As early reviews of MCU films continue to feel increasingly unbiased, word of mouth from opening weekend screenings has seemed to become more valuable than ever. Simply put, folks who are unsure if they’ll see a film or not are waiting for audience reactions before heading to a theater. In the case of Marvel Studios first Phase 5 release, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, less than enthusiastic word of mouth quickly diminished the film’s opening weekend momentum leading to a precipitous second weekend drop. After early reviews for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the latest installment of the studio’s Multiverse Saga, added to some pre-existing doubt about the film’s opening weekend performance it seems even more people were waiting to hear what audiences had to say about the film before deciding to take in a showing. Now they have the answer they’ve been waiting for.
More than one review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (including our own) has indicated that the film is a return to form for Marvel Studios and it would seem opening night audiences agreed. Cinemascore, which polls opening night audiences as they exit the theater, has revealed that the Guardians farewell flick resonated strongly with fans and scored an A.
With an “A”, Vol. 3 joins the two previous Guardians of the Galaxy films in earning the high rating. It also joins Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as the only films in the Multiverse Saga to be scored an “A” (Spider-Man: No Way Home earned the elite “A+” Cinemascore).
With Vol. 3 currently tracking for somewhere in the ballpark of a $120M opening weekend, it’ll be worth following how the positive word of mouth impacts the second weekend. There’s no immediate box office challenger to Guardians and while there’s always a second weekend drop off, the studio will hope to avoid the massive 69% drop suffered by Quantumania.
Peter Pan & Wendy joins the ranks of another live-action remake from Disney that debuted on Disney+. The former was Robert Zemeckis‘ Pinocchio remake from last year and 2019’s Lady and the Tramp. Yet, there’s something special this time with visionary director David Lowery at the helm after his work on The Green Knight creates a higher expectation of bringing Neverland to life in a whole new way. Does it live up to the original and can it change the experience some have had with recent live-action releases?
There’s an interesting dynamic at play with how Peter Pan & Wendy adapts the original Disney film from 1953. A lot of familiar elements are here and most of the opening pretty much just echoes the animated classic. In some ways, the only thing it does is further highlight the bond between Wendy Darling (Ever Anderson) and her mother (Molly Parker) that becomes the center of her story in the original. Also, it’s funny seeing Alan Tudyk in another Disney film in another minor side role as George Darling.
Her life is changed the moment Peter Pan (Alexander Molony) enters the picture and they are cast off into an adventure. It all feels so familiar and even drags on a tad bit, but that all suddenly changes the moment we travel to Neverland. The visuals kick off in such a beautiful manner that feels like something out of a surreal experience than just a bunch of kids using fairy dust in a long-forgotten realm. The sound design and visuals (with a cute little reference to the animated Peter with an iconic stance from the actor) just hit this tone that makes it feel like everything will be different from this point on.
On one side, there is a lot more in this story compared to others. Tiger Lily (Alyssa Wapanatahk) has a better role in the story and gets her time to shine early on and is among the more notable side characters. We still follow similar plot points from the original but unlike other live-action remakes the film doesn’t really spend too much time on things that aren’t truly necessary. Hook’s introduction is handled great and I was surprised to see his men sing classic songs as a sea chanty.
Speaking of, the biggest change this time around is in the way they handle Hook as well as his rivalry with Peter Pan. Jude Law gives quite a subdued performance for a character that was showcased as bumbling in the original animated series. There’s a beautiful balance at play highlighting his role in the story that has been changed to add more depth to his character and his ongoing battle with a child that refuses to grow up. This addition might be the second-best thing the film does besides casting Jim Gaffigan as an amazing Mr. Smee.
What stands out in this film is truly its beauty. The sets feel like they tell a story and the updated looks of the Lost Boys’ home or even just the pirate ship lend to this world feeling way more fleshed out than ever before. You can also see him returning to the magic that made his other live-action remake, Pete’s Dragon from 2016, stand out even from the original. Even as elements remain the same, it feels just that slightly bit more mature when it needs to be and childish when it wants to have fun.
The film embraces its own whimsy with the way it handles even the simplest scenes. There’s a fun irony of the most childish performances coming from the pirates that act a bit more unhinged unlike the children, who seemingly take things quite a bit more seriously. My only gripe would be Alexander Molony is a bit wooden in his performance. While you do get that arrogance you’d expect from Peter Pan, his character’s personal growth doesn’t truly feel reflected in his performance. He’s a great choice for the role but it just doesn’t quite come together here.
The performances overall are great; the pirates are especially some of the bits I looked forward to seeing the most. John and Michael Darling (Joshua Pickering and Jacobi Jupe) have some fun moments but are mostly sidelined with the story taking a stronger focus on Wendy’s plot that gets intertwined a bit more into that of Hook’s and Peter Pan’s rather than her just taking don’t he role the original set upon her. Ironically, in a way, the story feels like it has grown up quite a bit since we last saw it in 1953, but it didn’t forget that childish charm that made it so special.
At first, I was worried that this film would only retread familiar ground from the original but once we enter Neverland, it makes a story of my childhood feel new and fresh. There’s a lot more depth this time around that makes it stand out from others that simply feel like they are replicating the “feel” of the original and missed the heart of why we fell in love with these stories. The struggle of wanting to stay a child forever and growing up is a big conflict many of us go through even as we get lost in our work life. Sometimes we don’t truly leave that childishness behind and are a bit blind to the things that make us smile. You’ll cry, you’ll laugh and you’ll be astonished by some of the beautiful shots at play in Peter Pan and Wendy.
It seems that while the upcoming live-action remake of Lilo and Stitch will see the return of a voice actor from the original animated film. In a new report by a Hollywood reporter, it seems Chris Sanders is in final talks to return as the voice of the loveable alien Stitch, who ends up crashlanding on Hawaii under the care of young Lilo.
It also seems like the voice actress Tia Carrere, who played Nani in the animated film, will also return to play the character of Mrs. Kekoa. There’s also the reveal of Amy Hill taking on a role of an original character Tūtū, but details are still scarce as of now on how these new characters play into this new adaptation. They are joining Dean Fleischer-Camp’s film which already has cast Sydney Elizabeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, and Kahiau Machado.
Interestingly enough, these new characters were something we shared back in November of 2022. The detail, however, we did get wrong was the exclusion of Cobra Bubbles in the film as his original role was seemingly given to these newly created characters. Courtney B. Vance has recently been cast as Cobra Bubbles in the live-action adaptation, and they may simply have focused on his role as an agent to avoid just repeating the same material from the original.
Marvel Studios is going through quite a bit of change. Not only did it have to work its way through the pandemic and Bob Chapek’s leadership, but it also was suddenly seeing a familiar face at the top once more with Bob Iger. The company is undergoing some harsh firing waves and many were shocked when long-time VFX chief Victoria Alonso was fired from her position. While the Internet obsessed with the topic believed this would start a new era for VFX works, many different allegations have come forth on the topic.
Some stated Alonso was a kingmaker that kind of destroyed their relationship with VFX agencies, while others claimed she played a big role in keeping projects together. Nothing concrete ever came out of it but the firing certainly lead to some wild accusations of “consequences” by Alonso’s lawyers. Multiple statements have been shared on why she was fired, which included her work on a project and seemingly neglecting responsibilities; a report that has never been confirmed.
Now, it seems that Disney and Alonso have settled with a multi-million compensation over her firing. It was seemingly reached just recently after many discussions surrounding her 17-year tenure at Marvel Studios and work in Argentina, 1985. We’ll likely never find out what exactly the threatening “consequences” are for Disney and Marvel Studios, but perhaps it’s only a matter of time before a report pops up with a claim about what it might be. For now, it seems that there won’t be further discussions or public announcements of Disney moving forward until the next major figure is fired.
As the start of production on Disney’s live-action reimagining of the animated classic Lilo & Stitch draws closer, the cast of the project continues to take shape. According to THR, Syndey Elizabeth Agudong is the latest addition to the cast in the role of Lilo’s sister, Nani Pelekai.
In the 2002 animated film, Nani is the legal guardian of Lilo and one of the film’s lead characters. Agudong joins Maia Kealoah–who will play Lilo–and Zach Galifianakis. According to THR, the search for a voice actor for Stitch is still ongoing.
Dean Fleischer Camp is directing Lilo & Stitch, which will be a Disney + exclusive release similar to Lady and the Tramp. The live-action remake is slated for a 2024 release.
Disney and Pixar groundbreaking work in animation will once again be on display in Elemental. Beginning with 1995’s Toy Story, the animators at Pixar have been innovators and problem solvers as they continue to create visually stunning films. Their 27th film, Elemental, is no different as the creators laid out a huge challenge for the animators: bring fire and water to life to create the film’s two main characters, Ember and Wade. The animators were asked to keep in mind that while they were working with something recognizable, they were also creating something that had never been seen before: “Ember is fire, she is not on fire. Wade is water. He’s not something that’s wet.”
Director Peter Sohn envisioned the characters and dreamt up the world they’d inhabit. At the global press junket for the upcoming film, Sohn explained some of the challenges the artists faced while trying to create characters who looked, behaved and reacted to situations in ways that are consistent with how fire and water would.
The main challenge of fire honestly was, could we get something balanced that could be appealing and still exploit the element? That was the main challenge. We had tried fire that was really realistic, I know you guys saw a part of the presentation. That was just a tip of the iceberg of the reference, meaning we tried real, like realistic eyes. We tried, you know, we tried all sorts of things and they looked terrifying. I wish you could see more of it. We could make a good horror movie from that footage, honestly. But then there were 2D versions of Ember that were much more flatter.
As you might imagine, a task of this magnitude, even for some of the world’s greatest animators, wasn’t done in a day. As Sohn explained, it took time for the artists to find the right “balance” for the character of Ember.
And every time we saw the movements, you didn’t feel like it could touch anything or burn anything or it didn’t feel hot, you know, like where it was emanating, you know, the heat. But some of our artists found this balance between the two that I’m very proud of what they had accomplished to get to that, absolutely. That was a really hard challenge and I thought they found a great balance.
Peter Sohn
As tough as Ember was, it turns out Wade was even tougher. “He was just so unmanageableand he looked so weird all the time,” explained Sohn. “I just kept pushing the water, and I went over the line just ’cause I couldn’t see, but the way he moved played into that. He so easily could turn into Jell-O just by slowing some of the ripples down a little bit, or how fast he could turn into a ‘Soul’ character if the ripples didn’t appear. There were just so many avenues that he could shift into very quickly and that would surprise all of us.”
Ultimately, as production designer Don Shank–whose work with Pixar dates back to 2004’s Incredibles–explained, the animators’ “design ideas inspired new technology, which inspired new design” creating one of Pixar’s most beautiful films to date. You can check out the fantastic work done by the artists at Pixar when Elemental hits theaters June 16th.
As part of a series of moves intended to save over $5B at Disney, the company folded Marvel Entertainment into the larger studio and laid off its chairman, Ike Perlmutter. Perlmutter took control of Marvel Entertainment in the 1990s and grew the brand by selling off live-action rights to characters such as Spider-Man to other movie studios. Since selling Marvel Entertainment to Disney in 2009, Perlmutter’s control over its output continued to wain until, in 2015, he and Kevin Feige entered into Marvel’s own “civil war.” Disney’s then-and-now-again-headman Bob Iger, sided with Feige and the rest, as they say, is history.
Well, you’d have to ask Ike about that. But let’s put it this way: He was not happy about it. And I think that unhappiness exists today.
Bob Iger on Ike Perlmutter following Marvel Studios “civil war”
Iger’s recent return to Disney almost certainly was the beginning of the end for Perlmutter who recently attempted a “shadow coup” by manipulating the board of the company. Once that failed, it put him squarely in Iger‘s sites again and was likely the last straw for the man who has found himself at odds with Marvel Studios’ decisions for the better part of a decade.
Marvel Entertainment’s President, Dan Buckley, will remain employed at Disney and continue to work with Feige.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson has made a name for himself by winning an Oscar for Best Documentary and it seems that it already kickstarted his career to tackling a live-action hybrid of the Disney classic, The Aristocats. The news has just arrived that he will be making his directorial debut and acting as an executive producer on the project. Not just that, but he’s also set to oversee the music for the project.
Questlove might be familiar to many as part of The Roots. He also acted as the composer for the project of Vincent N Roxxy and some may know him for his role as Curley in Pixar’s Soul. Though, he might be most famous for his time as musical director on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. So, he definitely makes for a great choice to bring the iconic music from the original into modern times. There’s no word if this will remain a musical like the original or take a different direction.
The Aristocats wasn’t among Disney’s biggest animated features but it definitely was memorable for its jazz-inspired music. The 1970 classic was written by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe and has some iconic music composed by Floyd Huddleston and Al Rinke including “Le Jazz Hot” and famously “Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat.” The new film is written by Will Gluck and Keith Bunin. Tarik Trotter, Shawn Gee, and Zarah Zohlman are attached as executive producers for Two One Five Entertainment.
Just as the next Daredevil series starts production, it seems we have an update on who will take over directing duties. The ambitious 18-episode Disney+ series has now added Michael Cuesta, famous for his work on Dexter and Homeland, to direct the first episode of Daredevil: Born Again.
Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio are set to return alongside the recent announcement of Jon Bernthal also reprising his Punisher role from the Netflix series. The series showrunners and writers are Matt Corman and Chris Ord, who previously worked on Covert Affairs, The Enemy Within, Containment, and The Brave.
We don’t know how different the series will be from the original Netflix series, though it’s to be expected that Marvel Studios and everyone involved will try to make it stand out as its very own show; probably the reason for its subtitle Born Again being promoted similarly to Spider-Man’s Homecoming.
There’s going to be a lot of excitement and weight on this Disney+ series, as many have established the Netflix version of the character as their de facto “fitting” tone for the character. His She-Hulk appearance highlighted that his more lighthearted comic variant had been overwritten in the viewers’ eyes. So, we’ll see how it comes together once we get our first actual look at the project.
Back in December of 2021, we learned that Disney has cast Wilmer Valderrama as its new Zorro. Disney TV was developing the project which was going to be a period piece set in Pueblo de Los Angeles with a telenovela style. After a long silence on the project, it seems it is moving forward after all, as it has added Game of Thrones‘ Bryan Cogman as its writer, executive producer, and showrunner.
The series is described as a “bold reimagining of Disney’s classic series for a modern audience.” Cogman makes a great get for the series, as he’s worked for eight seasons on Game of Thrones, even ending the series’ run as a co-executive producer and having written eleven episodes. He also was involved with Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and wrote the screenplay for Disney’s live-action remake of The Sword in the Stone.
It’ll be interesting to see if they are still focusing on a telenovela style now that they added Cogman as its showrunner. His experience is more with high-fantasy series which might make for a unique take on the Zorro character, but who knows how far they’ve already gotten working on the project since that initial casting announcement over a year ago. We’ll have to wait a bit to find out what Disney’s take on the iconic caped crusader might look like.
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