Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Fantastic Beasts

  • The Top 10 Worst Movies of 2022

    The Top 10 Worst Movies of 2022

    It’s that time of year – time to cringe at the top cinematic disasters that disappointed us the most in the last 12 months. These are the films that made us want to burn down the movie theatre and never look back. We highly recommend avoiding these at all costs, unless you’re a psychopath with a fiery love for burning money. 

    10- Jurassic World Dominion ★★½☆☆

    Four years after Isla Nublar was destroyed, dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.

    Review: The movie is a lifeless corporate excuse for a poorly written nostalgia comeback of the original cast. Filled to the brim with worthless exposition and failed stabs at building ANY emotion. The dialogue is atrocious, the characters are shallow and the plot is boring.

    9- Uncharted ★★½☆☆

    A young street-smart, Nathan Drake and his wisecracking partner Victor “Sully” Sullivan embark on a dangerous pursuit of “the greatest treasure never found” while also tracking clues that may lead to Nathan’s long-lost brother.

    Review: The film adaptation of Uncharted seems like it should be a no-brainer – full of action, adventure, and treasure-hunting. However, the execution of this movie leaves much to be desired. The CGI is unrealistic, the dialogue is uninspired, and the action scenes feel cheap. It’s a shame that this attempt at a movie is now attached to such a loved franchise.

    08- The Menu ★★☆☆☆

    A couple travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.

    Review: I had high expectations for this film, but it ultimately fell short. While it had a fresh premise, the execution was flawed and the events depicted made no sense. Luckily Anya Taylor Joy and Ralph Fiennes’s performances made this pretentious mess tolerable. Honestly, I was really disappointed by the lack of effort put into the horror aspect of this thing. It was like they were too afraid to go all in and just ended up with a tame and unimpressive result. After almost two hours, it just fell flat and left me feeling underwhelmed.

    07- Amsterdam ★★☆☆☆

    In the 1930s, three friends—a doctor, a nurse, and an attorney—witness a murder, become suspects themselves and uncover one of the most outrageous plots in North American history.

    Review: This film is a mess from start to finish. The plot is confusing and the director’s attempts to address serious themes like racism and fascism are shallow and misguided. The film can’t even decide what genre it wants to be and fails to deliver. The only redeeming factor is the strong performances from the cast that make this movie barely watchable.

    06- Don’t Worry Darling ★★☆☆☆

    A 1950s housewife living with her husband in a utopian experimental community begins to worry that his glamorous company may be hiding disturbing secrets.

    Review: I don’t know what I was expecting from this film, but it certainly wasn’t a complete disaster. It was like a white-washed live-action of an Isekai anime. Florence Pugh seemed to be the only one trying to salvage this mess, but even her performance couldn’t do shit. The cinematography was probably the only redeeming factor, but it’s not enough to make up for the incoherent plot and completely ridiculous character motivation.

    05- Samaritan ★½☆☆☆

    Thirteen-year-old Sam Cleary suspects that his mysteriously reclusive neighbor Mr. Smith is actually the legendary vigilante Samaritan, who was reported dead 20 years ago. With crime on the rise and the city on the brink of chaos, Sam makes it his mission to coax his neighbor out of hiding to save the city from ruin.

    Review: While this superhero film may try to present itself as deep and introspective with its themes… the execution is a complete disaster. The storyline is twisty for the sake of being twisty, and the acting is barely tolerable. The cinematography may be well-oriented, but the editing is messy and the visual effects are laughably bad. The dialogue feels like it was taken from 8-mile and the antagonists are one-dimensional and annoying. To top it off, the conclusion is lacking and makes little sense. All in all, this film is a complete mess and a complete waste of Sylvester Stallone‘s talent.

    04- Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore ★☆☆☆☆

    In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans of raising pure-blood wizards to rule over all non-magical beings, Albus Dumbledore enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, though he’s unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.

    Review: This is just another example that we can’t have nice things, this feels like an insult to what the source material established years ago and a slap to the fans of the Harry Potter franchise. One can only hope that Warner Bros. stops milking the franchise and that JK Rowling stops pretending that she cares about her creation as both parties seem keen to green-light projects that have no care nor love for what they’re part of.

    03- Spiderhead ★☆☆☆☆

    A prisoner in a state-of-the-art penitentiary begins to question the purpose of the emotion-controlling drugs he’s testing for a pharmaceutical genius.

    Review: Two hours of pure chaos, filled with poor writing and even more subpar acting. It disappoints me that such a growing and talented actor like Miles Teller would dive head first to be the protagonist in this mess with Chris Hemsworth whose acting has been decaying in recent years by just doing the same character over and over again… at least this time he managed to portray a less annoying version of Thor. This is just a reskin low-budget-looking copycat of Black Mirror.

    02- Pinocchio ★☆☆☆☆

    A wooden puppet embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy.

    Review: It’s just another soul-sucking attempt of Disney to rehash the Disney Vault classics to a fresh and younger generation with nightmare-inducing CGI that would make the frozen head of Walt Disney actually cringe.

    01- Thor: Love and Thunder ★☆☆☆☆

    After his retirement is interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher, a galactic killer who seeks the extinction of the gods, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg, and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who now inexplicably wields Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.

    Review: Being a big Taika Waititi fan, this movie really broke me. Love and Thunder is not only a clear step down from Thor: Ragnarok but also a painfully mid experience. On paper, this seemed like a good idea but it ended up being a complete mess with some ok moments tossed in. They literally wasted Christian Bale acting skills for no reason.

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    These movies left a lot to be desired. However, as we move into the new year, we can only hope for better and more enjoyable films in the future. Happy New Year to all, and here’s to a brighter and more successful 2023 in the world of cinema!

  • Family and Indie Films Show Strong Performance Over the Weekend as ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Fumbles

    Family and Indie Films Show Strong Performance Over the Weekend as ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Fumbles

    The box office numbers are once again here, and it’s been quite an interesting weekend. Smaller programming has been on a raise as The Northman pulled in $12M and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent managed $7.1M. What is interesting is that the former had a worse audience score with a B but still had the stronger pull. Robert Eggers‘ film may get hit a bit in its second weekend with word-of-mouth but it still had a stronger pull and will secure its audience. As Deadline points out, these two films share a similar audience which ends up cannibalizing each other. In the era of Netflix losing its momentum, it may be a showcase of the importance of counter-programming to streaming offerings.

    The smaller pull and adding non-four-quadrant programming also add some momentum to the theater that may become an advantage for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness once it opens in just a few weeks. Speaking of Multiverse, Everything Everywhere All at Once has been continuing to expand and is climbing up the ladder to become one of A24’s most successful releases. So, it’s definitely an uplifting trend to see these titles gain more momentum once again, as smaller budget films pulling in an audience.

    The weekend’s top performer ended up being The Bad Guys, as the Universal and Dreamworks Animation’s film is overperforming. Initial expectations saw it at $15M but it ended up ending the weekend with $24M. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 had a stronghold as well, as it now is nearing $150M with a $15.2M weekend. So, the weekend has been quite strong for indie and family showings. The Sonic sequel is also currently further moving towards $300M worldwide as it holds strong as the best performing video game adaptation.

    Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has managed to hold on to the third spot, but it’s the worst second-weekend drop for any entry of the Fantastic Beasts franchise, but it’s the second-worst for the Harry Potter franchise which had a 72% drop. To be fair, it was also coming off of a $169M opening weekend. Yet, it must be highlighted that the film has been doing strong international, which is becoming its saving grace but might not be able to balance out its current standing as part of the Wizarding World franchise.

    Source: Deadline, Deadline (int.)

  • ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ Underperforms at Box Office

    ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ Underperforms at Box Office

    The Secrets of Dumbledore don’t appear to be all that fantastic.

    The third Fantastic Beasts film, The Secrets of Dumbledore, finally opened stateside this weekend. Unfortunately, for fans eager to see the franchise continue beyond the third film, hope may soon be dwindling. As it stands, the film is looking to open between $40-$45 million at the domestic box office following a $20 million Friday opening. A rather dismal number for such a huge blockbuster. It’s not performing much better overseas, either, having earned a bit more than $60 million internationally to date.

    The film, which cost $200 million, is on track to open well below the first two installments. For comparison’s sake, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opened to $76 million in 2016, while the second film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, opened to $62 million in 2018. With the numbers continuing to decline, Warner Bros. seems hesitant to move forward with the previously announced fourth and fifth films in the franchise.

    Making matters worse, there’s plenty of behind-the-scenes drama surrounding these films. In recent years, franchise stars Johnny Depp and Ezra Miller have become just as famous for their actions outside of set. Depp, of course, is currently embroiled in a nasty legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard following domestic abuse allegations. He left the franchise after the second installment and the studio brought in the fantastic Mads Mikkelsen to replace him. While Miller has been in the tabloids for his physical actions against various people in public. There’s also the matter of J.K. Rowling and her anti-trans views. Needless to say, the Fantastic Beasts franchise will be lucky to regain any of the magic it once held for Harry Potter fans.

    Source: THR.

  • ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Future Unclear After ‘The Secrets of Dumbledore’

    ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Future Unclear After ‘The Secrets of Dumbledore’

    Finally, the third entry of the Fantastic Beasts franchise is making its way to cinemas. The Harry Potter spinoff, however, has been fighting an uphill battle as an onslaught of controversies may have ended up completely derailing the franchise’s future. What was originally envisioned as the third in five entries could end up becoming its final entry if its box office doesn’t prove to be what Warner Bros. was hoping to see with this franchise. In a new piece by Variety, it is revealed that the fourth entry hasn’t started work on its screenplay for the untitled fourth entry.

    Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock referenced that this franchise was meant to be “their Star Wars franchise” but hasn’t been “behaving like one.” The second entry, The Crime of Grindelwald, was received poorly and ended up leading to the third entry getting postponed. COVID didn’t help matters, as it was further pushed back. Then the various controversies started piling on, such as Johnny Depp leaving the franchise due to the various allegations by Amber Heard. As production started, he was swiftly replaced by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen.

    Yet, that wasn’t all, as the creator of J.K. Rowling, who also worked on the screenplays of these films, was becoming quite the polarizing figure online due to her controversial views on sex and gender. Ann Sarnoff, who supervised the Wizard World franchise, recently also left ahead of the Discovery merger. Now, Ezra Miller has also been hit with various disorderly conduct and harassment suits, which continue to pile onto the controversy pile. The recent announcement that LGBTQ references were cut from The Secrets of Dumbledore for its Chinese release may just be the icing on the cake of controversies at this point. As it stands, it’s unclear what the future has in store for the Wizard World and if the Fantastic Beasts franchise will continue at all.

    Source: Variety

  • LGBTQ References Cut from ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ for Chinese Release

    LGBTQ References Cut from ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ for Chinese Release

    There’s been quite the controversy surrounding the way film production studios have handled their international releases. As China remains a strong supporter of the international box office gross–even if recent numbers have been adding some questions regarding its profitability–studios have adapted their films for a release in the Middle Kingdom. Of course, they have very strict guidelines and only allow a certain amount of films into the country. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was among the lucky candidates, but it looks like it came at a cost.

    Warner Bros. has cut the LGBTQ references in its film so that it can release the film in China. While supposedly they only cut six seconds of dialogue, which includes the lines “because I was in love with you” and “the summer Gellert and I fell in love.” Fantastic Beasts didn’t make a secret of the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, but it seems the studio still decided to move forward with adopting the film for that release. Warner Bros. has released a statement on their decision:

    As a studio, we’re committed to safeguarding the integrity of every film we release, and that extends to circumstances that necessitate making nuanced cuts in order to respond sensitively to a variety of in-market factors. Our hope is to release our features worldwide as released by their creators but historically we have faced small edits made in local markets.

    There have been many accusations of studios deliberately keeping LGBTQ references to a minimum so that they are easy to edit out for specific markets, which forbid it. Some films have stood by their productions, such as Marvel Studio’s sticking to its guns to not adapting their release of Eternals, which has an openly gay character, to stay true to the story and its director’s vision. Yet, Disney has also been in the spotlight for censoring or generally pushing back on LGBTQ elements planned for Pixar releases. In the case of Fantastic Beasts, Warner Bros. moved ahead with the adaptation but the film ended up opening at a lower box office in the market than its two predecessors.

    Source: The Guardian

  • First ‘The Secrets of Dumbledore’ Teaser Offers First Look at Mads Mikkelsen as Grindelwald

    First ‘The Secrets of Dumbledore’ Teaser Offers First Look at Mads Mikkelsen as Grindelwald

    It was over a year ago that we heard the first rumblings that Johnny Depp was getting replaced in the third entry of the Fantastic Beasts franchise. After making his debut as Grindelwald, he exited the project after production had already begun. Mads Mikkelsen took over the role shortly after. Not too long ago, we got the title of the third entry The Secrets of Dumbledore and we finally got our first look at the entry. While it’s not the fault trailer just yet – that’s eyeing a Monday release – we did get our first look at Mikkelsen as the series main antagonist.

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    It’s uncertain what exactly is happening in this sequence, as it seems like he’s being cheered on or even grabbed by a massive group of people. The character has quite a different design from the previous entries, as his bleached white hair is gone with only a slither left behind. His outfit also seems a bit more reserved from Depp‘s take on the character. It’ll b einteresting to see how they tackle the transformation, as it may play similar to how he was revealed in the first one.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ Gets Subtitle and An Easter Release

    ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ Gets Subtitle and An Easter Release

    It looks like the next installment in the Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts, got a new release date, as it’s now set to release on Easter weekend next year. To be precise, the David Yates film is heading to theaters on April 15th, 2022. It originally was going to release in July of that same year but got pushed earlier which may be a good sign for its production. The last we heard of the production was last year when Mads Mikkelsen replaced Johnny Depp in the role of its main antagonist. The news also came with the official reveal of the subtitle The Secrets of Dumbledore on Twitter.

    The series continues to slowly move away from its main protagonist to focus on the feud between Gindelwald and Dumbledore. The Wizard World sequel also received the following logline to tease what crazy story Eddie Redmayne‘s Newt Scamander gets pulled into:

    Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission, where they encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald’s growing legion of followers. But with the stakes so high, how long can Dumbledore remain on the sidelines?

    The prequel series takes place decades before Harry Potter even set foot in Hogwarts and continues to expand upon wizarding history. Jude Law took over the role of a young Albus Dumbledore and will return in the upcoming film in the titular role.

    Source: Deadline, Twitter

  • CONFIRMED: ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ Eyeing Mads Mikkelsen to Replace Johnny Depp

    CONFIRMED: ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ Eyeing Mads Mikkelsen to Replace Johnny Depp

    UPDATE: It looks like it is official. Entertainment Weekly has broken the news that Mads Mikkelsen will indeed take over the role of Grindelwald. It is currently uncertain how exactly they’ll introduce the new character and if he will continue the same design.

     

    Source: EW

     

    The Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts has just ramped up its production for the third installment. Shortly after, Warner Bros. asked Johnny Depp to step down from the role of Grindelwald due to the controversies surrounding his divorce. Now, it looks like director David Yates has already set his eyes on Depp‘s replacement. According to Andy Signore, they are currently in talks with Hannibal‘s Mads Mikkelsen to take over the iconic role. They are still aiming for the summer 2022 release date, as Eddie Redmayne and Jude Law are already filming. The Danish actor is currently working on Doug Liman‘s Chaos Walking, so it is unsure if there will be some scheduling conflicts.


    Of course, there is still the question of how or if they will explain the change in the actor. Luckily, the first film in the franchise introduced the character of Percival Graves. He was played by Colin Farrel before he turned into Johnny Depp‘s Grindelwald. We might see him use the same spell to stay undercover throughout the story, or he reveals that he was again hiding his identity.
    Mikkelsen is a fantastic actor, who was a stand-out in Hannibal, The Hunt, and Polar. His casting would be a great addition to the cast, and he is no stranger to the role of a villain. He could bring something unique to Grindelwald to make the role his own. The Danish actor has been appearing in various pop culture franchises, such as MCU’s Doctor Strange and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. So, he is no stranger to franchises, as Fantastic Beasts is going to have multiple entries past the upcoming third one. Here’s hoping they can avoid any scheduling conflicts so he can join the project.

    Source: Variety, Deadline, Digital Spy