Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Disney

  • ‘Percy Jackson’ Disney+ Series Adds to Impressive Cast

    ‘Percy Jackson’ Disney+ Series Adds to Impressive Cast

    The cast of the live-action Disney Plus adaptation of the Percy Jackson novels has grown once again. Adam Copeland, Suzanne Cryer, and Jessica Parker Kennedy have all been announced as guest stars to the already impressive cast. They join Walker Scobell, in the titular role, alongside Aryan Simhadri and Leah Sava Jeffries as Grover and Annabeth, respectively.

    Copeland, best known for his work as Edge in the WWE, will be playing Ares, the Greek god of war. He is described as being a handsomely arrogant god that loves to be an agent of chaos. Suzanne Cryer, likely best known for her leading role in Silicon Valley, will guest star as Echidna, the Mother of Monsters. She is described as a maternal, yet dangerous figure that will serve as a major challenge to the protagonists, both physically and spiritually. Jessica Parker Kennedy, likely best known for her supporting role on CW’s The Flash, will be portraying the infamous Medusa. She is described as an embittered wild card that the core characters are unsure if they can trust.

    Percy Jackson and the Olympians tells the story of a 12-year-old with ADHD and dyslexia who must come to terms with being the son of Poseidon and adapting to his new home at Camp Half-Blood. The first season will adapt the first novel of the Rick Riordan series,The Lightning Thief, in which Percy must clear his name and solve the mystery of who stole Zeus’ master lightning bolt.

    Source: Variety

  • Disney Updates its Cinematic Release Slate for the Coming Years

    Disney Updates its Cinematic Release Slate for the Coming Years

    The cinematic experience is partly enjoying a film in theaters while also going through the continuous reshuffling of release schedules. Not every release manages to stay consistent due to production conflicts and various challenges that come together. Blade has recently faced some troubles as it lost its director and naturally was postponed, but surprisingly many more films from Marvel followed with a whole new slate. That isn’t all, as Disney used the opportunity to update its entire slate.

    Disney’s upcoming 2024 release will now include:

    • 3/1/24 – Elio
    • 3/22/24 – Disney’s Snow White
    • 5/3/24 – Captain America: New World Order
    • 5/24/24 – Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
    • 6/14/24 – Inside Out 2
    • 7/5/24 – Mufasa: The Lion King
    • 7/26/24 – Thunderbolts
    • 9/6/24 – Blade
    • 11/8/24 – Untitled Deadpool Movie
    • 12/20/24 – Avatar 3

    Fantastic Four is scheduled for 14th February 2025 with Avengers: The Kang Dynasty set for May. They have also added two untitled Marvel films for July and November. They wrap up the year with an untitled Star Wars film in December, the first cinematic entry since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Avengers Secret Wars is now scheduled for May 2026 with three more Marvel films already given a release date. Avatar 4 joins that same year in December with its fifth entry already planned for 2028. They also already mapped out another untitled Star Wars film in 2027.

    It definitely looks like Disney has some big plans for the coming years and it’s crazy to think just how mapped out they are until 2028. Of course, the last two years only have one entry each, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see more Marvel films get scheduled once we near the Avengers release. It looks like their next

  • Disney Developing ‘One Thousand And One Nights’ Reimagining

    Disney Developing ‘One Thousand And One Nights’ Reimagining

    Deadline reports that Disney is currently developing a reimagining of One Thousand and One Nights, aka Arabian Nights, for film. The outlet reports that the project is currently titled 1,001 Nights and is being penned by Rise screenwriter, Arash Amel.

    Details regarding the plot are currently unknown, however, it is expected that the movie will an original take with inspiration drawn from ancient folk tales and will be a standalone IP – meaning there will be no connection to Aladdin, despite Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp being a known tale from the collection. The Arabian Nights collection of folk takes includes Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves and The Seven Voyages Of Sinbad The Sailor and consists of stories from across West, Central and South Asia, and North Africa.

    Along with penning Rise, Amel also wrote A Private War, starring Rosamund Pike, and Grace of Monaco which starred Nicole Kidman. Along with 1,001 Nights, Amel is writing Snafu starring John Cena and Jackie Chan, Fred & Ginger starring Margaret Qualley and Jamie Bell, and Seducing Ingrid Bergman based on the book by Chris Greenhalgh.

    As of now, 1,001 Nights does not yet have a director or release date.

    Source: Deadline.

  • Disney Developing ‘Figment’ Movie

    Disney Developing ‘Figment’ Movie

    Disney is developing a movie based on the character Figment. The news comes courtesy of Deadline, with the outlet noting that Seth Rogen will produce the project through his Point Grey banner. Pokémon: Detective Pikachu writers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit are on board to pen the screenplay for the movie. As of now, no director is attached to the project.

    Created in 1983 by Walt Disney Imagineers Tony Baxter and Steve Kirk, and other collaborators, Figment has long been a fan favorite thanks to the character’s Epcot ride, Journey Into Imagination. The character, while not as popular as others, has quite the devoted fanbase – not only have Figment fans prevented the ride from being removed, but they’ve willingly stood in line for hours to sell out merchandise featuring the character at theme parks. (Back in January, a limited-release Figment popcorn bucket was released and quickly sold out at Walt Disney Parks.) Disney has previously included the character as an easter egg in 2015’s Inside Out and 2019’s Toy Story 4.

    Along with penning 2019’s Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, Hernandez and Samit also wrote The Addams Family 2 and helped to create the forthcoming Hulu series, Koala Man. The duo also worked on the TV series One Day at a Time, as well as the Apple TV+ series, Central Park.

    Source: Deadline.

  • Disney Shifts Future Film Slate

    Disney Shifts Future Film Slate

    The wave of Disney pushing back release dates for theatrical projects continues even with the gradual decline of the pandemic. It has officially been revealed that multiple projects are moving around from their initially announced release dates. 

    Most notably, the untitled Marvel Studios film initially scheduled to release on February 16, 2024, has moved back a few months into September 6, 2024. It has yet to be revealed what film would’ve filled this date (especially with the other later releasing 2024 films being revealed earlier this year at San Diego Comic-Con), but it has been speculated by some that this would’ve been the date for the Deadpool sequel film in development and apparently nearing the start of production. As well, Haunted Mansion will be moving up from its scheduled August 11, 2023 release to March 10, 2023.

    In addition, Disney has revealed the following release dates for various notable upcoming films in 2024:

    • Pixar’s Elio – March 1, 2024
    • The Rachel Zegler-led Snow White – March 22, 2024
    • Pixar’s Inside Out 2 – June 14, 2024
    • Barry Jenkins’ prequel Mufasa: The Lion King – July 5, 2024

    One point of concern in all these moves comes with the removal of Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron from Disney’s release schedule. The film had previously been earmarked for a December 22, 2023 release, but essentially no updates have been made for the film in an extended period of time. This certainly doesn’t mean that the film is canceled, but it serves as an indicator that the highly anticipated film in the Star Wars franchise is much further away than Lucasfilm had initially planned for.

    Source: Twitter.

  • D23: Ariana DeBose to Voice the Lead in Disney’s 100-Year Anniversary Film ‘Wish’

    D23: Ariana DeBose to Voice the Lead in Disney’s 100-Year Anniversary Film ‘Wish’

    We just learned that Disney is set to kick off their 100th year with a special original film titled Wish. It’ll explore the story of 17-year-old Asha who explores the kingdom of dreams. As it turns out, they also wasted no time announcing that Ariana DeBose will take on the leading role in the film. She’ll be joined by Alan Tudyk who will take on the role of the goat Valentino. It seems she even sang one of the songs from the upcoming musical.

    Source: Twitter

  • D23: Disney to Celebrate 100-Year Anniversary in 2023 With Original Film ‘Wish’

    D23: Disney to Celebrate 100-Year Anniversary in 2023 With Original Film ‘Wish’

    Disney Studios is about to celebrate its 100-Year anniversary in 2023 so it would make sense that they’d have something special planned for that year. As it turns out, they are planning to release a film titled Wish that year, which is a fitting play on the “wishing upon a star” motive that Disney is famous for. It’ll be an original film with new songs and won’t be based on a pre-existing story.

    The directors revealed that the film will be about a Kingdom of Wishes, hence the title, named Rosas. The film will be directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn based on a script that involved Jennifer Lee. It’ll combine watercolor with CG animation and explore where wishing came from. It seems Alan Tudyk will also once again return and will voice a goat in the film.

    The main character is a 17-year-old girl named Asha who’s design has been shared alongside her companion Star. They are seemingly even showing some test footage during the D23 panel.

    Songs will be originals by Julia Michaels and it seems that they will also include Easter eggs.

    Source: Twitter, Twitter

  • D23: Live-Action ‘The Little Mermaid’ to Include 4 Brand New Songs

    D23: Live-Action ‘The Little Mermaid’ to Include 4 Brand New Songs

    It looks like the upcoming live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid will include four brand new songs that still have the same feeling as the original, as revealed by director Rob Marshall during the D23 panel for Disney’s future slate. Here’s a statement by director Marshall as shared by THR’s Borys Kit from the panel on how fond he is of the original film and why he wants to stay true to it:

    When it opened in 1989…musicals were gone. Even though it was animated, we could hear people singing at movies again.

    Rob Marshall

    Source: Twitter

  • D23: First Story Details for ‘The Lion King’ Prequel Revealed

    D23: First Story Details for ‘The Lion King’ Prequel Revealed

    Barry Jenkins is taking it upon himself to adapt a brand new prequel for 2019 The Lion King remake which will focus primarily on Mufasa, which is given the fitting title of Mufasa: The Lion King. It seems that the story will take place in two timelines as Rafiki, Timo and Pumbaa will be telling the story of Mufasa to a lion cub, which may be the child of Simba. Attendees got a quick teaser during their attendance but it certainly sounds like a curious direction for the already bizarre prequel..

    Source: Twitter

  • D23: ‘Haunted Mansion’ Adds Jamie Lee Curtis to Cast, First Footage Teases More Familiar Faces

    D23: ‘Haunted Mansion’ Adds Jamie Lee Curtis to Cast, First Footage Teases More Familiar Faces

    Attendees of D23’s Disney panel got a tease of what the future has in store for fans of the company’s various live-action and animated projects. Among many, it also gave them an exclusive first look at the live-action adaptation of Haunted Mansion. Besides the director Justin Simien confirming he used to work at Disneyland, they also confirmed that Jamie Lee Curtis has joined the cast.

    Footage descriptions haven’t given away what exactly happens in the film but praised Owen Wilson’s performance. They also teased that Winona Ryder, Dan Levy, and Jared Leto seemingly have cameos in the film though don’t give away any specifics.

    Source: Twitter