Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movie News

  • Don’t Expect Halle Berry in ‘John Wick 4’ But Maybe a Spinoff

    Don’t Expect Halle Berry in ‘John Wick 4’ But Maybe a Spinoff

    The cast of Keanu Reeves‘ next big movie, John Wick: Chapter 4, is set to be quite the ensemble. Unfortunately, it seems that Hollywood icon Halle Berry will not be among the returning stars, as while promoting Moonfall, she confirms that she won’t make an appearance in the highly-anticipated action sequel. Berry previously portrayed Sofia Al-Azwar in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, an old ally of the title character, who assists him after his fall from grace with the High Table. The veteran dog-loving killer, who is also the manager of Casablanca’s Continental Hotel, was a highlight in a film packed with standout moments.

    While fans are sure to be disappointed with her absence from the next franchise installment, they shouldn’t count on never seeing Berry in the role again. When asked about her involvement with the future of the Wick series, the former Catwoman star had some intriguing things to say:

    Sofia’s not in the next John Wick movie. There could possibly be a Sofia…her own movie. So she might not be in John Wick, but she might be doing her own thingy-thingy.

    Halle Berry

    Berry went on to compare the potential spin-off to “ointment on a little sore“, referencing a canceled James Bond spin-off that was to feature Jinx, her one-time Bond Girl, in the lead role. If a Sofia-centric film were to happen, it would not be the first offshoot of the Wick movies we see. A female-led action film set in the same universe, tentatively titled Ballerina, has been in production since 2017, with Ana de Armas playing the main character. Mel Gibson is also signed on to play the lead in a canon television series called The Continental, which will dive deeper into the roots of the titular hotel.

    Source: IGN

  • ‘Batgirl’ Set Photos Offer First Look at J.K. Simmons as a Younger Commissioner Gordon

    ‘Batgirl’ Set Photos Offer First Look at J.K. Simmons as a Younger Commissioner Gordon

    Last year it was announced that J.K. Simmons would be reprising his role of Commissioner Gordon in the upcoming Batgirl solo film, starring Leslie Grace. The actor first appeared as Gordon in 2017’s Justice League, and of course in the 2020 re-release of director Zack Snyder’s original cut. In both films, he had a rather small role, but that seems to be changing in his next entry. Some new photos from the set in Glasglow have given us our first look at Simmons return as the famous commissioner.

    He may look a bit different than when we first saw him in Justice League, as he ditched the grey look for his comic-accurate red hair. Gordon looks to be with his wife and possibly a young Barbara Gordon, indicating that this is most likely a flashback scene, which might explain the red hair. The actress who might be playing her mother has not been officially announced so far.

    A while back on the HappySadConfused podcast, Simmons expressed that he was ” “flabbergasted” at the request from Warner Brothers to reprise his role as Gordon, believing his days as Commissioner were shortlived.

    “I’m excited to be the once and future Jim Gordon, I had a long discussion with the guys about how we want to portray him. It’s a really interesting take on introducing Batgirl and fleshing Jim Gordon out.”

    J.K. Simmons

    Batgirl currently has no release date but is currently set to release this year exclusively on HBO Max.

    Source: Twitter, HappySadConfused Podcast

  • ‘Hocus Pocus 2’: Doug Jones Shares Closer Look at New Billy Butcherson Design

    ‘Hocus Pocus 2’: Doug Jones Shares Closer Look at New Billy Butcherson Design

    Just yesterday, executive producer Adam Shankman revealed that the Halloween classic revival of Hocus Pocus has just finished production. The project will see the return of the original Sanderson sisters, Bette Milder, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimiy. Yet, they aren’t the only ones as Doug Jones is also making his return as the zombie Billy Butcherson. Outside of a single set photo of the sisters flying, we sadly never got a good look at his updated take on the character. Luckily, as production has wrapped, the actor has shared a closer look on his Twitter featuring him in full Butcherson make-up.

    https://twitter.com/actordougjones/status/1488583087168516099

    It certainly looks like they stuck to his original design for the most part. He’s wearing a jacket that hides the rest of his costume, but it does seem like it is mostly the same as the original. The best part of the costume is that he once again gets to do a practical mask to bring the zombie to life, which is a perfect way to pay tribute to the original. Jones is famous for his work on bringing various monsters to life through practical prosthetics and it’s great to see him return to one of the roles that put him on the map.

    Source: Twitter

  • Tom Holland Confirms Conversations are Ongoing for MCU’s ‘Spider-Man 4’

    Tom Holland Confirms Conversations are Ongoing for MCU’s ‘Spider-Man 4’

    After the massive success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, there has been a lot of anticipation about what the future may have in store for the web-slinger. The franchise’s main star, Tom Holland, has been quite coy on if he would even return, but Marvel Studios’ CEO Kevin Feige confirmed that they are already working on a fourth entry in the franchise. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, he confirms that discussions have started on the next entry while he is busy promoting Uncharted.

    We’ve had conversations about the potential future of Spider-Man, but at the moment they are conversations. We don’t know what the future looks like.

    Tom Holland

    The actor highlighted that he believes talks are currently happening between Feige, Sony’s Tom Rothman, and producer Amy Pascal, but that he doesn’t know where exactly they are with it, as he currently is “not really thinking about the future.” He goes on to highlight his current way ot handling the situation with No Way Home‘s success.

    I’m still riding the wave of the success of the film and enjoying that.

    Tom Holland

    It makes sense the two companies are following up on the film’s success by taking a look at how they can continue the story. Feige is no stranger to planning quite a bit in advance. So, he may already have some plans for how they might potentially tackle the project. Though, with director Jon Watts moving on to Fantastic Four, they may already be considering who might be the perfect choice to tackle the next trilogy.

    Source: Entertainment Weekly

  • RUMOR: ‘Eternals’ Don Lee May Film a New Marvel Studios Project in the Summer

    RUMOR: ‘Eternals’ Don Lee May Film a New Marvel Studios Project in the Summer

    It looks like an Eternal might be making a grand return in the near future, as the site allkpop is reporting that Ma Dong Suk, also known as Don Lee to Western fans, is returning to the United States to film an unknown project. He originally played the character of Gilgamesh in the film, and it seems that he’ll return to take on the role in the unnamed project.

    The actor is currently busy promoting his Korean film Wilderness before heading out in the summer. He has hinted in the past that he would potentially return, similar to a statement by Selma Hayek confirming she signed on for multiple films. So, we might see the members of the Eternals film make their return throughout multiple projects, as we still haven’t received a confirmation for a sequel.

    Of course, fans of the film might question how he may make a return after his fate in the 2021 Marvel film. There’s a chance he may make an appearance before the snap, as his death in Eternals doesn’t take place until after Thanos’ defeat at the hands of the Avengers. Yet, as they are artificial begins, he may make his return as a new version of the character that doesn’t have the same memories. Whatever it may be, it’s great that he may have a future with the franchise.

    Source: allkpop

  • ‘Dune’s Legendary Sells Minority Stake to Apollo

    ‘Dune’s Legendary Sells Minority Stake to Apollo

    Legendary Entertainment has seen a strong rebound during the pandemic, as their latest releases Dune, Enola Holmes, and Godzilla vs. Kong left a good impression, especially since the latter was the first to revive the box office during its March release. Yet, the company has been open to potentially sell or even merging with other companies back in July. It seems that they found a buyer, as Legendary has sold a minority stake of its company to the equity firm Apollo for $760M. However, no official statement has been made on how large that equity stake will be. CEO Josh Grode had the following to say on their sale:

    We didn’t need to do this now. We have a significant amount of cash on our balance sheet.” The influx of funding from Apollo “positions us for what we believe is the future, which is a lot of M&A opportunities.

    Josh Grode

    The company was first purchased back in 2016 by Wanda for $3.5 billion and went on to produce some strong box office franchises. Dune made quite a splash at the box office last year and they’ve made some strong deals with streamers to extend their IPs through other means, such as the recent announcement of an Apple TV+ series that explores the aftermath of 2014’s Godzilla. It seems they have also considered a full takeover, but decided against it. Besides its film offerings, Legendary also consists of a comic book, VR, licensing, and merchandising divisions.

    Source: Deadline

  • MALTA FILM WEEK: ‘Jurassic World Dominion’s Colin Trevorrow Teases Huge Malta Action Sequence

    MALTA FILM WEEK: ‘Jurassic World Dominion’s Colin Trevorrow Teases Huge Malta Action Sequence

    Jurassic World Dominion is still a few months off until it releases in June and director Colin Trevorrow has been busy working on the film. Still, he took some time to attend the Malta Film Awards and gave a live Q&A during a screening of his first film, Safety Not Guaranteed. There, he discussed his work on the latest Jurassic World entry, as he filmed a sequence in the country. He was asked about what advice he could offer the countries’ aspiring filmmakers, where he went on to praise the local talent and how they helped bring a sequence to life.

    There’s a massive sequence with dinosaurs running around the streets of Malta that you’re going to see in six months and it’s pretty crazy. We’re really happy with it, really proud. […] What I am proud of is that we shot Malta for Malta. It says Malta on the screen and everyone knows that it’s here and I think you should prepare for a generation of children to associate Malta with dinosaurs.

    Colin Trevorrow

    It certainly sounds like quite the undertaking to have dinosaurs take over an entire city. The name of the city wasn’t explicitly stated, but it’s very likely that it took place in Valletta. It’ll be interesting to see how the dinosaurs managed to find their way to the island of Malta. At the end of Fallen Kingdom, we saw them escape into the wild from one facility but it’s uncertain just how much they’ve managed to spread across the world. Empire revealed an image some time ago of Chris Pratt being chased by a raptor, which may be part of this very sequence.

    EMPIRE Reveals New 'Jurassic World: Dominion' Atrociraptor Image & Details! | Jurassic Outpost

    Having walked through the streets of Malta – sadly, production has already wrapped by the time the cinematic event started – the narrow streets offer a lot of potential for close escapes from the dangers the dinosaurs may offer. We also don’t know which ones are involved, but a herd of Stegosaurus may become quite dangerous if they start piling up through the streets. It’ll be exciting to see the sequence once the film releases later this year.

    Source: YouTube, Empire

  • ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Earlier Drafts Featured More Matt Murdock

    ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Earlier Drafts Featured More Matt Murdock

    There were a lot of exciting moments in Spider-Man: No Way Home. In the earliest scenes, we get a cameo by Charlie Cox, who made his grand return as Matt Murdock. The film’s writers, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers recently appeared in an episode of The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith. They revealed that they initially planned to feature the blind lawyer in more scenes, but wanted to keep a stronger focus on Spider-Man.

    Ultimately, we always had to pull back on a lot of things to just make sure we maintained our focus.

    Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna

    It does make sense that they wouldn’t want to add more to the already massive film. With appearances from Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, familiar villains from Spider-Man‘s cinematic history, and Doctor Strange, the fact he even appeared seems like a miracle. Even if we only got one scene featuring the character, it was quite the memorable one with his “I’m a very good lawyer” line.

    Of course, we hope to see more of Cox‘s character in the near future, as Marvel Studios starts to embrace the Netflix characters. We don’t know what the future has in store, but they might have some big plans for the fan-favorite characters. Here’s hoping they might reveal at some point if we might’ve even seen Murdock suit up as Daredevil at one point in the film#s production.

    Source: Spotify via Twitter

  • RUMOR: Marvel Studios May Have Plans for Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster After ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    RUMOR: Marvel Studios May Have Plans for Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster After ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    Thor: Love and Thunder is only a few more months away, as we get our first fourth entry in an MCU franchise. Chris Hemsworth returns as the mighty God of Thunder will explore the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame, as he flew out into space with the Guardians of the Galaxy. That’s not all, as we’ll also get the grand return of Natalie Portman, who left the franchise after a frustrating experience with Thor: The Dark World. It seems that Marvel Studios hopes to make up for that and has some bigger plans for her character

    Director Taika Waititi somehow managed to convince her to return, as he proudly announced during San Diego Comic-Con that she’ll take on the mantle of Mighty Thor in the upcoming sequel. Geeks Worldwide’s KC Walsh seemingly adds to a statement by leaker @MyTimetoShineH that there are plans to give Portman her own solo project after Love and Thunder releases.

    https://twitter.com/TheComixKid/status/1487460350119211011

    It would make sense given how many characters getting introduced as of late are legacy characters, and it would be interesting to explore Jane’s newfound power after the events of the film. Of course, it does make you wonder what it might mean for Hemsworth‘s time with the character. In December, he did hint that he may be slowly losing interest and this would be a way for him to pass on the mantle. For now, we still need to take it as a rumor but will see what the future has in store once Thor: Love and Thunder drop in July.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘The Boat’ and ‘Blood on the Crown’ Are the Big Winners at the First-Ever Malta Film Awards

    ‘The Boat’ and ‘Blood on the Crown’ Are the Big Winners at the First-Ever Malta Film Awards

    It was a big week in Malta, as they had their first-ever Malta Film Awards. The country was shaped by its history with Hollywood, such as it is the main country where Ridley Scott filmed Gladiator and the fact it’ll soon be featured in Colin Trevorrow‘s Jurassic World: Dominion. We had the honor of flying down to the island and participating in the event, which was hosted by comedian David Walliams. The award ceremony was, naturally, focused primarily on national talent and productions but there was also some love offered to those that put the market on the Hollywood map. The big winner of the night was The Boat, a thriller by Joe and Winston Azzopardi.

    There were quite a few winners, as Davide Ferrario‘s Blood on the Crown dominated the night with Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Musical Score, and Best Production Design. Harvey Keitel even won the award for Best Male Actor in a Leading Role for his work on the film. There were also some awards handed out to celebrate Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe‘s contribution to the country, who appeared through some heartwarming pre-recorded videos. Crowe especially went all out, as he showcased that he still owns Maximus’ ring from his time on Gladiator.

    Director Colin Trevorrow has even been awarded the first Malta Film Commissioner’s Award for his work on Jurassic World: Dominion, where the island is set to make an appearance as itself and not just as a filming backdrop for another country. The two-hour event was filled with a high production value, many local stars sharing their excitement about the future, and their hope to establish this as a yearly event.

    Source: Malta Film Awards