Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Apple TV Plus

  • Harrison Ford To Star in New Series From ‘Ted Lasso’ Team

    Harrison Ford To Star in New Series From ‘Ted Lasso’ Team

    The creative team behind Ted Lasso is working on a new project, and they’re adding some major star power to boot. Harrison Ford, the iconic actor known for playing lovable tough-guy characters in franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones, has boarded the comedy drama series Shrinking for Apple TV+. The show was first announced in October of last year, though this is the first piece of casting news to hit the web since the project was unveiled.

    Developed by Ted Lasso producers Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence, the ongoing series will center around a grieving therapist, played by co-producer Jason Segel, who begins to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ford will play the supporting role of Dr. Phil Rhodes, a down-to-earth and sharp “blue-collar shrink” who was a pioneer in cognitive behavioral therapy. His character begins the series having been recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s, which forces him out of his comfort zone as he deals with intrusive friends, his estranged family, and his legacy.

    This will be the first-ever ongoing role for Ford, who previously kept his television career restricted to cameo appearances and minor roles. Segel and the team of Lawrence and Goldstein are writing the show, with Neil Goldman, Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer also set to serve as executive producers. It will be the third series created for Apple TV+ by Lawrence, after the wildly successful Ted Lasso and the Vince Vaughn-led Bad Monkey. Segel also maintains a steady relationship with the studio, after starring in the feature film The Sky is Everywhere earlier this year.

    Shrinking does not yet have a release date.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Mr. Robot’ Creator Remaking Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’ as a Series

    ‘Mr. Robot’ Creator Remaking Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’ as a Series

    It looks like Sam Esmail, the creator behind the Mr. Robot series, has found his next project in remaking the iconic Fritz Lang film, Metropolis. The announcement comes via Apple TV+, which will become the new home for the remake of the 1927 look at a futuristic dystopia. The original script was written by Lang‘ wife Thea von Harbou and the film would go down in history as one of the first cult classics, even as it was originally met with mixed reviews.

    Universal Studio Group’s UCP will produce the project with Esmail set to serve as showrunner and director. Currently, there is no information on a potential cast with the project being in the early steps of development. It’s unclear how much of the original story will be carried over, but the social-political commentary is definitely something worth exploring in the modern age.

    This project comes fresh off of Esmail‘s work on the limited series Gaslit starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn. Most remember the director and writer for his work on Mr. Robot which he worked on from 2015 to 2019. While he mainly worked in TV, he has also directed a 2014 film titled Comet. It’ll be interesting to see how he brings this cinematic classic to life and what he may add to make it stand out from the modern take on futuristic dystopias.

    Source: Collider

  • ‘Lucifer’ and ‘Luca’ Top 2021’s Streaming Chart

    ‘Lucifer’ and ‘Luca’ Top 2021’s Streaming Chart

    2021 has been quite a year, to say the least, as the pandemic continued to keep us at home. As such, we had a bit more time on our hands and luckily the various streaming services had plenty of content to keep us busy throughout the year. Of course, there’s always hope that your favorite show of the year might make it to the top of the list. While streaming services still won’t quite tell us how shows and films are performing, Nielsen still conducts its studies to give us an inclination on how the year went.

    In 2021, the most-streamed original show was not the extremely popular Squid Game, but actually Lucifer. It switched to Netflix some time ago and now has become their most streamed offering. The Great British Baking Show takes the third spot followed by Virgin River, Bridgerton, You, Cobra Kai, The Crown, and Longmire. It’s not until the tenth spot that a non-Netflix offering joins the ranks with Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Disney+ and Apple TV+ only got one entry each with WandaVision and Ted Lasso.

    There’s a very different story when it comes to movies, as eleven of the most viewed cinematic offerings were from Disney+. The list is dominated by Luca, Moana, Raya and the Last Dragon. Netflix’s Red Notice takes the fifth spot and they also nabbed the ninth with Mitchells Vs. The Machines. Marvel Studios also joined the list with Black Widow on the eleventh spot and rounds out the Top 15 with Avengers: Endgame. The performance of Disney+ is a good hint at the fact that family- and child-friendly offerings were the big winners.

    Overall, it’s a strong list of shows. There’s always a chance that if we’d ever get a chance to see the true numbers their positions might shift. Nielsen also only uses third-party information that excludes mobile numbers, which could work in specific offerings favor. They only rank TV screens and HBO Max and Peacock are not currently included in the list, whose offerings with Friends and Yellowstone are likely candidates to be in the list. Still, it’s at least a small inclination what 2021 was like and we’ll see what 2022 has in store for us.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Godzilla’s MonsterVerse Continues In New Apple TV+ Series

    ‘Godzilla’s MonsterVerse Continues In New Apple TV+ Series

    It looks like the Monsterverse will live on, as we’ve been anxiously awaiting an update since the release of Godzilla vs. Kong. Turns out, Apple TV+ has made a massive deal for a new series that takes place in Legendary’s Monsterverse franchise that will explore the aftermath from when San Francisco was destroyed in a battle between Godzilla and the Titans. The story focuses on a family that starts to uncover how their legacy connects to the mysterious organization known as Monarch.

    The project is currently untitled, but Chris Black will serve as showrunner. It seems that Legendary has been searching for a potential buyer to carry on the franchise through a TV series, as they work on a film in the meantime. Apple has been struggling with a lack of IPs, and it seems they were the ones to get their hands on it. What makes this a surprising direction is that the Monsterverse was part of Warner Bros.’ IP, especially with Godzilla vs. Kong releasing simultaneously on HBO Max. Justin Kroll offered some insight into why they decided ended up with Apple TV+.

    Matt Fraction is also a co-creator of the series and will produce alongside Safehouse Pictures’ Tory Tunnell, and Joby Harold. Toho is also involved with Hiro Matsuoka and Takemasa Arita acting as executive producers. Their involvement confirms that the series will include Godzilla in some capacity. It’s great that the franchise will continue, but does raise some questions regarding their relationship with Warner Bros. moving forward, as they are also working on a Dune spinoff series with HBO Max. We’ll see what the future has in store.

    Source: Deadline, Twitter