Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movie News

  • Zoe Saldana Says Working With Marvel Studios Is Like ‘A Cult’

    Zoe Saldana Says Working With Marvel Studios Is Like ‘A Cult’

    At this point, Zoe Saldana is a superhero veteran. The actress has been playing Gamora, reformed daughter of Thanos and the universe’s deadliest assassin, since 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Since debuting as the character, Saldana has gone on to reprise her role in four more films, with the latest effort being Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – next year’s grand conclusion to Marvel Studios’ space-faring trilogy. Her future with the company past this point is currently unknown, though she has quickly become a favorite among fans who would probably love if she stuck around.

    While the thespian herself has yet to comment on what comes after Vol. 3, a recent appearance on the hit YouTube series Hot Ones shed some light on how she feels working for a massive studio like Marvel. Speaking on her unique experience portraying an alien warrior in multiple blockbuster movies, she explained:

    When you work for Marvel, it feels like a cult, everybody’s like, ‘What’s going on? I’m dressed in green after four hours in makeup, we must be shooting something, what is it?’ [Laughs] That has advantages and disadvantages, the advantages are you savor the surprise for the end, and you don’t ruin it and the audience is able to have an amazing adventure when they go to the movies to watch it. The disadvantage is mainly for the actor, because you don’t know what you’re getting, you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t know what you’re saying, you don’t know what’s going to happen, and that can be a little nerve-wracking.

    Zoe Saldana

    Many performers who’ve played in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sandbox have spoken on their unconventional style of filmmaking in the past. The studio tends to film several projects at once, and enjoys keeping as much of their work secret as possible. As a result, actors are often left in the dark about scenes they’re not in, and sometimes aren’t even sure which project they’re filming for. Saldana lays out the pros and cons of this system pretty well, and her joking spirit seems to indicate the process isn’t actually all that bad. Perhaps just a tad unusual for those more accustomed to doing one thing at a time.

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters on May 5th, 2023, but Saldana can next be seen reprising an entirely different blockbuster role when Avatar: The Way of Water arrives on December 16th.

    Source: Hot Ones

  • Amazon to Adapt Sega Gaming Franchise ‘ToeJam & Earl’ as a Film

    Amazon to Adapt Sega Gaming Franchise ‘ToeJam & Earl’ as a Film

    You read that right, ToeJam and Earl are back baby. It seems that Amazon Studios has already set its eyes on the iconic SEGA franchise from the 90s as a feature film. Stephen Curry’s Unanimous Media and Story Kitchen are currently attached to bring the film to life about alien rappers that are looking for a cure. No, not a cure for the usual disease but one that destroys their home planet’s rhythm, funk, and groove. The following description has been shared for the film:

    Earth, their legends tell them, is the Paradise where the music that created their culture originated. Unfortunately for our heroes, not only do they wreck their ship, but they find that Earth is . . . well, not the haven they expected. But the music – that part was true. So begins their quest to find as much of that music as they can in the hope of saving their planet, and maybe ours as well.

    Amos Vernon and Nunzio Randazoo, who recently penned Hotel Transylvania 4 and Disney+’s Superfudge, are set to write the film’s script with Story Kitchen’s Dmitri M. Johnsona nd Dan Jevons set to produe the project. They are joined by Curry, Erick Peyton, and Mike Goldberg. It’s unclear if this film will be an animated film or a live-action/animation hybrid given ToeJam and Earl’s very alien design from the original gaming trilogy. Whatever tehy have planned, it’s definitely crazy to think we live in a time where ToeJam and Earl will be a film to begin with.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Batgirl’ Directors Reveal Movie Was Never Completed

    ‘Batgirl’ Directors Reveal Movie Was Never Completed

    Batgirl never made it to theaters but has somehow become one of Warner Bros. Discovery’s most talked-about films. The film, which was directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, was scrapped earlier this year before it had a chance to release and has since developed into one of superhero cinema’s greatest mysteries. While canceling movies isn’t unusual for Hollywood, it is a bit strange to dump a project after it’s completed filming, and fans are desperate to know what they would have seen had Batgirl been made public. Its cast, led by promising newcomer Leslie Grace, featured the grand return of Michael Keaton as Batman and a redemptive villain role for internet darling Brendan Fraser, who is in the midst of an immense career comeback.

    With so much untapped potential in a single project, many hope that Batgirl might one day receive the Zack Snyder’s Justice League treatment and get its time in the spotlight via streaming release. The flames of these desires were stoked by the news that a private screening of the film was held for cast and crew on the Warner Bros. Discovery lot, lending credibility to the idea that a mostly-finished version of Batgirl could exist somewhere in storage. Unfortunately, during a recent conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Arbi and Fallah revealed this was not the case. Speaking candidly, Arbi explained that the footage shown to those involved with the film was totally unfinished, and not even their latest edit.

    While the duo shares the hope that a final cut of the movie can eventually be released, they also say there’s a long way to go before that happens:

    We still needed additional photography, there were a lot of scenes missing, and the VFX was not there. I don’t know if [Warner Bros.] are really gonna go for that, but we’ll see, sometimes we think it’s fucked, but sometimes it’s like … maybe!

    Adil El Arbi

    As previously mentioned, the studio was in a similar boat with Zack Snyder‘s version of Justice League after releasing a heavily edited take by Joss Whedon in theaters instead. Intense internet scrutiny lead to WBD spending quite a bit of additional money to complete Snyder‘s vision and drop it on HBO Max. The payoff wasn’t as large as anticipated, however, which may impact Batgirl‘s odds of a second chance.

    For Arbi and Fallah, this experience of losing a filmed project and not getting it back has been somewhat unreal. The former reminisced on the unfortunate circumstances of their last few years before commenting on Batgirl‘s status:

    You’ve got to imagine, we’re two fanboys, and for one second we were in the Batman universe, following in the footsteps of Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan, and then it was just like we woke up and it was a dream.

    Adil El Arbi

    Ever upbeat, Arbi does manage to find a silver lining amongst all the disappointment:

    This is something that never happened before, so we’ve kind of become part of movie history without even trying!

    Adil El Arbi

    The duo is now working on their next film, a political thriller titled Rebel.

    Source: THR

  • Directors of Scrapped ‘Batgirl’ Reveal Which Project Would Get them Back at DC

    Directors of Scrapped ‘Batgirl’ Reveal Which Project Would Get them Back at DC

    By now, the sudden and surprising cancellation of Warner Bros. Discovery’s Batgirl film is the stuff of Hollywood legend. Directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, with the likes of Leslie Grace, Michael Keaton, and Brendan Fraser in starring roles, the movie was nearly complete by the time of its now-infamous canning at the hands of new WBD CEO David Zaslav. To make matters worse, the creative duo behind the project were reportedly unaware of its demise before the news broke online, and found out they were unexpectedly unemployed along with everybody else. However, despite the unsavory circumstances surrounding Batgirl‘s end, it would appear Arbi and Fallah are still game to return to WBD’s world of capes and crusaders.

    Speaking exclusively with The Hollywood Reporter, the directors – also known for their work on the hit sequel Bad Boys for Life and Marvel Studios’ Ms. Marvel – revealed that their feelings aren’t hard enough to prevent another collaboration with the studio that blindsided them. Asked directly, Fallah explained a second job with Warner Bros. would come with a very understandable condition:

    Yeah, we’d still work with them. But on the condition that the movie comes out. I mean, if Warner says, ‘Do you want to do the next Batman or Superman?,’ of course we’ll say yes. Just so long as the movie comes out!

    Bilall Fallah

    As for which project specifically the duo would like to take on, a recent post from Arbi on his Instagram stories might hold the answer. Over the weekend, the creative threw some fan art of the cult classic animated series Batman Beyond on his social media with no caption, causing many of his followers to believe he might secretly be working on something inspired by the show.

    In his THR interview, Arbi stated this was not the case, but that he and Fallah would not be opposed to helming an adaptation if an offer was on the table:

    You know, maybe in the future … when Batman is not being made by Matt Reeves … Batman Beyond is really super cool. And I just saw that and thought that’s really badass. So who knows? Maybe in the future one day if they ask us to do that, we wouldn’t say no. But you can dream, right?

    Ail El Arbi

    Batman Beyond was an animated series that ran on WB Kids from 1999 until 2001. It served as a sequel to Bruce Timm‘s iconic Batman: The Animated Series set decades into a sci-fi future where an elderly Bruce Wayne is now retired and mentoring his successor, a young man named Terry McGinnis. Arbi and Fallah have already convinced Michael Keaton to play this version of Wayne once, so perhaps they might one day be able to do it again. Until then, the duo will remain hard at work on their next film – Rebel, a “pacey action thriller about two Muslim Belgian brothers dealing with identity alongside ISIS radicalization and recruitment during the war in Syria“.

    Source: THR

  • Charlie Cox Has an Idea of Where Daredevil Should Show Up Next

    Charlie Cox Has an Idea of Where Daredevil Should Show Up Next

    If you’re an MCU fan, you can never have enough Cox. With appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law behind him and production on Daredevil: Born Again set to get underway early in the new year, Charlie Cox‘s Matt Murdock certainly seems to be a big part of the Multiverse Saga. The 18-episode Born Again looks to be the cornerstone of the MCU’s street-level stories with rumored appearances from such characters as Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, White Tiger and, potentially, Richard Fisk. As busy as filming 18 episodes should keep Cox in 2023, it sounds like he’s angling for a little more work anyway.

    At an appearance at German Comic Con in Dortmund, Cox mentioned he’d like to see Daredevil show up in the strangest of MCU places: the currently untitled Deadpool and Wolverine film slated for a 2024 release.

    I think because of the tone of our show, I think that there’s a place for Daredevil to show up in Deadpool. It would be really cool.

    Charlie Cox

    Cox’s comment about the tone of Daredevil: Born Again somehow meshing with that of Deadpool is incredibly interesting. While the lighter approach to the character in She-Hulk: Attorney At Law was refreshing, it doesn’t really seem in line with Deadpool’s sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek humor. Perhaps Cox knows a thing or two about what’s planned for the Deadpool film? One theory suggests that the film might be an adaptation of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe and see the Merc With a Mouth “killing off” the Fox-verse, making it very multiversal. Could Daredevil: Born Again have some multiversal aspects to it as well?

  • The Sunday Paper—December 4, 2022

    The Sunday Paper—December 4, 2022

    There were several revelations from the 2022 CCXP Disney Panel in Brazil on Thursday. Marvel Studios unveiled both the first trailer and synopsis for the awaited Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The trailer offered us our first look at several new players, including Lylla. Here’s who we theorieze might die in the movie. See the full trailer below:

    In non-Marvel news from CCXP, the title for the fifth Indiana Jones movie was revealed—Indiana Jones: Dial of Destiny—and Season 3 of The Mandalorian got an official release date of March 1, 2022. Separately, Marvel Studios debuted new trailers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Loki at APAC Showcase 2022. 

    However, a new rumor seems to shake up what we thought we know about a potential Scarlet Witch solo project. Apparently, such a spinoff may not be happening at all. But there is good news for Marvel fans wishing to see more of underutilized-in-the-Marvel Cinematic Universe characters. Past Daredevil: Born Again, Marvel Studios has plenty more of the character in mind in the MCU’s future, which is suggested by some information on some actors’ contracts.

    This week, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige teased more mutants in the MCU’s near future. During the Q&A after the CCXP event showcasing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was asked on if we can expect more mutants in the near future and he definitely seemed optimistic: “No, look, we’ve already met a few. There’s a new Mutant named Namor that you might’ve met recently. So, more to come.” 

    Of course, the head of the production company is not going to give away what we can expect. We do know that Deadpool 3 will give Hugh Jackman one more chance to play Wolverine; hopefully finally wearing his iconic outfit. And, there are many opportunities to slowly introduce various versions of these characters throughout upcoming projects. Now, we just have to wait and see if the X-Men will get their time int he spotlight or if they even existed throughout MCU’s history to begin with.

    Of course, rumors keep swirling about whether Tom Holland has officially signed on to play more Spider-Man in the MCU. A new rumor this week suggests Holland’s return could be as early as 2024. We took a look at how that release date could impact Marvel Studios’ current 2024 theatrical slate. On an unrelated “Spider-Man 4” note, this week fans got a new look at the Vulture wings that never made it to Sam Raimi’s fourth Spider-Man film. 

    Check out some of our reviews from the past week:

  • ‘Black Panther 2’ Remains at #1 for 4th Weekend in a Row, Passes $700M Worldwide

    ‘Black Panther 2’ Remains at #1 for 4th Weekend in a Row, Passes $700M Worldwide

    With little competition, it seems that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever had no problem keeping its hold on the No. 1 spot with another $17.6M. That makes it the fourth weekend in a row; the first to do so since the release of Sony and Marvel Studios’ record-breaking Spider-Man: No Way Home. It did have some competition this weekend as David Harbour‘s Violent Night, a story about John Wick if he was Santa Clause, managed to pull in $13.3M over its premiere weekend, ahead of early projections.

    Wakanda Forever now stands at $394M domestic and will definitely pass $400M and has a good chance at pulling in $450M by the end of its run. If the film will manage to hold that top spot in the next weekend depends on the return of Top Gun: Maverick which has been the only film so far to really outperform any expectation during 2022’s release. For those wondering if this means people are tired of superhero films: it had a pull with a long-dormant audience with its increase of older movie goers that may have generally been cautious ever since the pandemic hit and simply held a nostalgia for Tom Cruise and Top Gun. Good word-of-mouth did the rest.

    Worldwide, Black Panther has already passed the $700M mark and proudly stands at $733M. It’s foreign tally of $339M is quite interesting as normally Marvel productions are bigger internationally than domestically though the split was similar with the original Black Panther release. The film is unlikely to pass the original’s run and a billion does seem far-fetched, more dependent on how long Marvel Studios can keep it in theaters at this point. Still, in the later $800M area seems possible but there’s some uncertainty if it can pull through with $900M; though Doctor Strange did surprise earlier this year as well.

    Strange World is continuing to bomb as it is struggling quite a bit with only $4.9M taking in over the weekend and standing at a depressing $25.5M. With $42.3M worldwide, the film is likely to lose Disney more than $100M at this rate. Also to make a point regarding Top Gun earlier, Jonathan Majors and Adam Powell‘s Devotion didn’t quite become the same hit like Top Gun did earlier this year while trying to bandwagon off of its success with a similar style only set during the Korean War. It still did decently with a 12-day domestic of $13.8M, pulling in $2.8M this weekend.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • Kevin Feige Teases More Mutants in the MCU’s Near Future

    Kevin Feige Teases More Mutants in the MCU’s Near Future

    The Mutants are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While some theories expected a longer wait with the iconic Marvel characters to appear after the Multiverse Saga has come to an end, but Marvel Studios is going at it one step at a time. We first met a familiar face in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with the 90s theme, which was later used to recontextualize a reveal in Ms. Marvel.

    Now, we have the word once again spoken by Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; the first to be well-aware of his mutant status in the MCU given how different he is from his own people of Talocan. During the Q&A after the CCXP event showcasing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was asked on if we can expect more mutants in the near future and he definitely seemed optimistic

    No, look, we’ve already met a few. There’s a new Mutant named Namor that you might’ve met recently. So, more to come.

    Kevin Feige

    Of course, the head of the production company is not going to give away what we can expect. We do know that Deadpool 3 will give Hugh Jackman one more chance to play Wolverine; hopefully finally wearing his iconic outfit. And, there are many opportunities to slowly introduce various versions of these characters throughout upcoming projects. Now, we just have to wait and see if the X-Men will get their time int he spotlight or if they even existed throughout MCU’s history to begin with.

    Source: The Direct

  • ‘John Wick’ Writer to Adapt ‘SIFU’ into Live-Action

    ‘John Wick’ Writer to Adapt ‘SIFU’ into Live-Action

    It looks like Sloclap is ready to adapt their recently released game SIFU into a live-action feature. They’ve decided to partner with Story Kitchen to bring the project to life, whose partner Derek Kolstad, who many might know from his work on John Wick, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Nobody, and many more, to adapt the script. Dmitri M. Johnson is set to produce the project alongside Mike Godlberg, Dan Jevons, and Timothy I. Stevenson for Story Kitchen. Kolstad naturally also is on board as a producer.

    It’s unclear how they’ll adapt the story, as its main “concept” was built around a gamification element. It’s a revenge story taking place in modern China, where a student of a martial arts school witnesses the murder of his mentor and goes on a revenge-filled spree to take those down responsible for his death. It’s built around the gimmick that he has a magical talisman that revives him but t the price of him growing older.

    The game was a big success and even went on to get nominated for quite a few awards. The main premise of SIFU is perfect for a film but it’ll be interesting to see how they adapt the concept of him being revived but only older. They could go for a Groundhog Day-inspired story or simply have him come back but visibly older.

    It also raises the question if the main star might be cast in different age groups, or they’ll heavily rely on aging or de-aging technology and practical effects to keep the same actor. Whatever direction they might go, Kolstad‘s work is definitely a showcase that they have the right man for the job.

    Source: Deadline

  • Margot Robbie’s ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Spinoff Not Dead Yet

    Margot Robbie’s ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Spinoff Not Dead Yet

    Margot Robbie shocked the world when last month she revealed that her Pirates of the Caribbean spinoff film was no longer happening. As the franchise moved away from its main star due to Johnny Depp‘s trial, Disney was seemingly all-in with a new direction for the franchise and a fresh face. Robbie is the perfect choice to lead any new franchise and it being dead before it even got started was a shame.

    As it turns out though, Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer seeemingly confirms that they are still developing the project alongside multiple Pirates projects. At this point, it’s all about the script coming together that may rejuvinate the project once more given enough time.

    I think that that script will come forward at a certain point. We developed two different stories for ‘Pirates’ and the other one’s going forward first, so that’s what we’re working on, to try to get that one made.

    Jerry Bruckheimer

    We first heard about the project back in 2020 with two projects in development. One was with Robbie leading the charge and another that had Ted Elliot and Craig Mazin attached to write, which would act as a second reboot. Bruckheimer worked on all previous entries of the Pirates franchise and sadly it seems that it’s not quite picking up development as hoped.

    At this point, it does seem like they are focusing work on the one led by Robbie but if that script doesn’t truly come together, she may jump ship if she already believes that the project is dead. For now, we’ll have to keep waiting until they truly move forward.

    Source: Variety