Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movie News

  • Gary Oldman Originally Was Going to be the Voice of ‘Star Wars’ General Grievous

    Gary Oldman Originally Was Going to be the Voice of ‘Star Wars’ General Grievous

    Here’s a rather interesting reveal but it turns out that Gary Oldman originally was going to voice the iconic Jedi hunter, General Greivous. While he didn’t play him on set, it seems that he sadly was replaced due to the union discussions at the time. In an interview with Happy Sad Confused Podcast, Oldman only confirmed that he had originally recorded for the voice role by nonother than George Lucas himself.

    I did a voice for Star Wars…was it General Grievous? What happened was something to do with union stuff and non-union stuff…Lucas directed me through the whole thing; yeah, he was terrific.

    It’s always interesting to find out what may or may not have been. The actor sadly doesn’t go into much detail to highlight just how exactly he was going to tackle the character, whose famous raspy voice and dying breath pushed him forward to take vengeance on Obi-Wan Kenobi.

    While the character has long passed away in the Star Wars canon, they could revisit his days before he turned into what he had eventually turned into to highlight his transition. It would be the perfect opportunity to have Oldman give it another chance to voice the character in just a very different step of his life. With the various Disney+ projects, anything is possible.

    Source: Apple Podcasts via Twitter

  • First ‘Scream 6’ Set Photos Tease New York City Setting

    First ‘Scream 6’ Set Photos Tease New York City Setting

    It looks like Scream has found a new home in the upcoming sixth entry, as Twitter user @topgirlcassidy has shared some set photos from Montréal, Canada where they are filming the sequel. Yet, many of the vehicles have seemingly hinted at the sequel taking place in New York City, as there are NYPD cars and license plates on the vehicles. It’s quite the departure from the story normally taking place in Sidney Prescott’s (Neve Campbell) hometown of Woodsboro California. You can see the set photos here:

    https://twitter.com/topgirlcassidy/status/1535611808307879938

    The franchise made a grand return with its latest entry simply titled Scream brought back some iconic cast members and reintroduced Ghostface to a new generation. Yet, the sixth entry will be its potentially biggest departure with Campbell no longer involved in the production. It’s unclear how they will continue to tell this story that commonly revolves around Sydney Prescott, but they may be redefining the franchise.

    Of course, some familiar faces are making their return and it’s not going to be a full-on reboot of the franchise. The new setting in New York City could possibly be also just a temporary switch and doesn’t necessarily mean that the franchise is completely moving away from Woodsboro.

    Source: Twitter

  • REPORT: ‘Deadpool 3’ Adds ‘Falcon and Winter Soldier’s Production Designer

    REPORT: ‘Deadpool 3’ Adds ‘Falcon and Winter Soldier’s Production Designer

    After a long wait, it seems like Deadpool 3 has finally picked up the pace in production. Not only did the original writers of the first two entries join the franchise after being briefly replaced by Bob’s Burger‘s writers. Shawn Levy, a now long-time collaborator with Ryan Reynolds is now set to direct the film after working with him on The Adam Project and Free Guy. Yet, it looks like one more member of the production crew has been added.

    According to Discussing Film, Deadpool 3 has added production designer Raymond Chan. He’s had left quite an imprint on the Marvel Cinematic Universe as he acted as a supervising art director on countless projects in the franchise, such as Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s also worked on some projects like Alonso Cuarón‘s Children of Men.

    Though, Chan has taken on the role of production designer, which he’ll carry on in Deadpool 3, alongside director Kari Skogland for all six episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. His next work will be Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and it’ll be interesting to see what he brings to the third entry of the Deadpool franchise, especially as it enters its MCU era and may embrace its new home.

    Source: Discussing Film

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Lightyear’ Director Explains How Han Solo Inspired Film

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Lightyear’ Director Explains How Han Solo Inspired Film

    Lightyear is set to be Pixar’s first science-fiction action film, and it’s director pulled out all the stops when looking for inspiration. Angus MacLane is a self-proclaimed nerd, who can reference almost any sci-fi movie or anime an interviewer might throw at him. The former Finding Dory filmmaker has name dropped countless projects as research material in the past, but chief among them has always been Star Wars.

    In multiple interviews, MacLane described Lightyear as the galaxy far, far away within the Toy Story universe. Sitting down for an exclusive chat with Murphy’s Multiverse, the director was asked if Harrison Ford‘s Han Solo served as a specific inspiration for Chris Evans‘ Buzz Lightyear. While it turns out this wasn’t his original idea, he did admit that it might be true in a more unintentional way:

    That’s a really interesting observation. I think it was sub-conscious. Han was the character I liked the most as a kid, because of his braggadocio. I think there are some very Han-like moments in the film…there’s very much an echo of that in the first act of our film. But for me, it was important to tell a story about an adult.

    Angus MacLane

    He continued to elaborate, further explaining the purpose behind following an adult character:

    The movies that I related to as a kid, the character I wanted to hang out with was the adult. It was aspirational in that way, instead of the kid. Luke I didn’t relate to, I wanted to be Han Solo. In Aliens, I wasn’t following the kid, I was following Ripley. You know what I mean? There’s something about that that was important to me for this film, and I think that’s what you’re picking up on. I wanted to tell a story about a character who had a lot of arrogance and was humbled by their own hubris.

    Angus MacLane

    MacLane might be onto something, as characters like Han Solo and Ripley have grown to become some of pop culture’s most iconic protagonists. Buzz Lightyear is already pretty well-liked in his own regard, and hopefully the director’s new take only serves to make him more popular when Lightyear flies into theaters on June 17th.

  • ‘Duke Nukem’ Film in Active Development with Legendary Entertainment

    ‘Duke Nukem’ Film in Active Development with Legendary Entertainment

    News has officially broken on a creative team for an upcoming film based on the popular 1990s video game franchise Duke Nukem. Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, creators of the popular Karate Kid revival series Cobra Kai, are set to produce this film. Legendary Entertainment has picked up the film rights to the project from Gearbox.

    No writer or director is currently attached to this iteration of the project and an active search is currently underway. Though it might not be a surprise to see at least some creative involvement from the trio of producers based on their previous line of work. Whether that be the three of them creating Cobra Kai, Heald writing Hot Tub Time Machine, or Hurwitz and Schlossberg helming numerous projects in the Harold & Kumar franchise.

    The Duke Nukem video game franchise began in 1991 and has officially made over $1 billion throughout its various games. Duke Nukem follows the adventures of the titular hero in various pastiches of 1980s action movies with him serving as the stereotypical protagonist based on films of the era dealing with a mass alien invasion within Los Angeles. Their games were a major part in introducing the mainstream success of first-person video games within the industry.

    With the popularity of the video games and their basis within over-the-top action movies, Duke Nukem has been a long-sought-after film adaptation. However, it’s consistently been within “development hell” despite numerous attempts to green-light the project. Most recently, Gearbox had an adaptation in the works with Paramount Pictures that would have had John Cena in the lead role, but it ultimately fizzled out over time.

    It remains to be seen what direction will be taken with this film and if this trio of producers and Legendary Entertainment will finally be able to get this film off the ground and into production.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • Netflix’s ’The Old Guard 2’ Adds Uma Thurman and Henry Golding

    Netflix’s ’The Old Guard 2’ Adds Uma Thurman and Henry Golding

    Uma Thurman and Henry Golding are joining the cast of The Old Guard 2.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Thurman and Golding will join returning cast members Charlize Theron, KiKiLayne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngo and Chiwetel Ejiofor. The Old Guard 2 is based on the comic book series by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez, which tells the story of a group of immoral warriors led by Andy (Theron) who meet a new one of their kind, Nile (Layne), as they soon find themselves suffering from repercussions from their centuries-old way of life in the modern age.

    Rucka penned the script for The Old Guard 2, which will be focusing on the second arc of the comic books. Directing this installment will be Victoria Mahoney who made headlines as the first second unit director on a Star Wars film with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. She takes over for Gina Prince-Bythewood, who had to exit the sequel due to other commitments.

    The Old Guard first hit Netflix on July 10th, 2020. Since its initial release, the film has remained one of the most-watched original films on the streaming service with 186 million hours watched within its first 28 days of release.

    Thurman, who is best known for the Kill Bill films, is coming off the recently released Disney+ movie Hollywood Stargirl. While Crazy Rich Asians breakout, Golding, most recently toplined Snake Eyes and wrapped filming on Assassin Club, while also recently lending his voice to Star Wars: Visions.

    As of this writing, there is no release date set for The Old Guard 2 on Netflix.

    Source: THR.

  • ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ Opens Big at the Box Office Despite Being Hit Hard by Critics

    ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ Opens Big at the Box Office Despite Being Hit Hard by Critics

    The latest Jurassic World film pulled in $18 million in Thursday previews. Dominion is expected to rake in a fair amount of money this weekend with a projected $125 million, however, Top Gun: Maverick’s continued box office dominance could dampen Dominion’s haul. Especially as Dominion has mixed reviews heading into its opening weekend stateside. With a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, that’s well below both Jurassic World (71%) and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (47%).

    The Jurassic World films, which are a continuation of the beloved Jurassic Park franchise, have proven to be box office juggernauts in recent years. The first Jurassic World movie opened to a stunning $208 million back in 2015, eventually going on to earn $1.6 billion globally. The sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, opened three years later to $150 million and ended its theatrical run with $1.3 worldwide. It remains to be seen how Dominion will perform, however, with original Jurassic Park stars Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern all returning, it’s possible nostalgia could serve as a selling point for the film.

    While the film is only now just releasing stateside, it has been released in a few overseas markets already. The film has made $55 million internationally so far across 15 markets. That’s without the film opening in China; that will finally happen this weekend, where it is thought it’ll open to approximately $15 million. If that number holds, it’ll serve as the biggest Hollywood opening in China this year ahead of The Batman’s $12.1 million opening earlier this year.

    Source: Variety

  • Jake Schreier to Direct Marvel Studios ‘Thunderbolts’, Shoots Next Summer

    Jake Schreier to Direct Marvel Studios ‘Thunderbolts’, Shoots Next Summer

    It has long been rumored that Marvel Studios was looking to make a Thunderbolts movie, and now, it appears the movie has taken one step closer to becoming a reality. Per Deadline, Marvel Studios has hired Jake Schreier to direct the film. He’ll direct from a script by Black Widow writer Eric Pearson. The trade report confirms an earlier report from KC Walsh that Thunderbolts was in development.

    Schreier is mainly known for his music video work, having directed videos for the likes of Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar. Outside of music videos, he has work on television shows such as Kidding and Netflix’s Beef, which will star Steven Yeun and Ali Wong.

    According to the trade report, the studio is eyeing a summer 2023 start of production and starting to line up its roster for the film. In the comics, the Thunderbolts have seen a shifting roster that has seen villains posing as heroes, villains forced to work for the government and, more recently a group of heroes adopting the name. The original team debuted during the mid-90s when Baron Zemo and a group of villains disguised themselves as heroes when many of Earth’s mightiest were “killed” by Onslaught. Zemo would seemingly be very much in play for the MCU team, which could already under construction with Julia Louis-Dreyfuss’ Val as the mastermind. She already has Yelena Belova and John Walker under her thumb and will be looking to add another member to her team in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

    With a Summer 2023 start of filming, it’s likely that Thunderbolts could end up as part of Marvel Studios 2024 slate. The studio has unannounced films scheduled for February 16th, May 3rd, July 26th and November 8th of that year.

  • ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Runtime Rumored to be Among MCU’s Longest

    ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Runtime Rumored to be Among MCU’s Longest

    After Taika Waititi revitalized the Thor franchise back in 2017 with Thor: Ragnarok, hype has slowly been building around its follow-up Thor: Love and Thunder. On top of forming the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first quadrilogy, the film is poised to become one of the most unique MCU films of all time, with Waititi describing the film as a romantic comedy.

    Set to star Chris Hemsworth as Thor, God of Thunder, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, King of Asgard, and Waititi as Korg, the film also marks Natalie Portman’s long awaited return to the MCU as Jane Foster, who has now become the Mighty Thor. Not only that, but the film also features Christian Bale as the film’s villain, Gorr the God Butcher, and cameos from the Guardians of the Galaxy. With all of that going on, it is easy to think that the film could have a particularly long runtime and rumored runtimes have been making their way around the internet for months. Now, another one has surfaced.

    According to Showcase Cinemas, Thor: Love and Thunder will clock in with a reported runtime of 2 hours and 30 minutes. If this is true, it makes the film one of the top three longest MCU movies. At 150 minutes, it would beat out the run time of Avengers: Infinity War by 1 minute, but be shorter than Eternals and Avengers: Endgame.

    While a film’s runtime tends to spark curiosity as to the contents of the film, it’s worth noting that a two-and-a-half-hour-long superhero flick is no longer seen as particularly long. However, this runtime does place Thor: Love and Thunder as the longest Thor film, surpassing Thor: Ragnarok by a full 20 minutes.

    Fans can feel the love – and the thunder – when Thor: Love and Thunder is released in theaters on July 8.

  • Gorr’s Motivation in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Revealed

    Gorr’s Motivation in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Revealed

    With the release of Thor: Love and Thunder now just under a month away, more information is coming to light in terms of what to expect from the next film entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the upcoming edition of the D23 Magazine, much was made about Christian Bale’s portrayal of the main antagonist Gorr the God Butcher. Specifically, director Taika Waititi provides insight for the villain’s character motivations.

    Gorr’s backstory involves being wronged by the gods, and a lot of his motivation is getting revenge for these wrongdoings. We really wanted to explore this idea of religion, belief, and what it means to put your faith in a higher power. And because Thor is essentially a god, what does it mean for him to represent these gods.

    Taika Waititi

    The impression is definitely made that Waititi is moving the Thor franchise into an area filled with rich esoteric concepts that present more challenging themes. It will certainly be interesting to note how well these themes will be managed amongst the bombastic comedic style as shown in the trailer and from Thor: Ragnarok. Also in line with Phase Four presenting more nuanced takes on villains, Chris Hemsworth discussed the complexity found within Christian Bale’s performance as Gorr.

    Gorr is not a straightforward villain. There’s a real complexity to him. It’s not black and white, what he’s doing. He has a truthful motivation, which I think makes for the most interesting kind of villain. You might not agree with how he’s going about it, but you understand why he’s been tipped over the edge and why he’s gone down this path. It’s a really challenging one for Thor, because the set of questions Gorr’s posing do hold some truth – but he can’t let Gorr destroy the universe in the process. That, I think, makes this a greater dynamic and not as predictable as the straightforward ‘Good Guy vs. Bad Guy’ scenario we’ve seen before.

    Chris Hemsworth

    Ultimately, if this interpretation of the character that Chris Hemsworth is describing lands as intended, Gorr the God Butcher has all the potential to become one of the most iconic antagonists found in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Whether or not this is the case can be determined by yourself when Thor: Love and Thunder opens exclusively in theaters on July 8.

    Source: D23 Magazine