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  • ‘Loki’ Director Kate Herron Not Returning for the Disney+ Series’ Season 2

    ‘Loki’ Director Kate Herron Not Returning for the Disney+ Series’ Season 2

    In a shocking twist, besides the one in the Loki finale, Kate Herron won’t be returning for the second season. She acted as director and executive producer on the first season and is moving on two other projects. She revealed in an interview with Deadline that she never planned on a second season. It just developed as the series came together. There is no replacement announced and it’s uncertain if head writer Michael Waldron will also return for the series. She had the following to say on her departure:

    I always planned to be just on for this and to be honest, season 2 wasn’t in the — that’s something that just came out and I’m so excited. I’m really happy to watch it as a fan next season, but I just think I’m proud of what we did here and I’ve given it my all. I’m working on some other stuff yet to be announced.

    She confirmed that she is moving forward with her own projects but doesn’t deny a potential return to a Marvel project in the future. It’s a shocking reveals, as the series blending of Blade Runner and Minority Report was part of her original pitch. The open-ended nature of the series would make you think it was planned out, but they may also be taking a very different direction with the second season.

    Marvel Studios likes to reinvent their projects and could be making a similar approach with their series. The first season acted as a mystery thriller but as there are no more questions on who is controlling the TVA, it might take a completely new direction. It’ll be exciting to see what the future holds for Loki and especially Kate Herron‘s next project.

    Source: Deadline

  • Two More Animated ‘Game of Thrones’ Spin-Offs In Development

    Two More Animated ‘Game of Thrones’ Spin-Offs In Development

    It looks like Game of Thrones will continue to grow. It’s been three months since we got our first look at the first spin-off, House of the Dragon featuring Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy as Targaryen Royalty. It’ll be the first of many series that’ll further explore Westeros beyond the original HBO show. Currently, three other live-action shows are in development which includes one focused on warrior Princess Nymeria. They are also venturing into animation. Variety revealed that an animated series was in development for HBO Max. It looks like that isn’t all. The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively unveiled that two more animated shows are on HBO’s roadmap.

    One series stands out that will focus on the fictional Golden Empire of Yi Ti. It’s a location that the original series never visited that’s a region of Essos. It’s one of the oldest and most advanced societies in the fictional country. House of the Dragon features the character of Lord Velaryon, who famously sailed to Yi Ti and may offer our first live-action visit to the location.

    It seems that one live-action series will not continue development. The prequel Flea Bottom was nothing more than an idea, as it never got officially confirmed by HBO. THR reports that it was going to explore the King’s Landing slum. It’s uncertain how many of the variously hinted at series will see the light of day. There have been no updates on various of the shows that are in development until now. So, we’ll see which one will officially get a green light moving forward.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • Don Cheadle Gives ‘ARMOR WARS’ Production, Story Updates

    Don Cheadle Gives ‘ARMOR WARS’ Production, Story Updates

    Back in December, Marvel Studios One-Above-All, Kevin Feige, surprised fans with the Investor Day announcement that the late 80’s Iron Man comic book arc Armor Wars was being adapted into a Dinsey Plus series. With Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark out of the picture, Don Cheadle’s James Rhodes is set to take center stage in the project. While discussing his upcoming movie, Space Jam, with the Associated Press, Cheadle gave some insight into when production on Armor Wars will get underway and what to expect.

    “We are just talking about what that show is going to be. We probably will start filming sometime next year and are just kind of cracking the story right now, deciding what’s that journey gonna look like, what’s Rhodey’s…the iteration of this going to be. Obviously people know Armor Wars-if they know Armor Wars they know what the series is about but it’s also kind of figuring out how to establish and dig really deep into who Rhodey is because we haven’t really seen a lot of that in the movies.”

    Earlier this year, Cheadle mentioned that the show’s writer’s room was expected to open up around March and given the precedent other Disney Plus shows have set, it’s possible the show could go into production as early as March 2022. Armor Wars represents the types of projects that fans are going to be regularly treated to on Disney Plus. As Cheadle pointed out, Rhodey hasn’t had much character development since being introduced in 2008’s Iron Man; however, a 6-8 episode streaming series provides the time to not only develop Rhodey but a world full of supporting characters around him, similar to how The Falcon and The Winter Soldier built those worlds for Sam and Bucky. 

    Armor Wars will stream exclusively on Disney Plus.

  • ‘Loki’ Scenes Featuring Mobius and Ravonna Got Cut Due to Pandemic

    ‘Loki’ Scenes Featuring Mobius and Ravonna Got Cut Due to Pandemic

    The first three Disney+ series by Marvel Studios didn’t have an easy start. Falcon and the Winter Soldier was to kick-start the franchise’s new venture. Yet, that role ended up going to WandaVision. As the pandemic continued to rage across the world, their productions got delayed, and I was uncertain how they might be affected by it. Later, we’ve learned that both series went through some harsh limitations and had to cut quite a few scenes. WandaVision director Matt Shakman offered a detailed look behind the scenes with an entire sequence getting cut due to time restraints.

    We’ve all wondered if Loki was affected similarly, but there was no official word. Luckily, one of the writers and producers of the show, Eric Martin, took to Twitter to offer a glimpse behind the scenes. In it, he confirmed that Mobius and Renslayer were going to share the screen more often but got cut due to COVID.

     

    https://twitter.com/MrEricMartin/status/1415528496701394944

    It’s not surprising that the series had to cut some elements, especially as Gugu Mbatha-Raw‘s Ravonna felt underdeveloped, especially how she just exits the show at the end. Still, it’s a shame we didn’t get more from their dynamic. Luckily, we know that a second season is heading our way, and she’ll very likely make a grand return. It’ll be curious to see how she reacts once she realizes that Mobius and everyone she worked with lost their memory. We are still waiting for details on the second season which will give us some answers on where the franchise is heading and where within the MCU it takes place.

    Source: Twitter

  • Kevin Feige Offers Insight Into How Marvel Studios Expands the MCU

    Kevin Feige Offers Insight Into How Marvel Studios Expands the MCU

    The final episode of Loki has redefined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All the eons that the Time Variance Authority spent keeping the Sacred Timeline in order was for nothing. One single action has unleashed the multiverse, and Marvel Studios has a brand new challenge ahead of them. Avengers: Endgame gave us the base rules for how time travel works. It seems like they had everything mapped out in advance, but Kevin Feige offered some insight into how they tackle these projects.

    Mary Livanos oversaw WandaVision from start to finish, Zoie Nagelhout oversaw The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on the ground every day from start to finish, Kevin Wright came up with much of what you love about the Loki series and was right next to Kate Herron and Tom Hiddleston the entire time

    It might be the most insight we got into the way they approach projects, as he confirmed they have one person focusing full time on a specific project. The latest Disney+ show helped us understand how time and dimensions are connected within this franchise before breaking it wide open.

    There are people whose sole tasks it is to keep it in their head and deliver it for us and then we have interconnected meetings quite often about how things grow and evolve and [Louis D’Esposito] and I and [Victoria Alonso] bounce between all of those.

     

    Datei:Kevin Feige Infinity War Premiere.jpg – Wikipedia

     

    Head writer Michael Waldron probably built upon the rules set by the last Avengers film that will continue to grow with the next Doctor Strange film. So, it continues to grow with each project and the multiverse might just be the beginning. Before that, What If will be our first follow-up into the multiverse. It seems that the Marvel Studios team found out about the overarching rules now that it is public information.

    As you indicated before we started recording, the multiverse is coming up in a big way. There’s interconnectivity there that people have already started to see and suss out and I had a meeting this morning with the whole broad Marvel Studios team going through the multiverse and the rules of the multiverse and exactly how to really deliver on the excitement surrounding the multiverse.

    He also goes on to say that they do make changes to adapt to the ongoing storylines but never at the sacrifice of the individual story being told. As the franchise continues to grow through films and Disney+, they will have a lot of opportunities to explore the multiverse in new and creative ways. Here’s hoping they’ll share some more information in the coming months.

    Source: D23 Inside Disney via The Direct

  • Farewell, Marvel Cinematic Universe

    Farewell, Marvel Cinematic Universe

    Hello, Marvel Cinematic Multiverse. The Loki finale has changed the landscape. Not only did we get introduced to our main antagonist moving forward, but we also saw the Sacred Timeline meet its end. What once had order has now scattered into chaos. An endless possibility of Variants has now jumped into existence. What If will be our introduction to many of them. It’ll get explored further in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. We always knew it was coming ever since the Strange sequel’s title announcement. The Spider-Man: No Way Home rumors added even more to its existence, but we never knew we’d get to witness the actual birth of the multiverse.

     

    The brilliant 'Loki' finale might explain Steve Rogers' dance with Peggy Carter

     

    We’re about to enter a very new storytelling landscape for Marvel Studios. It adds more credence to our theory that Marvel Legacy projects are technically part of the franchise. No Way Home rumors hint at other Spider-Men making their grand live-action return with old villains confirmed to return. There are no limitations to how they’ll expand the franchise, yet the production company will face a new kind of hurdle. Up until now, our biggest worry was how the storylines fit together. Black Widow takes place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was a direct sequel to the first but didn’t release until the rest of the franchise moved forward. Moving forward, we’ll also question if we are still part of the main timeline.

    It’s a risky venture to make sense of multiple timelines and dimensions. We played around with the idea of them introducing characters from older franchises, especially with Deadpool joining the franchise in his upcoming threequel. So, it seems likely we’ll get some more multiversal storylines in the future, but it might be time for Marvel Studios to offer an overview. Marvel Studios’ Legends series offer a recap of a character’s history in the franchise, but there are still troubles knowing when every story takes place. Spider-Man: Homecoming offered a definite timeline between it and the first Avengers that didn’t even line up.

     

    Loki season finale recap: Post-credits scene, ending of episode 6 explained - CNET

     

    Of course, I might just be overthinking it. Even if there won’t be a guide through the MCU’s timeline and the future MCM expansion, we’ll have plenty of stories heading our way. Loki did teach us that the connective tissue might be Kang. It introduced us to the concept of the Multiversal War, and head writer Michael Waldron hinted that the familiarity of this storyline may be intentional. Marvel Studios saw the potential of reaching out into the multiverse, and nothing is stoping them now. Hopefully, we’ll find out what else they have in the story sooner rather than later.

  • Antonio Banderas Joins “INDIANA JONES 5”

    Antonio Banderas Joins “INDIANA JONES 5”

    The cast of Indiana Jones 5 continues to impress. Deadline has revealed that Antonio Banderas has been added to the ranks of the upcoming adventure sequel. It is unknown who Banderas will be portraying, but he joins a cast that already includes the star power of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Reneé Wilson, and Harrison Ford returning as the iconic titular character. He barely requires any introduction, but for the uninitiated, Banderas is best known for his starring roles in the Zorro franchise, Robert Rodriguez’s Mexico Trilogy, Interview with the Vampire, and the Spy Kids films, among others. This will be the second action-adventure project to include Banderas in the next couple of years, as the actor also plays a role in Tom Holland’s Uncharted film adaptation.

    Indiana Jones 5 is set to debut in July of 2022, with James Mangold taking over directing duties from franchise creator Steven Spielberg. The script for the installment comes from Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Mangold himself. Filming for the project is currently on hold, as Ford recovers from an injury sustained while performing an action scene. The new Jones film has been in various stages of production for over ten years, with Spielberg attempting to make a new movie on and off since 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Very little is known about the plot of the film, but rumors suggest it will take place during the 1960’s Space Race, and we should get more details sooner rather than later.

    Source: Deadline

     

  • New ‘The Suicide Squad’ Featurette Reveals Sean Gunn as Calendar Man

    New ‘The Suicide Squad’ Featurette Reveals Sean Gunn as Calendar Man

    Before the film made its big debut at last year’s DC Fandome, fan’s imaginations were running wild who’ll end up joining Task Force X in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. He hand-picked some of the wackiest and obscure characters from within the DC Universe. The current line-up includes Polka-Dot Man, Peacemaker, Javelin, Savant, Black Guard, and even a walking Weasel played by Sean Gunn. Gunn‘s brother is no stranger to playing around in his brother’s films. He was the on-set model for Rocket Raccoon and played Kraglin in the Guardians of the Galaxy films. While we knew he’d be playing Weasel in the film, it seems he picked up another role within the film.

    In a new behind-the-scenes featurette for the upcoming film, in a brief blink and you’ll miss it scene, you can catch Sean Gunn as one of Batman’s most obscure rogues, Calendar Man. The character was not previously known to be in the film and looks to be a brief cameo. The actor has a shaved head, and the abbreviated months tattoed around his cranium which many might remember from the comics.

     

     

    For those unfamiliar with Julian Gregory Day, who is better known as Calendar Man. He’s a supervillain whose fascinated by holidays and calendars. That love turned into his theme where he only commits crimes on those specific days. The character gained more notable popularity in The Long Halloween. In it, he was reimagined as a more Hannibal Lecter-type villain that Batman would speak to within an effort to locate the holiday killer, and would toy with Batman with his cryptic hints and clues.

    You can check out the featurette here:

    Source: Twitter

     

  • ‘The Last Of Us’ Voice of Tommy, Jeffrey Pierce, Joins HBO Series as a New Character

    ‘The Last Of Us’ Voice of Tommy, Jeffrey Pierce, Joins HBO Series as a New Character

    HBO’s The Last Of Us recently started production with Pedro Pascal and Gabriel Luna sharing a photo from the set. It seems they weren’t quite done casting yet, as Deadline has revealed Jeffrey Pierce, who voiced Tommy in the original game, joins as a new original character named Perry. He’ll be a rebel in a quarantine zone. As of now, he’s the second actor from the game series to join the adaptation. Unlike Merle Dandridge, he is not reprising the character he voiced, as she is returning as the leader of the Fireflies. The role of Tommy will now be played by Gabriel Luna.

    He’s not the only new addition, as Murray Bartlett and Con O’Neill will play survivalists from an unnamed isolated town. Chernobyl‘s Craig Mazin and Naughty Dogs’ Neil Druckmann are spearheading the project that will revisit the story of Joel, as he smuggles a young 14-year-old girl named Ellie through a devastated post-apocalypse. The pilot episode is getting directed by Kantemir Balagov.

    It’ll be curious to see if more voice actors return to reprise their roles from the game. We haven’t heard anything on the casting of Bill or Tess. They might even plant seeds from the sequel’s storyline, such as introducing Abby to some capacity. It’s uncertain how much the first season will explore from the original game’s story. Yet, the inclusion of the Fireflies leader would confirm the story ends where the original did. We’ll see if they also change elements from the original to push the HBO series into a unique direction from the series.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Black Widow’ Beats ‘F9’s Pandemic Record to Pass $100M at the Domestic Box Office

    ‘Black Widow’ Beats ‘F9’s Pandemic Record to Pass $100M at the Domestic Box Office

    We’ve covered Black Widow‘s Box Office success throughout its opening weekend. There are many uncertainties with the pandemic still raging, but the film still managed to grab $215M in its opening weekend worldwide. These numbers include an impressive $60M from Disney+’s Premier Access function.

    So, technically speaking, the film made around $80.3M in the domestic Box Office. Luckily, the film didn’t lose any momentum as it has officially passed the $100M mark after only six days. It joined the club alongside F9, A Quiet Place Part II and Godzilla vs. Kong and beat out the Fast and Furious sequel record of eight days during the pandemic.

    It currently holds the record opening during the pandemic and continued the momentum by getting the best Monday and Tuesday showings. The last time we saw these numbers was mid-March with around 7.16M and 7.6M. As such, the film has officially crossed the $200M mark globally. It has been available internationally for eight days and five days domestically.

    The film is keeping up the momentum as it faces new releases Space Jam: A New Legacy and Escape Room: Tournament of Champions in its second weekend. It also needs to be noted that Black Widow is only available in twelve international markets, and there aren’t any releases planned for others. China has been a big question mark as piracy is an issue due to its release on Disney+. Still, the film is performing great and showing the Box Office is slowly recovering.

    Source: Deadline, Forbes, Box Office Pro