Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movie News

  • James Gunn and Peter Safran Almost Weren’t DC Studios’ New Heads

    James Gunn and Peter Safran Almost Weren’t DC Studios’ New Heads

    DC Studios will shape the future of an entire franchise with James Gunn and producer Peter Safran at the steering wheel. It’s an exciting prospect to see what the future has in store for the franchise, even as they leave behind some of the landmarks that defined the franchise throughout the last few years. Yet, it seems that they almost weren’t in the leading position as Warner Bros. Discovery had their eyes set on someone else.

    As it turns out, their big hope was for Todd Phillips, the director behind the surprise billion dollar box office hit, Joker, and The Hangover trilogy. An insider shared just how far they went in trying to get him involved with the project, after “the whole town turned the job down. It was almost Todd Phillips. They begged him.”

    Everyone was aware of the impossible task set upon them taking over a role that Kevin Feige managed to master against all odds. Gunn was a fitting choice considering he’s worked under Marvel Studios’ leadership to get a glimpse at what it means to run a cinematic franchise. Still, there does seem to be some concern, especially with him not having been in such a position before.

    I wonder if big filmmakers will work for another director with zero experience guiding movies through a huge grinder of a system. He’s not Kevin Feige [of Marvel].

    Though it should be noted that the same issue also would’ve been with Phillips if he was given the position. He only has the additional caveat of having no real interest in the DC universe or any understanding of what makes it tick. Yes, Joker was a success but that doesn’t mean every film he touches would have the same effect. Plus, he has openly mocked the genre in the past and who knows how the DC Cinematic Universe would look like under his leadership.

    Source: New York Post

  • ‘Across The Spider-Verse’ Producers Tease Spider-Man 2099 & The Spot

    ‘Across The Spider-Verse’ Producers Tease Spider-Man 2099 & The Spot

    Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is one of the most anticipated movies of 2023, and the views on the new trailer surely prove it. The first trailer for 2018’s Into The Spider-Verse gained just around 16M views in 5 years, while the trailer for its sequel amassed nearly 30M views in less than a week.

    While Sony is planning on expanding its slate of live-action films with yet another villain-focused ‘Spider-Man’ movie, its animated section continues to grow the Spider-Verse franchise. The synopsis and first look at the movie look promising, and with all the delays so that the crew would have “more time to make it great”, we know the cape flick won’t disappoint.

    As a part of their 2023 summer preview, Entertainment Weekly released a new still from Sony Pictures Animation’s Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. Included with the still were more details on the film’s plot, along with an interview with the film’s producers, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

    Spider-Man
    Miles Morales as Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation’s SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE.

    According to Miller, a key part of the film’s set-up is having the franchise lead Miles Morales go through all the usual struggles of a teen while also dealing with his additional responsibilities as a hero.

    As he’s growing up, he’s trying to figure out how he can go out and see the world and spread his wings and leave the nest. But he also feels rooted to his home and his family. It’s that push-pull of your life as a teenager, where you’re like, How do I get to be my own person, but also not lose where I came from?

    Christopher Miller

    One of those teenage things on Miles’s plate will be a developing relationship with Gwen Stacey, who he met in the first film. Gwen is also the key to an increased load of those new hero things as well, introducing Miles to a whole slew of characters, including Spider-Woman. EW further revealed that Spider-Woman will be Gwen’s mentor in the film, and will be voiced by Insecure’s Issa Rae. Lord affirms that “a lot of work has gone into making that character look great,” and adds “If you’ve ever been around Issa, she’s such a dynamo of talent and grace, so you just want to make the character look as cool as she is.”

    Spider-Woman isn’t the only spider-person Miles is set to meet in the new film. Chris Miller has confirmed yet again that Oscar Isaac‘s Miguel O’Hara, who appeared in a post-credit scene in the original film and seems to butt heads with Miles in the trailer, will not be the villain of the movie, but just “sort of an antagonist to Miles because they both think that what they’re doing is the right thing”. Rather, as already confirmed by the film’s synopsis, The Spot will be the movie’s main villain. Here’s what Phil Lord had to say about him:

    I like the villains best when they reflect the journeys of the hero — sort of a dark mirror of the protagonist, and I think Spot’s no different. He wants to be seen as legitimate. He’s a character that has a silly costume and is not always seen as the top tier of Spider-Man foes, but like all of us, he wants to be taken seriously.

    Phil Lord

    With The Spot on board as the villain for both this film and the sequel, he’ll certainly have his chance to make an impact on Spider-Man.

    Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse releases in theaters on June 2, 2023.

    Source: EW

  • ‘Avatar 2’ Opens Below Expectations at a Still Impressive $134M Domestically

    ‘Avatar 2’ Opens Below Expectations at a Still Impressive $134M Domestically

    Expectations were high for Avatar: The Way of Water to leave the box office’s 2022 record holder in the dust. Yet, it seems that the film has surprisingly lost some momentum over the weekend and fell short of its initial $175M+ opening weekend. The reports are in and the film stands at $134M domestic opening, which is $60M higher than the previous entry, the 6th highest opening ever for a December release and ties with The Batman earlier this year.

    Globally, the film managed to pull in a great $435M and if the film keeps the legs that most of James Cameron‘s films have, it ‘s got a good hold for the coming weeks, especially with how the film has no real competition in the coming weeks. Top Gun Maverick also had a lower opening weekend but managed to pull in $1.5B in its entire run but expectations are also high that Avatar: The Way of Water needs to make at least $2B to even be considered profitable.

    It should also be noted that the World Cub’s final game played this weekend alongside a big NFL game, which could also be one of the influencing factors on why the box office isn’t as high as one would’ve initially expected. It’s one thing that is often forgotten when discussing box office numbers, especially information that is lost years later that give a film a massive boost. Marvel Studios’s films have a stronger opening so no one gets spoiled, which isn’t a worry with Avatar: The Way of Water.

    Still, it’s surprising to see the film underperform by around $40M considering just how big of a project it is. Avatar had a lot of excitement surrounding it and it falling even lower than the initially low point of $150M might have some scratching their head. The pandemic has made predictions quite difficult and it’s another project that ended up struggling to meet its expectations at the box office this year. Even Marvel Studios’ frontloaded films had some decent holds after a massive second weekend drop, which might be more reflective of current box office developments.

    For now, the second weekend will be its big test. Even if it fell short of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it’ll need a strong hold to ensure it doesn’t lose momentum. It’s still curious to think that its CinemaScore stands at an A rather than the A+ of Top Gun Maverick, which might hint at its legs being strong but not as strong as they could’ve been. With Marvel movies having decent runs with B scorings, it’s not as simple as it might seem at times.

    Source: Twitter, Variety

  • The Sunday Paper—December 18, 2022

    The Sunday Paper—December 18, 2022

    dc studios slate

    The newly-formed DC Studios has continued to cause pure chaos and make the DC Entertainment brand messier than ever—which is hard to do. But perhaps better days are on the horizon for the studio, as co-CEO James Gunn told Twitter this week that DC Studios has a new slate set, and he plans to unveil the first part of it in early 2023. With that announcement, though, came the news that Superman actor Henry Cavill will in fact not be returning to play the character in the future. Cavill announced his return in October with his post-credits scene cameo in Black Adam to much fanfare. Black Adam, for a few reasons now, has become a fairly awkward moment in DC’s history. It probably does not help that Dwayne Johnson’s team reportedly leaked the film’s profit report based on false assumptions to try and prove to the public that the movie was profitable.

    Cavill Superman fans have much to mourn. To dream about what could have been, Walter Hamada’s original DCEU plan for the character was revealed. We also learned that the officially dead Man of Steel 2 would have placed Cavill against classic Superman foe Braniac. Now, fans will have to wait and see what Gunn’s new Superman script will look like.

    With everything happening at DC Studios, it begs the questions of whether the four remaining DCEU films with scheduled releases will actually happen, or alternatively, matter. If The Flash does go forward, it apparently cut Cavill’s and Gal Gadot’s cameos in its most recent cut, which would suggest that DC’s flagship characters across the board will likely get recast in a hard reboot situation. In that reboot scenario, it is very unclear how films like Blue Beetle will play any role in the studio’s grand new plan, but you can read the first official synopsis of the film here. It could be all we get.

    spiderman spinoff
    antman and the wasp cassie

    While DC is having a difficult time, Marvel—through Marvel Studios and Sony—is all business as usual. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania director Peyton Reed this week discussed how the film will be a major and important movie within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, rather than a palate cleanser like many perceive the first two Ant-Man films. He also discussed how crucial Bill Murray’s mysterious character is to the story. Of course, Quantumania will be our first significant foray into Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conquerer. With him in mind, a wild new fan theory is circulating that fans have already watched the ending of Avengers: Secret Wars.

    Many speculate that the Deadpool 3 film will feature Deadpool and Wolverine annihilating the Fox Marvel universe. If you read into a specific word director Shawn Levy used in an interview, it lends a lot of support to that theory. The previous Fox universe of course includes two iterations of the Fantastic Four. While fans eagerly away who the MCU’s Fab Four will be, it seemed confirmed this week that John Krasinski will not be playing the proper Reed Richards in the 2025 Fantastic Four film.

    On the side, it was unfortunately confirmed that the Disney+ Hawkeye-spinoff Echo is delayed after murmurs about the show’s team not being satisfied at the end of production. Thor: Love and Thunder apparently cut Galactus from the film, and Elvis actor Austin Butler is personally gunning for a major MCU role, notably the Human Torch.

    Lastly, Sony keeps getting weirder and bolder with their Spider-Man universe. Yet another obscure villain is getting the solo film treatment in line with Morbius, Venom, Kraven the Hunter, and El Muerto. However, Hypno-Hustler will be produced by and star none other than Donald Glover.

  • ‘Violent Night’ Just the Beginning for David Harbour’s Warrior Santa

    ‘Violent Night’ Just the Beginning for David Harbour’s Warrior Santa

    Silent Night was certainly one of the surprise hits of 2022. David Harbour‘s ass-kicking, sledgehammer-wielding Santa Claus made quite an impact and has fans asking for more. Fortunately, according to co-writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller, who penned the Sonic the Hedgehog films, there’s no shortage of ideas for where to take Santa next…including mono a mono with the Easter bunny!

    In an interview with SYFY WIRE, Casey and Miller laid out potential plans for prequels and/or sequels to Violent Night. According to Casey and Miller, Violent Night barely scratched the surface in terms of what’s possible for this Santa. The film sets the stage for Santa’s violent dispatching of mercs by explaining he was a Viking once upon a time, but the writing duo believes there’s enough of Santa’s background on the cutting room floor to create a “full-on prequel.”

    We used to have more of his backstory in the first one and that got stripped out for pacing. I guess it’ll be a bummer if we never get a sequel, but part of us was was kind of happy because that just leaves more stuff to do in sequels. One thing we’ve learned from the Sonic movies is [that] sometimes painting yourself into a corner for the sequel sucks. Because you’re like, ‘Oh, man! I wish we hadn’t said that one sentence in the earlier movie!

    Josh Miller

    Miller adds that a prequel might be a little “complicated” in terms of budget and that a sequel is more likely. While they have plenty of ideas for what that might entail, they do seem certain that the next film will include characters cut from Violent Night: Santa’s elves and Mrs. Claus. Miller explained that “elves were part of our pitch,” for Violent Night, but explained that budgetary restraints around creating the North Pole led to them being cut from the film. That’s not stopping these idea men, however. According to Casey, if they do get to make a sequel “the elves are gonna be great.” Mrs. Claus was also originally in the film, including in a scene that Casey described as a “helicopter versus flying sleigh dogfight.” Ultimately, a casualty of the budget, Mrs. Claus will be back but according to Miller, she won’t quite fit the traditional depiction of the character. “The Vikings went down to Africa,” said the writer. “They discovered North America hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus, ‘discovered it. So really, the sky’s the limit for who could play Mrs. Claus because who’s to say at what point in his past he met her and where?“

    Whatever direction potential sequels may take, the writers assure that they will have the same 80’s-inspired, over-the-top action. Violent Night‘s action beats were heavily influenced by Die Hard, a film that has been considered an alt-christmas classic for quite some time. According to Miller, their vision for the Violent Night franchise includes more of what worked so well in the first film.

    There are so many movies that influenced Die Hard and that Die Hard influenced, that I think the special sauce of the franchise is always finding that weird middle ground of where Christmas movie tropes can kind of intersect with classic ‘80s/‘90s action movie tropes

    Josh Miller

    If you haven’t seen Violent Night, you can check out our full review here and still catch it in theaters now.

    Source: SYFY WIRE

  • Mary Stuart Masterson and Piper Rubio Join Blumhouse’s ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie

    Mary Stuart Masterson and Piper Rubio Join Blumhouse’s ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie

    YouTuber Dawko has been holding a Charity Stream in which he’s been sharing some rather curious reveals for the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, as creator Scott Cawthon has seemingly shared some details with him to build up some momentum for the new film and help the Charity Stream. In it, he not only confirmed the roles that the recently cast Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson, but also went on to share two new castings.

    The newest additions to the film are Mary Stuart Masterson. Not just that, she’s also hinted at playing an unnamed villain, which does open up the door on who exactly she could be playing. With Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach introducing the character of Vanny, they may be taking pieces from across the franchise’s history but she could also just be voicing one of the animatronics. Baby might be an interesting choice, but there’s also the chance they’ll just introduce new characters.

    She’s not the only new addition, as young actress Piper Rubio has also been added to the film’s cast, and she’ll be playing Mike’s younger sister named Abby. Now, Mike was revealed to be Hutcherson‘s role and is inspired by the gaming franchise’s nightguard. So, she’s not Elizabeth Afton and it opens up the question on if they might build up this character throughout.

    Source: YouTube

  • Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson’s Roles in ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s Revealed

    Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson’s Roles in ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s Revealed

    Not too long ago, we found out that the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is finally picking up steam after being in development hell for quite some time. Just yesterday, we found out that Matthew Lillard is making his return to the horror genre in an unknown role in Blumhouse’s upcoming live-action adaptation alongside The Hunger Games alum Josh Hutcherson, also no stranger to the genre. Now, it seems that we even know who they are playing as Scott Cawthon has shared their roles with YouTuber Dawko, who announced their roles as part of a Charity Stream.

    What roles are they playing? Well, it looks like we’ll get introduced to one major character in the first film as Lillard has been revealed to be taking on the role of William Afton, the infamous Purple Guy and main antagonist of the franchise. Hutcherson‘s will play the role of Mike Smith who was the nightguard in the original game. It looks like they may combine elements from the original and perhaps we’ll see Lillard more in flashbacks as the main mystery of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria is uncovered throughout the film’s runtime.

    While the film has been in development for some time, especially when the FNAF hype was at its peak, script issues seemingly derailed the project for quite some time. Originally, Chris Columbus was attached to direct the film but he exited the project last year due to these issues. Now, Emma Tammi is attached to take over directing duties and they are finally moving forward with the project. Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop is also attached to bring the creepy animatronics to life in the upcoming film.

    Source: YouTube

  • ‘Mamma Mia’ Director Offers Update on Third Entry

    ‘Mamma Mia’ Director Offers Update on Third Entry

    Throughout the years, ABBA’s iconic music has defined the landscape. So, a film based around those iconic melodys would certainly draw in quite the audience. And that it did with style, as the first Mamma Mia led directly into a just as popular sequel. Yet, we’ve long been waiting for an update on a possible third entry in the franchise and luckily director OI Parker definitely has plans to make that a reality.

    In an interview with ScreenRant, the director got a chance to tease that there are active plans for another entry in the franchise and that producer Judy Craymer always envisioned the musical as a trilogy.

    Judy Craymer, the genius producer behind the musical and the first two films, always plans for it to be a trilogy. That’s all I can say. The first one made an enormous amount of money, and I think we made a fair amount too. I know that there is a hunger for a third, and I know that she has a plan. Wouldn’t it be lovely?

    OI Parker

    The excitement is definitely there but it does seem to be missing some kind of update on what the timing might be. There’s no official casting or confirmation of actors returning to their respective roles. Fornow, there’s a lot of excitement to give the franchise another chance but we might have to wait just a little bit until they officially get the cameras rolling and the music playing.

    Source: ScreenRant

  • ‘Avatar’ Sequel Opens to $53M Domestically, But Set to Hit Lower End of Projection

    ‘Avatar’ Sequel Opens to $53M Domestically, But Set to Hit Lower End of Projection

    You might read the title of this article and denounce Avatar: The Way of Water‘s chances at reaching a billion, as the film is now set to only hit the lower end of expectations at around $150M, though it could go as low as $130M depending on how it tracks over the weekend. We’ve seen this countless times throughout 2022 that the predictions aren’t as accurate as they once were and models have been struggling to really pinpoint where the needle is moving in regards to audience interest.

    As of now, the film has pulled in $53M domestically with another $127M worldwide. With $180.1M worldwide it’s definitely tracking among the best of the year and with the Holidays around the corner, it’ll leg out quite a bit over the next few weeks without any real competition. It’s international release is also enjoying that additional Chinese box office that many other big blockbusters haven’t had a chance to enjoy but it comes at a time where COVID is running rampant in that country once again.

    Also, we can’t forget that three hour runtime and its impact on viewership, especially when you’re going to invest time to sit there that long in a 3D film. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was also on the longer side which affected its box office run early on with less showtimes. Either way, the film has definitely going to pass or even double 2009’s $77M domestic opening but the question remains if it’ll have the legs it needs. It’s opening around the same as Top Gun: Maverick which ended up legging out to an impressive $1.49B. Though, the film might need to do quite a bit more to prove successful given its massive budget.

    Source: Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Cut a Major Villain Before Production

    ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Cut a Major Villain Before Production

    Though he first appeared in 1965’s Fantastic Four #48 and is thought of as a “Fantastic Four villain”, Galactus actually has quite the history with another major Marvel character. The Devourer of Worlds has quite the origin story, being the only being to survive the transition from the Sixth Cosmos to the Seventh Cosmos, and one day on a planetoid in the depths of space, Galactus chose to tell that story to Thor. As is often the case in Marvel Comics, Galactus’ origin story has been retconned over time, but he first told it to Thor in 1969 over issues #168 and #169, forging a pretty solid bond between the two characters. That bond was recently severed when Thor killed Galactus, but what’s a little killing between friends?

    Fans have yet to see a live-action version of Galactus hit the screen (that thing in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer will never be recognized as Galactus) but it turns out that he almost made his MCU debut alongside his buddy Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder. Unused concept art from Anthony Winn reveals that the idea was at least kicked around at one point in time. The concept art shows Galactus facing off in space against Jane Foster’s Mighty Thor!

    The story behind why Galactus didn’t make the cut may never become public knowledge, but it’s fascinating to see just how close fans of the character were to his extremely long-awaited debut. It’s unknown at present just what Marvel Studios’ plans are for the character. He may appear in the rumored Silver Surfer Special Presentation. He may appear in Fantastic Four. The powers that be may choose to take a page from his comic book origin and wait until the creation of the next iteration of the Cosmos, perhaps following Avengers: Secret Wars, before adding him to the mix. Whatever the case, it seems highly probable it will be a comic-accurate Galactus whenever he shows up and not a lingering fart cloud traversing through space.

    Source: Anthony Winn