mi, Thatch. It further creates a connection between the three characters that make up “Blackbeard” in this series. Perhaps Oda creates a parallel that this Blackbeard splits up into three characters, which could best get brought to the forefront by giving him three literal heads like a Cerberus. He also would be protecting the “Gates to Hell” as the last milestone before Luffy and his crew uncover Laugh Tale.
There’s one last aspect that might add some credence to the Cerberus theory. Throughout the Straw Hats travels, Usopp’s various lies seem to always come true at one point. We’ve seen it most notably with the giant goldfish on Little Garden. In an early flashback, we see the Usopp pirates hunting down a poor dog, as he calls it a Cerberus. In Thriller Bark, we do meet one that has a fox head. It’s a curious detail that not only works for a fun joke but also to grab our attention that he’s not fully formed. So, technically it’s not a true “Cerberus” but could act as foreshadowing. It could be a way to distract viewers from the creature’s actual debut later down the road.
It’s still speculation for now as One Piece is still wrapping up its story on Wano. Elbaf seems like a safe bet for their next destination before the story enters its final arc. While we don’t know if Blackbeard will make his move on the island of the giants, he is likely to make his grand return soon now that Luffy is potentially taking down both Kaido and Big Mom. Yet, it seems like a fitting location to uncover his final fruit as it’s also the home to Shanks, who also has an element three inflicted upon him by Teach. The iconic three scars on his face inflicted upon him at some point may hint at there being something Shanks isn’t telling the world about this very dangerous pirate.
Batman is all the rage right now. Next year will see not one but three live-action Batmen on the big screen. The interesting part is that two of them will star in the same movie. Since production on The Flash began, director Andy Muschietti has been dropping emblem reveals for his film’s protagonist. Many fans are eager to see the return of Ben Affleck as Batman and assumed Batman Day would be the day, but to not avail. To catch us off-guard, Muschietti did indeed share a tease, just a day late.
In a new Instagram post, the director revealed another look at a costume for the upcoming film, but this time it’s sending some mixed signals. What we’ve got this time around is a Batsuit belonging to Keaton but seems to have been spray-painted red with a yellow lightning bolt over the bat. It seems this could be a look at one of Barry’s possible suits in the film. There are also some noticeable differences from previous teases.
In Justice League, it is revealed that Barry’s suit is made out of the same materials Nasa uses to protect its spaceships from burning up once they re-entered Earth’s atmosphere. To keep it from falling apart, it is held together with wiring. Barry used this suit to run around in as it’s the only material that can withstand his abilities. There’s a chance that his suit cannot withstand whatever leads him into the multiverse and is destroyed upon arrival. This old Batsuit acts as a replacement until he eventually gets his new suit revealed at last year’s Fandome, which we saw in some set photos. It’ll be interesting to see if we get a closer look at this year’s DC FanDome.
It looks like Denis Villeneuve‘s upcoming Dune film is off to a great start, as it managed to nab $36.8M internationally in 24 markets. Currently, it is ahead of Black Widow (which didn’t have a China release) and even Villeneuve‘s last film, Blade Runner 2049. It’ll have some smaller releases ahead of its domestic debut in late October which may work in the film’s favor of having an HBO Max release in the States. Perhaps it’s part of Warner Bros.’s strategy to avoid the piracy aspect that’s been hurting these day-and-date releases.
Shang-Chi has been doing quite well internationally, as it now stands at around $320M worldwide. It’s passed A Quiet Place Part II and Sonic the Hedgehog putting it at the higher end of this year’s earners. Its toughest competition remains the Chinese releases of Godzilla vs. Kong and F9, who managed to add an extra $200M in the market respectively. Yet, current predictions still put it at a strong $414M on par with Ant-Man. It may even pass Black Widow domestically at this rate. No small feat for a theatre-only release during a pandemic.
As Forbes’ Scott Mendelsohn points out, the benchmark for potential sequels lies with a $350M box office. Tenet‘s early release set the current industry standard as it still tries to recover from the pandemic, which still has no end in sight. With this trajectory, it seems safe to assume that Dune will get a sequel, as it only adapts the first half of the original novel. Shang-Chi also seems like a safe bet to explore a new legend now that went beyond everyone’s expectations. We’ll see how the rest of the year plays out as more films hit the market.
Some social media clues suggest that Marvel Studios has hired several Native American screenwriters for its Echo writers room. Since it was reported back in March that “a writers’ room [had] recently [been] assembled” for the Hawkeye spin-off on Disney Plus, I’ve been curious about who Head Writers Etan and Emily Cohen might have recruited. Now it seems there might be some clues that the writers’ room could include Native American representation matching Emily Cohen, lead actress Alaqua Cox and her character Echo’s backgrounds.
In April, I noticed that Bobby Wilson, a writer on two series with significant Native American cast and crew representation in Rutherford Falls and Reservation Dogs, was followed by Alaqua Cox and Emily Cohen on Instagram. Now it appears Bobby has Marvel Studios written in his Instagram profile among his credits, suggesting he may well be writing on Echo.
Another slightly more tenuous connection might be to Rebecca Roanhorse, speculative fiction author and comic writer of Echo in Marvel Comics’ Voices: Indigenous Voices #1 and Phoenix Song: Echo. She currently has “TV writer (FX, Disney+)” written in her Twitter bio and follows Bobby Wilson and Marion Dayre, who is seemingly another member of the Echo writers’ room. This could indicate Rebecca is also working on Echo.
It’s exciting to see that the Echo writers’ room could possibly include Native American representation matching characters, cast and crew. With 10 still-unannounced projects not reported on, in development, it will be intriguing to see what, if any details, are announced for Echo and other projects at Disney+ Day on November 12th.
Alaqua Cox will make her debut as Echo in Hawkeye, which is set to premiere in November on Disney+.
It looks like the upcoming Lord of the Rings spinoff series is actively seeking to bring back the original trilogy’s composer Howard Shore back into the fold. He’s worked on a variety of series which also include The Hobbit trilogy, Hugo, The Departed, and even the Twilight saga. The series wrapped up production for its first season and is currently in post-production. Shore has yet to sign on for what may be the most expensive television series ever developed, as its production budget stands at an astounding $465 million.
That’s just how much the first season costs with a second already signed off, which will move production from New Zealand to the UK. It’s still a shocking development as the country was one of the landmarks behind the original films. The costs seemed to go into building some of the most elaborate sets for a show. Yet, it won’t be cheap as they’ll get shipped from New Zealand to the UK adding more fuel to the fire for this abrupt move. The belief is due to the author’s own heritage, the shire was based in rural England that the show is trying to capture moving forward.
J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay are developing the series that will explore the SEcond AGe of Middle-Earth, which takes place thousands of years before the original film trilogy and novels. The series has gathered an extensive cast that will showcase the confrontation with a re-emerging evil as the times of peace come to an end.
Joe and John taking a break from Titans to discuss the new animated adaptation of Batman: The Long Halloween. While it’s split into two parts, we got you covered with one single episode, as we discuss the adaptation, characters, and direction the animated films take.
The Mandalorian has given new life to the Star Wars franchise with 2 great seasons and at least 2 spinoff series (The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka) on the way. Season 3 of The Mandalorian is in pre-production now and, given the way Season 2 wrapped up, seems as if it will take fans in a new direction now that Grogu has gone his own way under the care of Luke Skywalker. With Grogu seemingly out of the picture, fans have wondered what will become of the series’ main antagonist, Moff Gideon, whose pursuit of the Child set him on a collision course with Din Djarin that did not end favorably for the Imperial remnant. In an interview with Variety, Giancarlo Esposito painted a pretty clear picture of Gideon’s future in the series.
I have to imagine you would. I can’t speak for them, but I know I have desire. I think we need to see Moff to continue the story and to continue the pressure that – and the edge – that someone with the big brain that Moff has thinks about. So, I could almost guarantee it, but you know, there’s never a guarantee, but you know… you’ll see me, baby. Come on! I mean, the fact that I’m here tonight and in the position I am to be nominated for Moff Gideon. I just, I thank Jon Favreau and I thank Dave Filoni and thank Disney and Kathleen Kennedy for producing. This show, though, its’ taken people by storm, because there’s so much to love.
Gideon provided a formidable threat to the Mando throughout the first 2 seasons…right up until he did not. Gideon fancied himself a guy who was playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers, but when he found himself up against a pissed of Mando and crew, he was, predictably and understandably, unable to put up much of a fight. However, knowledge is power and it’s clear that Gideon is a man who makes it his business to know as much as possible and while the ending of season 2 left him in a less than favorable position, it’s not too hard to imagine him finding a way to get himself back on his feet and becoming a thorn in the side of Djarin, Bo Katan and company as they move on to a new chapter.
I’ve got so much to tell you about that, but I’m out of time. Yeah, I can’t say anything about that, sworn to silence. I can say I’m working on it and I can tell you it’s gonna blow your mind. You saw him arrive in my episode of The Mandalorian, that was nothing. That was nothing. I can talk it up all I want because I know it’s gonna deliver, I know it’s gonna over-deliver.
Robert Rodriguez
It’s certainly promising as the action sequence was one of the second season’s highlights. Boba Fett is a curious character, as he hasn’t done much within the cinematic aspect of the universe. Still, he became an instant fan-favorite and lived on through novelizations that seemed to inspire his return in the Disney+ series. So, the moment he took on an entire Stormtrooper platoon with ease and showcased his varied arsenal. It stuck out to many viewers of the series and Rodriguez certainly is hyping up what else the bounty hunter might have in store in the upcoming spinoff.
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