Following the news that Netflix has canceled Fate: The Winx Saga after two seasons, creator Iginio Straffi has revealed the series will live on in two new projects. Straffi took to social media on Thursday evening to announce both a new animated series and a movie are in development.
In a post shared on Instagram, Straffi noted the way the shows cancellation was announced, calling it “abrupt” and ultimately mishandled. “The news that there will be no season three should not have been delivered in such an abrupt way, disregarding of our involvement and your feelings, by someone who was only part of the Winx Club journey for a few years, after being appointed by Netflix to work on the Fate series.”
On the second slide, he noted that he’s actively working on a new CG animated series based on the beloved franchise. “A brand new CG Winx animated series reboot is going into production. Yes, a reboot that I promise to sweep you back into the Winx world.”
The series, of course, was initially an animated Nickelodeon series titled Winx that ran for eight seasons before being canceled. The animated show’s popularity is what eventually led to the Netflix series, Fate: The Winx Saga. While the animated series is confirmed to be a reboot, however, Straffi’s second announcement doesn’t clarify whether his other project is a reboot or a continuation. “The second piece of news is about my long-term dream to produce a big budget Winx movie that all of you deserve.”
Both seasons of Fate: The Winx Saga are now streaming on Netflix.
Warner Bros. Discovery has been a big question mark in the industry at the moment, which has led to many questionable decisions. Originals from HBO Max were just pulled from the platform and not made available anywhere else, Batgirl and a Scoob! sequel was scrapped close before wrapping work on it. In the latest earning call, CEO David Zaslav gave a tease of where their future lies and it may raise a few flags. First off, he promises a “real focus on franchises” and highlights two major entries from their portfolio.
We haven’t had a Superman movie in 13 years. We haven’t had a Harry Potter movie in 15 years. The DC movies and the Harry Potter movies provided a lot of profits to Warner Bros motion pictures over the last 25 years. House of the Dragon is a big example of that; Game of Thrones, taking advantage of Sex and the City. Lord of the Rings — we still have the right to do Lord of the Ringsmovies
David Zaslav
There’s some confusion about his quotes, as Man of Steel was released in 2013, which was nine years ago, and technically Batman v Superman: Dawnof Justice was a Superman-centric sequel, which was released in 2016. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 was in theaters in 2011, which is eleven years ago, and technically we still got an entry in that Wizard World franchise with Fantastic Beats: The Secrets of Dumbledore this year. Not a very promising way to sell people on the belief in IP while not understanding how long it has been since they released.
That isn’t all, as he also took his time to downplay the value gained by HBO Max and the use of original productions for the service. It seems that in his eyes, the viewership retention wasn’t strong enough on the streamer to justify its existence.
We learned what doesn’t work. And this is what doesn’t work for us based on everything that we’ve seen: direct-to-streaming movies. So spending a billion dollars or collapsing a motion picture window into a streaming service. The movies that we launch in theater do significantly better, and launching a 2-hour, 40-minute movie direct to streaming has done nothing for HBO Max in terms of viewership, retention or love of the service.
David Zaslav
The quote does make you question the continued rise of investment in the market of streaming; Netflix even raised the budgets even higher due to the potential they see. The biggest comparison that may be the reason for this belief lies in the direct comparison to what Zaslav is used to, which is reality TV streaming. We might have apples to chainsaw type of comparison leading to the downplay of value gained from streaming originals.
The entire library shouldn’t be on HBO Max and paid for by HBO Max. We have an extraordinary library: Friends, Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men — there’s 15 or 20 series that are loved and nourishing the audience on a regular basis. But then there’s a huge number of series and movies that aren’t being used at all. If none of it’s being used, why aren’t we putting it on an AVOD where it will be used? We looked at what people are watching on Pluto and Tubi: They’re loving Rawhide and Bonanza. They’re not watching old series like Dynasty on Max. There is a platform where people have an expectation and what they want to watch, and we’ve been able to get a real vision into what people are consuming and ultimately that gives us a roadmap.
David Zaslav
There are many discussions on archiving media that streaming opened the potential to finally establish a home for those looking to revisit movies and TV shows they loft. It’s ironic that their own streaming platform proved the potential of legacy projects, Game of Thrones viewership saw an increase once House of the Dragon was released; highlighting a potential synergy on a streaming service. WBD’s current pure KPI-based decision making may be pushing their company to be even more sterile than what people have accused others in the streaming market of being. He even makes an oxymoron remark that the “golden age” isn’t over but also hints at focusing on saving costs on investment, taking no more risks.
Warner Bros. Discovery has been slowly wrapping up the year with a new earnings call, where CEO David Zaslav offered some insight into recent developments from the company and what the future has in store. A big focus was set on the newly formed DC Studios and some of the projects that are set to appear in the coming years. Among them was the Joker sequel, Joker: Folie á Deux. Joaquin Phoenix once again returns to take on the role of Batman’s greatest villain in a standalone experience and it looks like production is set to start very soon.
As revealed by Zaslav himself during the earnings call, the Joker sequel is set to start production next month. No exact start date has been shared but it seems that they are on course to get working on the project with director Todd Phillips also returning. The biggest addition is Lady Gaga, who is taking on this new universe’s take on Harley Quinn. Once she joined the project, the rumors of it acting as a musical gained traction and highlighted how this new take might differ from the previous entry.
It’s definitely interesting that Joker of all films is getting a sequel just as Warner Bros. Discovery is trying to establish a connected DC Universe. Even Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe will still continue to evolve and it was hinted at being its own pocket universe. So, Zaslav is currently trying to get the best of both worlds rather than keeping a true focus. On the flip side, these distinct projects still happening is great for those that want to see more diverse stories from these iconic heroes. So, while it’s confusing if you consider WBD’s set goal, it seems we can still look forward to some unique projects.
Warner Bros. Discovery has been quite the powder keg in the industry. Its new CEO David Zaslav has not left a good impression with the axing of Batgirl and pulling various projects from HBO Max for no apparent reason besides saving on taxes. Yet, there’s also some excitement with the newly founded DC Studios that’ll be spearheaded by co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran.
During Warner Bros. Discovery’s earnings call, Zaslav gave a few insights into recent developments. While he did give a shoutout to some productions in the near future for DC, he also highlighted his excitement for the work that Gunn and Safran are going to accomplish and promises a “more unified creative approach” to the DC Cinematic Universe.
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few months with James and Peter. They have a powerful vision and blueprint that will drive a more unified creative approach that will enable us to realize the full value of one of the world’s most iconic franchises.
David Zaslav
There still is some uncertainty about whatever Zaslav is trying to accomplish with WBD; many signs hint at them mostly preparing for a resell to another company later down the line. Still, there’s a lot of potentials that with the producer and director spearheading the new division we might still see some tighter world-building in the DC moving forward. For now, we can only hope and we probably won’t see the first results for their ventures by 2025.
Marvel Studios really wanted Yaha Abdul-Mateen II to bring Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man, to life in the MCU. After hearing that initial conversations between the actor and the studio hit a stumbling block, a recent trade report revealed that negotiations had resumed and it is now expected that Mateen will ultimately land the role. As of now, that means Mateen will headline the Disney Plus series Wonder Man, which is being overseen by Shang-Chi and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty director Destin Daniel Cretton. However, given how keen Marvel Studios was to land Mateen, it seems possible that they have a much bigger plan in place for Simon Williams and part of that plan might lie in the character’s comic book history.
Even though Avengers’ director Joss Whedon wasn’t a big fan of the character, Wonder Man has been an Avenger for the majority of his Marvel Comics’ adventures. But like Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, he didn’t start off as one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but rather one of their adversaries. After taking over his father’s company and subsequently running it into the ground, Williams found himself involved with the Maggia. That connection soon found him making his way to prison until he was bailed out by the Masters of Evil and became part of one of Baron Zemo’s schemes. Williams underwent a radical procedure that provided him with incredible powers and worked his way into favor with the Avengers before leading them into a trap set by Zemo. Williams ultimately came to his senses and sided with the Avengers, but the side effects of the experiment took a toll, sending him into a coma. A lot of weird scenarios later, Williams woke up, came to terms with his grief and trauma and joined the Avengers and, later, the West Coast Avengers. While all that sounds great, it’s that opening arc as a villain that has us theorizing!
As of now, Wonder Man has not been put on Marvel Studios’ upcoming slate. Going only off the information available, it doesn’t seem that fans should expect to see it until Fall of 2024 at the earliest. That makes casting Mateen in the role now a little suspect because there’s no information available about when Wonder Man is expected to start production. As of now, it’s known that Agatha: Coven of Chaos, Daredevil: Born Again, Captain America: New World Order and Thunderbolts are all slated to get underway in the first half 2023, but so far Wonder Man hasn’t been given a definitive start date.
It’s not completely out of the ordinary for Marvel Studios to cast a lead when they don’t have a start date set in stone and just because the public doesn’t know a start date doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist. However, Marvel’s eagerness to get the deal with Mateen done might indicate that they have plans for the actor in another project before he begins work on Wonder Man. Sifting through those projects listed above, none of them seem to be quite as good of a fit for a potential appearance of Simon Williams as a villain as Thunderbolts.
From what’s known about the plans for Wonder Man in the MCU, it’s expected that his series will serve as a Hollywood satire and follow his career as a struggling actor and stuntman. How he gets from superpowered experiment to struggling actor is an interesting conundrum to consider. One possibility to consider could be that the MCU’s Wonder Man might share a connection with a few members of the Thunderbolts, specifically the super soldiers. The legacy of the Super Soldier Serum in the MCU was front and center in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and with Thunderbolt Ross set to appear in both Thunderbolts and Captain America: New World Order, it’s possible it remains a prevalent plot point, especially with Samuel Sterns coming back into play.
While the plot of Thunderbolts, and thus the villain, are still tightly held secrets at Marvel Studios, having three super soldiers on the team (Bucky, John Walker and Red Guardian) could be taken as an indicator that despite Zemo’s efforts to eliminate the further development of super soldiers within the MCU, someone else has different ideas. Could Thunderbolt Ross, whose fascination with the serum led to the creation of Abomination, be back in the game? Could Samuel Sterns, who was announced to be the villain of Captain America: New World Order, be making an appearance in Thunderbolts? And how would Simon Williams end up part of an experiment in the first place?
Without details, wild speculation is the best direction. In the comics, Simon’s fall from grace started when he ran his father’s company, Williams Innovations, into the ground and hooked up with the Maggia. However, it was his brother, Eric, who went on to become the villain known as the Grim Reaper, that put him in tough with the Maggia. Given the group of characters assembled for the roster of the Thunderbolts and Val’s coming obsession with metals, it wouldn’t be beyond her to get involved with a little corporate espionage. Having Ghost and Yelena on the team would certainly allow for Val’s team to get involved in some shady business like that. It wouldn’t be completely out of the question to see the first two acts of the film (or less) show the fall of Simon Williams at the hands of the Thunderbolts and his subsequent journey to becoming Wonder Man (classic costume hopefully included). The third act could see the team, and Simon, take on the project’s true villain(s), which could include Eric and/or an MCU-based Masters of Evil. Maybe the aftermath sees Simon less interested in the world of superheroes, but with nothing but his good looks and charm on his side, he decides to try his hand in Hollywood, leading into his Wonder Man solo series.
It’s paper-thin speculation at best, but the reality of the current Thunderbolts’ lineup is that they could never last against an overly-powered and truly evil villain. They don’t have the stopping power of a Hulk or a Thor and despite Walker and Bucky being on the team, they don’t have the leadership of a Captain America. They might be able to take a beating for a short time, but their true villain is going to ultimately be someone…less than thrilling. Of course Marvel Studios’ writer Eric Pearson certainly has something much more exciting in mind for Thunderbolts, which is headed to theaters on July 2th, 2024.
While the Russo Brothers aren’t going to make a return to Marvel anytime soon, it doesn’t mean they won’t be working together with Disney on other projects. They have been quite busy taking on a producing role on various projects, such as Guy Ritchie‘s upcoming live-action adaptation of Hercules. We’ve seen many iterations of the Greek demi-god throughout the years, but this new take might be the strangest yet.
In an interview with Variety, the producing brothers revealed that they are definitely taking a different direction with this live-action adaptation. They confirmed it will be a musical, which isn’t always a definite with the live-action remakes from Disney, and they are taking some inspiration from TikTok.
There are questions about how you translate it as a musical. Audiences today have been trained by TikTok, right? What is their expectation of what that musical looks like & feels like?
Russo Brothers
Some may raise an eyebrow at how effective this approach might be, especially with TikTok’s entire format being primarily based on six-second videos. It’s not a bad idea to modernize the take to the current landscape but there is the question of how far can you push that concept. The screenplay by David Callahan will have a really big challenge ahead if it’s trying to introduce some modern elements into this story.
The original Disney animated film already took quite the liberty with the mythos for the sake of making a modern commentary on sports promotion. So, we’ll see just how far they’ll try to push this adaptation and if we’ll have to suffer through TikTok dances in musical form.
It looks like Red Sonja has found its next major addition in the form of Veronica Ferres. The German star famous for Salt & Fire, Crisis, and more will take on the role of Red Sonja‘s mother and the Goddess of Ashera. The upcoming adaptation is closer inspired by Robert E. Howard‘s comics for Marvel rather than rebooting the original film starring Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger from the 80s.
The title role will be carried by Matilda Lutz, who is joined by Wallis Day, Michael Bispring, Robert Sheehan, Manal El-Feitury, Katrina Durden, Martyn Ford, and Eliza Matengu, who round out the cast. Silent Hill: Revelation director M.J. Bassett is taking on directing duties for the production and is replacing Joey Soloway, who is still attached as an executive producer. It’s been filming in Millenium’s Nu Boyana studio in Bulgaria which already teased us earlier last month with Lutz‘s design as the titular heroine.
Ferres is quite well-known in the German market for her work on TV series and movies but has also started expanding internationally throughout the last few years. She definitely makes for an interesting addition to the cast and it’ll be interesting to see just how big her role is, especially with the use of Goddess of Ashera in the story. While we still know very little about the story direction for the adaptation, it still looks quite promising.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s place in the chronology of the MCU has become the subject of a debate on social media lately. Marvel Studios has quite a job to do in keeping a tidy timeline, especially following the 5-year time jump of Avengers: Endgame which makes the MCU’s “present day” sometime in the year 2025. Some people believe that the film takes place in between the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame while others are convinced it’s not quite so easy to determine when it takes place. Fortunately, Cinema Blend asked Marvel Studios’ Parliament member and Wakanda Forever Executive Producer, Nate Moore, for some clarification.
While hesitant to put a time stamp on it, Moore did place it chronologically amidst other films.
This movie clearly happens after No Way Home and Eternals. I think it probably happens potentially concurrent with [Thor: Love and Thunder]. New Asgard does exist in our universe, for instance, or in our film. And almost concurrent with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which is coming out in February.
Nate Moore
Realistically, and in terms of understanding where the sequel fits in the timeline of the connected universe, Moore’s answer gives the only information fans really need. The film, which serves as the capstone to Marvel Studios’ Phase 4, takes place in the “present” of the MCU, making it part of the Multiverse Saga, unlike Black Widow which was clearly placed in the Infinity Saga between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.
Fans can do more work on giving it a proper time stamp when Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on November 11th.
1983’s A Christmas Story has stood the test of time as a quotable Christmas classic that finds itself on the yearly watchlists of many. The story of Ralphie Parker provides the right mix of laughter and holiday spirit that combine to make a beloved film. So why did it take nearly 40 years for a sequel, A Christmas Story Christmas, to be made?
According to Peter Billingsley, who returns to the role of Ralphie in the upcoming HBO Max film, time just got away from everyone involved, but that might have been just what needed to happen to make A Christmas Story Christmas work.
There was a lot of conversation about doing a sequel much closer to when the original film came out in 1983. And then, of course, in the early ‘90s… Eventually, it seemed like a distant memory, like we’d never be able to do it. But here we are, Ralphie is all grown up, he has his own family, and it’s an opportunity to really take what was so great from the first one and bring so much of that magic back but with a whole new perspective. You see what his dreams are, where his life is now, who his family is. In some ways, waiting this long makes it all the more special because there were so many new characters that we could bring in, and so many of the old fan favorites that we got to explore as well. Always in the back of my mind I’d hoped that this day would come.
Peter Billingsley
The sequel, which Billingsley produced and co-wrote, finds a grown-up Ralphie the head of the Parker household following the death of his father. His goal in the film is simple: provide a wonderful Christmas experience for his kids; however, the Parker family isn’t particularly well-known for things going smoothly. Part of the problem, according to writer and executive producer Nick Schenk, is that Ralphie is still, in a lot of ways, that little kid with the wild imagination that audiences met in A Christmas Story.
Ralphie, though, is like a lot of people who are not ready to grow up. I think secretly, that’s the most scary thing a lot of people have to deal with, when you become fully adult. Ralphie’s faced with taking on the mantle, really, and he really isn’t prepared for that. In a lot of ways, like a lot of us, at heart he’s still a kid.
Nick Schenk
How will Ralphie handle the new role? What other characters, old and new, will be around to complicate things for him? Find out when A Christmas Story Christmas will debut on HBO Max on November 17th.
Joe and Anthony Russo made quite their mark on the filming market by not only directing two great additions to the Captain America franchise but also directing two of Marvel Studios’ highest-grossing films Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers. Endgame. When rumors of what may be the next addition to the franchise might be, many threw their names back into the hat. They even teased how they would tackle an adaptation of Secret Wars throughout various interviews promoting films from their newly established AGBO production studio.
While Shang-Chi director Daniel Destin Cretton took over the first of the Multiverse Saga’s Avengers entries, many thought there is still a chance for them to tackle the finale which is Avengers: Secret Wars. So far, Marvel Studios has yet to announce a director to tackle the project but it seems we should definitely not expect the Russo Brothers to tackle the project according to Joe Russo in an interview with Variety.
We won’t be ready to do anything with Marvel until the end of the decade.
Joe Russo
It’s no surprise that they won’t have any time until later in the decade, especially with their many deals with Amazon and Netflix currently moving forward in full force. Marvel Studios ended up giving them the opportunity to establish their name in the industry and push forward on their own passion projects. Of course, there’s also always the question of finding the right project that would catch their interest, and perhaps something pops up throughout the coming years that pulls them in eventually.
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