Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movie News

  • Kevin Feige Addresses Harry Styles’ MCU Future

    Kevin Feige Addresses Harry Styles’ MCU Future

    It’s been just over two years since a post-credit scene from Eternals revealed Harry Styles and Patton Oswalt had joined the MCU as Starfox and Pip the Troll, respectively. As is often the case with Marvel Studios, the appearance of the two came with the unspoken promise of further adventures which, to date, have yet to occur or even be addressed. Eternals wasn’t especially well-received and between some changes to the inner workings at Marvel Studios and a pair of strikes that have greatly impacted production, there’s hardly been a deluge of news on future projects which has left some fans asking what future, if any, Styles’ character might have.

    During the premiere of The Marvels, ET asked Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, if he could shed some light on when fans might see Starfox again.

    “He’s excited. We’re excited. We will see,” said Feige of Styles. “You introduce a lot of new characters in a lot of movies and a lot of tags. Where do the tag folk reappear? That’s a good question.“

    While it’s not the first time Feige has addressed when Styles might reappear, he’s still not giving much of an answer here. As is the case with most of the Eternals, there’s no clear-cut path for Starfox to have further adventures within in the ongoing Multiverse Saga. Many of the character’s common comic book companions are no longer involved in the MCU which means like many characters who have made the jump from page to screen, whatever adventures await Starfox are likely to be original ones. Additionally, it’s very likely that the MCU version will mostly be Starfox in name only as he’ll almost certainly undergo major changes from his troublesome comic book counterpart.

  • Early Reactions Call ‘The Marvels’ “Crazy” and a Fun Time at the Movies, Praise Iman Vellani

    Early Reactions Call ‘The Marvels’ “Crazy” and a Fun Time at the Movies, Praise Iman Vellani

    Ahead of its wide release this weekend, The Marvels screened for select members of the media across the globe and at its own red carpet premiere yesterday. While the film is currently tracking to have a woeful opening weekend, there’s some hope that positive reviews and word of mouth may give it a boost. While full reviews are embargoed a bit longer, first reactions have hit social media and are–to nobody’s surprise–overwhelmingly positive.

    The short run time is a big seller…

    One of the dumbest social media trends of our time is to prejudge projects based on their runtime. The Marvels is officially the shortest entry in the MCU’s long history…and nobody that has seen it is complaining.

    Iman Vellani is the truth…

    Anyone who watched Marvel Studios Disney Plus streaming series Ms. Marvel knows how wonderful Iman Vellani was as Kamala Khan. It seems nothing has changed on that front.

    https://twitter.com/heylarry/status/1722120709680361743

    There’s some crazy surprises…

    Apparently, director Nia DaCosta understood the assignment and made sure to pack the short runtime with a wild surprise or two.

    https://twitter.com/heylarry/status/1722121587342594065

    It’s not all good….

    Though it sounds like it’s no fault of Zawe Ashton’s, the film’s villain, Dar-Benn, seems to be a Phase 2 level miss.

  • Wes Ball to Direct Live-Action Adaptation of ‘The Legend of Zelda’

    Wes Ball to Direct Live-Action Adaptation of ‘The Legend of Zelda’

    You read that right, it has finally been announced. Nintendo is developing a live-action adaptation of The Legend of Zelda. After the success of their animated adaptation of Super Mario Bros. many expected them to stick to their deal with Illumination. Yet, it seems they are going live-action with one major Nintendo franchise after all.

    In the official announcement, the film will be produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and Avi Arad, who is most famous for his work on the Spider-Man films. It seems they also have a director in Maze Runner’s Wes Ball, whose next major release Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes just recently got its first trailer.

    According to Miyamoto, he’s already been working on this adaptation for many years with Avi Arad and it is now officially starting development. So, this isn’t a first kick-off announcement but the confirmation that they are getting ready to start progressing on the project. However, they still highlight that it’ll take time until it is finished and until we’ll likely get the next update on the film.

    Source: Nintendo, Twitter

  • ‘The Marvels’ Projected for Weak $140M Worldwide Opening

    ‘The Marvels’ Projected for Weak $140M Worldwide Opening

    Currently, projections are down for The Marvels given that the presales didn’t pick up much speed over the course of the last few weeks. It remains a surprise that Marvel Studios didn’t risk pushing the project back further given the current climate and uncertainty surrounding the SAG-AFTRA strike ending anytime soon and how important the main cast is to the film. Yet, it could also be that pushing it back again would’ve made the project even more expensive moving forward.

    Initial local projections went from $60M down to $50M, though some even had it at a potential $70M – $80M. BoxOfficePro has also lowered expectations at a potential $45M to $65M opening weekend with a domestic total of $109M. That would put it on track where The Flash ended up and could mean that the film will definitely not make up its $250M production budget at the box office alone.

    Is it superhero fatigue? At this point, it doesn’t really matter what it is as the box office in general is struggling. Five Nights at Freddy’s second weekend plummeted in the worst weekend we’ve seen in a long time after a big frontloading by fans. It had a strong forecast going by early presales which is why The Marvels is currently faltering as it seemed to not pick up any pace in the earlier weeks, but also hasn’t had a lot of output by Marvel Studios or Disney outside of a big final trailer push yesterday.

    The strikes are definitely hurting this film as its main selling point was the trio cast at the forefront, which was a no-show during any of the film promotions. That means no showcase during talk shows, interviews, or anything else one would hope to promote their film with. Even the long-awaited prequel to The Hunger Games is looking at a soft $38M to $50M opening currently. Who knows if this fall is going to be just a depressing reflection of the summer box office?

    Globally, the predictions stand at a $140M opening worldwide, which is on par with what The Flash had in the summer (taking into context an off-season release it hurts just a smidge less than one of the expected biggest blockbuster releases). The big questions in the room are the initial reactions to the film, which are expected to drop some time tonight, and the reviews. As mentioned previously: people are a bit more frugal with their money and after going all-in with Barbenheimer, viewers may be a bit more cautious going into the rest of the year as inflation and the cost of living crisis is a big factor in decision-making nowadays. Plus, if it releases on Disney+ in the coming months it hurts far less than spending upwards of $40 bucks to go to the movies.

    It’s not an excuse and it will stand to reason that The Marvels could potentially end up as the worst box office opening for any MCU release so far. Even lower than Eternals which had to fight off COVID during its initial release, but also benefitted from far fewer releases in theaters. It all depends on those previews as if they open to around $6M on Thursday, the film could face a $40M opening weekend. It all depends on word-of-mouth and reviews ahead of time; something Marvel Studios hasn’t been dependent on in a long time.

    A big point is that men in the age range of 18 to 34 are the key factor for most Marvel releases, but, oddly, expectations are purely on this demographic given the film’s very strong female leads. If the film hits the right cords with its core audience, women between 17 and 34 could make up for that fact as they are closer to what the film is aiming for going by its leads and core demographic. That may also be one of the reasons its unusual presales core audience isn’t really invested given the current (depressing) political climate. Perhaps showing a special trailer ahead of Taylor Swift’s films may turn out as a surprise push for the release. For now, we have to wait and see just a few more days until the numbers give us a clearer picture.

    Source: BoxOfficePro, Deadline, The Numbers

  • ‘Blade’ Director Yann Demange Confirms Rating of the MCU Reboot

    ‘Blade’ Director Yann Demange Confirms Rating of the MCU Reboot

    In the wake of multiple Marvel Studios hit pieces that have made the rounds in the past week, actual news about one of the studio’s most frequently targeted properties has emerged. In an interview with Deadline, director Yann Demange, who replaced Bassam Tariq as the director of Blade in November of 2022, detailed plans for the film, including its rating.

    Since SDCC 2019, when Kevin Feige revealed that the studio was working with Mahershala Ali to bring the Daywalker to the MCU, the film’s rating has been the subject of speculation and debate among fans. While it’s not unheard of for vampire films to be rated PG-13, it’s certainly much more commonplace for them to receive an R-rating. Each of Wesley Snipes‘ Blade trilogy films, which introduced the character to mainstream audiences beginning in the late 1990s, received an R-rating and fans seem to staunchly believe that the MCU’s take on the character needs to be every bit as mature and violent. As it turns out, Demange shares that belief.

    “They gave me the R, which is so important,” said Demange of the rating of the Ali-led reboot. According to the director, part of why that rating was so important to him was because of the singular talent of the project’s star. “We are going to have fun because Mahershala is such a deep actor. I’m excited to show a kind of ruthlessness, a roughness he has, that allows him to walk the earth in a particular way. I love him for that. He’s got a dignity and integrity, but there is a ferocity there that he usually keeps under the surface. I want to unleash that and put it on the screen.“

    Though the film has had its share of issues in pre-production, Marvel Studios renewned committment to ensuring its upcoming projects hold up to the high expectations of the audience should pay dividends…and Blade, depsite all its ups and downs, may end up being the poster child of those efforts. Blade is currently slated to release on February 14th, 2025.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘The Marvels’ Presales Currently Behind ‘The Flash’ and ‘Black Adam’

    ‘The Marvels’ Presales Currently Behind ‘The Flash’ and ‘Black Adam’

    At the current rate, The Marvels‘ may be facing the lowest opening since The Eternals,w which opened to $71.2M during the pandemic. Of course, it’s not definite but the presales are currently tracing behind Black Adam and The Flash according to a new piece by Deadline. It’s the first MCU film truly affected by the strike, as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was still able to promote with its cast before SAG went on strike as well. There’s also the hot debate regarding Marvel and superhero fatigue with the latter showing its fangs with other releases like Blue Beetle, Shazam: Fury of Gods, and The Flash.

    Marvel normally pulls in viewership and has strong openings with bigger drops going into its second weekend. So, it’s unclear if it’ll pick up the pace going into its final week, especially with hopes that the SAG strike is wrapped this weekend and the cast can start promoting the film. Whether that’ll make a major change is a different point of discussion and remains surprising that Marvel Studios has yet to postpone the release.

    Some are pointing to the “homework” aspect which is a hot debate online. It’s hard to believe that those expectations are set by non-online viewers given that we’re introduced to a variety of characters in films for the first time and not everyone watches every single MCU project faithfully.

    Of course, there’s also the potential that current film visits are closer to a “wait and see” approach rather than going all-in with presales. While Five Nights at Freddy’s managed to pull in strong numbers, they were above the initial expectations due to strong word-of-mouth. The same could also go for the MCU’s latest entry. So, all eyes are going to be on those reviews which are also only going to drop shortly before the release. For now, we can only wait until the film releases with the first Thursday preview numbers and its Friday box office hinting at where the film will end.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Facing a Harsh 78% Drop in its Second Weekend

    ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Facing a Harsh 78% Drop in its Second Weekend

    Five Nights at Freddy’s had a record-breaking opening for a horror film, which some believed was the highlight of the continued rise of video game adaptations. While it’ll take some time before people get tired of these adaptations, it seems that fans have front-loaded the latest entry quite a bit. As of now, the horror adaptation is going to have a second weekend at around $17.8M. That would mark a painful 78% drop.

    The weekend is looking to be quite slow in general, especially as Dune Part 2 was delayed from its original release date due to the writer’s strike. Still, it’s not a good sign for day-and-date streaming releases to remain a thing moving forward, but there’s also a good chance that the film generally was frontloaded by fans similar to what we’ve seen with Marvel films throughout the last few years since the pandemic.

    The rest of the weekend isn’t looking too great. Taylor Swift: Eras Tour is still at the second spot with $12M to $15M, which is a stronghold so far. Killers of the Flower Moon dropped to $6.5M which isn’t too bad given it’s initially a streaming release but given its $200M price tag still stings a bit. Priscilla also opens this weekend with a minor release with around $5M, which will put it on the fourth spot.

    Source: Hollywood Reporter

  • Mahershala Ali Almost Left ‘Blade’ Reboot; Added ‘Logan’ Writer

    Mahershala Ali Almost Left ‘Blade’ Reboot; Added ‘Logan’ Writer

    Blade has been Marvel Studios’ one project that isn’t seemingly getting off the ground. While they did announce a while back that Mahershala Ali would play the iconic character many years ago, the film never seems to have a finalized script or even a production start. There was one time it almost got the ball rolling but swiftly had to postpone again.

    It seems a problem is that the story keeps evolving depending on who is writing it after going through at least five writers. There’s a weird phrasing by Variety where they state: “the story at one point morphed into a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons” as if life lessons aren’t a common element in many of these films’ core themes. Yet, who knows where the sentiment came but it would be strange to have Ali’s Blade not be the main character.

    Either way, it seems that the script issues almost led to Ali leaving the project (something that has been hinted at in the past) and Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios’ CEO, has hired Logan writer Michael Green to start from scratch. The upside is that Marvel may be learning from the budget bloats and hopes to make the film with a “smaller” budget of $100M, which may become more common moving forward.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s Heading for Record-Breaking $68M Opening

    ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s Heading for Record-Breaking $68M Opening

    Some might be wondering what makes an opening of $68M record-breaking may have forgotten that horror films may have legs but they aren’t big openers. Five Nights at Freddy’s is the next major video game adaptation of the year that has seemingly kicked off with Thursday night previews of $10.3M. That helped catapult it to a powerful $34M Friday opening and is setting the film on a path to open at around $68M. Word-of-mouth is going to be critical especially with this being a day-and-date release on Peacock.

    That opening is higher than Halloween Kills ($49.9M) and Halloween Ends ($40M). It has now gained the biggest opening weekend for any horror release. It’s the third biggest opening for a video game adaptation; it may still dethrone Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s $72M if word-of-mouth is strong, and it’s even the second biggest Blumhouse opening. It’s also the second largest day-and-date release since Black Widow during the peak of COVID, which opened to $80.3M.

    The film has strong Social Media coverage given how large the fandom surrounding Five Nights at Freddy’s has grown. The film is based on a video game franchise from a single person that started as his final gamble of finding a foot in the industry before it ballooned into one of the biggest horror gaming franchises based on an indie property. The film is facing the usual PostTrak exits of its genre so the weekend hold is going to be interesting moving forward.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Mission Impossible 8’ Delayed by a Year, New Name Potentially

    ‘Mission Impossible 8’ Delayed by a Year, New Name Potentially

    The strikes are turning 2024 into a wasteland at this rate. While some projects were pushed back, the hope that perhaps everything gets cleared in time to promote major releases is becoming a major issue. Marvel Studios is still sticking to its The Marvels release but it’s not been rosy for theaters looking towards the next year, or even 2025.

    Still, it seems Tom Cruise’s next major entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise has been delayed by an entire year as Paramount has also pushed A Quiet Place: Day One back around two months. Seems they are being quite cautious going into next year. The other bizarre decision is that Dead Reckoning Part Two is going to get its own title. That is kind of a weird way to react after already naming the previous one Dead Reckoning Part 1.

    It seems production wasn’t finalized on the film, which has now been bumped back to May 23rd, 2025 from its initial June 28th, 2024 release. There’s also a high expectation of other major releases getting pushed back even further. Even Spongebob Squarepants’ new film has been pushed back to December 19th, 2025, as it gave its release date to Mission Impossible. We’ll have to see what remains of next year’s slate.

    Source: Hollywood Reporter