Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movie News

  • ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Opens to Inauspicious Reviews from Cannes

    ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Opens to Inauspicious Reviews from Cannes

    Harrison Ford‘s swan song as Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Junior has been the source of significant buzz since it was revealed that James Mangold was brought on board to helm the film. Trailers and promotional material for the film continued to generate excitement for the film ahead of its June 30th wide release; however, after debuting at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, the film’s place in the franchise is already being called into question.

    While it’s not all doom and gloom for the fifth entry in the series, early reviews that have been made available via Rotten Tomatoes will certainly cause some concern. Though it’s currently just a small sample size of 26 reviews, only 50% of those who have reviewed the film have had primarily positive things to say about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

    (L-R): Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

    While it’s not typically the kind of fare that debuts at Cannes, it is a bit shocking that Ford’s farewell to the character has been so harshly hit. Obviously, at 50%, it’s currently split right down the middle in terms of positive and negative reviews; however, even some of the more positive takes on the film echo some of the negative review’s concerns. Though AwardsWatch’s Ben Rolph calls Dial of Destiny “a thrilling, action-packed swan song for the iconic character“, the Playlist’s Robert Daniels firmly states that “some relics should just stay buried,” calling into question if the new film was necessary. “The jokes, the zest and the exuberance just aren’t there,” said BBC’s Nicholas Barber, adding to that narrative, “so instead of a joyous send-off for our beloved hero, we get a depressing reminder of how much livelier his past adventures were.”

    Fortunately, most critics, including Geoffrey Macnab from the Independent, are quick to praise the film’s star in his last turn as Indy. “Harrison Ford is the hero of the hour. He never loses either his scowl or his doggedness. He plays even the flimsiest scenes with conviction and dry humour. His performance carries the movie.” Rolph, who gave the film a B score, added that Ford’s performance in Dial of Destiny is “a fitting end to one of cinema’s greatest action heroes, and one of the most iconic roles of his career, with this film.” With the film set to be screened at least a few more times ahead of its premiere, the Rotten Tomatoes score will certainly change. The only question is whether or not that will be for the best.

    Source: Rotten Tomatoes

  • ‘Mortal Kombat’ Sequel Finds its Jade in ‘You’ Star

    ‘Mortal Kombat’ Sequel Finds its Jade in ‘You’ Star

    Simon McQuoid is back in the director’s chair for the Mortal Kombat sequel. The film will pick up where the last one ended, as the team heads out towards the actual tournament that wasn’t really touched upon in the first film. While we recently heard Karl Urban has been in final negotiations to play the role of Johnny Cage, it seems one more iconic character is set to return.

    The Hollywood Reporter has unveiled that Tati Gabrielle, who appeared in You and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, has joined the sequel to the 2021 streaming hit. She’ll take on the role of Jade, who is the bodyguard of Princess Kitana in the original gaming series.

    For now, Jessica McNamee and Josh Lawson are expected to reprise their roles from the original. It’s uncertain who else might join as of now and what direction the story might take. It’ll likely take some cues from Mortal Kombat 2 and 3 given how much ground they will try to cover with this storyline.

    For now, we can only speculate as there has also been no mention of Hiroyuki Sanada returning as the iconic Scorpion. His bout with Sub-Zero was the highlight of the first film and there’s still a lot more story left to tell going into a sequel. Of course, he’s not technically the “main” character but was a big draw to many fans even with the gaming franchise. He was the highlight of the poster so it’ll be interesting to see if they try not to be too dependent on him.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • BTS Video Provides the Best Look Yet at Sam Wilson’s Underwhelming New Costume in ‘Captain America 4’

    BTS Video Provides the Best Look Yet at Sam Wilson’s Underwhelming New Costume in ‘Captain America 4’

    As page-to-screen adaptations go, the first Captain America costume Sam Wilson sported in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is truly about as good as it has gotten for Marvel Studios. Pulling off a white costume goes against one of the old-school principles of costume design, but Michael Crow and his crew were more than up to the challenge, putting Anthony Mackie into one of the MCU’s best costumes. As production continues on Captain America: New World Order, it seems the studio decided they could not leave well enough alone and, as seen in previous set photos, decided to craft a new, more traditional Captain America costume for Mackie’s Wilson. Those low-resolution set photos only caught bits and pieces of the suit but now a new behind-the-scenes video has provided a little better look at the new drip.

    The video comes from footage taken at Atlanta’s Brown Airport by the same user who has provided the first looks at Wilson’s suit, Danny Ramirez‘s Joaquin Torres’ Falcon suit and WWE Superstar Seth Rollins‘s Serpent Society villain and looks as though it’s been taken during a stunt rehearsal.

    While it’s still a low-resolution look, it’s by far the best look yet at Sam’s new suit…and it’s uninspiring. Gone are the white accents on the chest, shoulders and sleeves and the result is what looks like Sam borrowed one of Steve Roger’s old costumes. Let’s hope that Sam’s other suit is just at the cleaners during this scene and this isn’t the new look for the all-new, all-different Captain America.

  • 2 Familiar X-Men Set to Return for ‘Deadpool 3’

    2 Familiar X-Men Set to Return for ‘Deadpool 3’

    It looks like we have some familiar faces returning for Deadpool 3. Even while Shawn Levy is taking over directing duties and the film is set to be produced by Marvel Studios, the franchise is still continuing from its 20th Century Fox roots, as Ryan Reynolds continues to build upon what the previous two Deadpool entries set up. Now, we have the confirmation that we’ll have two familiar faces from the X-Men that were introduced in previous films.

    Brianna Hildebrand is back to once again play Negasonic Teenage Warhead, the mutant we first met during her traineeship under Colossus in the first Deadpool film. She’ll be joined by Shioli Kutsuna, who played her girlfriend Yukio, a Japanese mutant. We sadly didn’t spend too much time with Yukio outside of a few scenes so it would be great if this new film will give her a bit more to do.

    Reynolds, Levy, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, and Zeb Wells all had a hand in writing the script for the third Deadpool film. We’re seeing Marvel Studios return to some old habits of adapting its various projects with the help of a variety of writers to help bring the script together. It’ll be produced by Kevin Feige and while plot details are still tightly kept under wraps, we do know that we have a few franchise veterans returning, such as Rob Delaney, Morena Baccarin, Karan Soni, Leslie Uggams, and Stefan Kapicic.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Fast X’s Box Office Projections Hinting at a Strong International Bow

    ‘Fast X’s Box Office Projections Hinting at a Strong International Bow

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has given Marvel Studios one of its best second weekends in a long-time, hoping to secure a bit more positive momentum for the franchise moving forward after bigger drops throughout the last year. Its first real competition is about to arrive with Fast X, the latest entry in the Fast & Furious franchise. While some have been praising it online, Fast X has opened to a soft 60% reviews on Rotten Tomatoes from critics.

    With a soft start critically, it seems that projections for its box office opening are a bit mellow going in, at least domestically. Projects have the film opening around $65M, which is quite a bit lower than what you’d expect from the tenth entry of a major film franchise. It would place it slightly lower than F9: The Fast Saga which opened to $70M during the pandemic back in 2021.

    Though, these films have a knack for massive international appeal. Current projects say that domestically it may only be around $60M but international release might go haywire at $235M. As such, it would be the third-best global release for the franchise. That also would put the film in similar shoes like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Twilight Saga: New Moon’s openings.

    What is pushing the film is opening in 81 markets including the always highly coveted China release While the market has been unreliable for Western releases, it still surprised many in how it’s currently pushing Guardians 3’s box office, which is still set to make around $33M if it keeps up the strong word-of-mouth. There’s a chance that it might also still keep some of its audience and keep Fast X at bay, but the weekend will tell.

    Source: Box Office Pro, Deadline, Rotten Tomatoes

  • New Set Video Offers First Glimpse at Stitch’s Design in Live-Action ‘Lilo & Stitch’

    New Set Video Offers First Glimpse at Stitch’s Design in Live-Action ‘Lilo & Stitch’

    Ever since director Dean Fleischer Camp joined the production of a live-action Lilo & Stitch film, it seems like production has kickstarted into overdrive. Not too long after the first castings came out, production already started and now we seemingly have our first set video find its way online. While we don’t get a look at the cast, there’s one familiar face involved.

    In the video shared by @reelnewshawaii, they are seemingly filming a beach sequence. A group is driving out with a camera, but what stands out is what one of them has in their hand. If you look closely, it seems like they are working with the stand-in for Stitch going by the body shape and ears.

    While we don’t get a close-up shot of the stand-in, it does seem pretty close to what we got from the character in the original animated feature. So, it seems like they will be sticking to that original design quite closely rather than making any major changes to what he looked like.

    Of course, the stand-in doesn’t necessitate that they’ll truly stick to the design, but they might go down the route of Pinocchio, which had the exact same design but mostly adapted his design from the original animated film but with more added texture. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what he’ll look like once they start promoting the film.

    Source: Twitter

  • New ‘Captain America 4’ Set Pics Provide First Looks at New Costumes for Two Heroes

    New ‘Captain America 4’ Set Pics Provide First Looks at New Costumes for Two Heroes

    Marvel Studios loves a good costume change for their heroes. Even if subtle, changes to costumes move merchandise from lunchboxes to Marvel Legends and beyond and so it comes as no surprise that with each new appearance, the MCU heroes get new gear. Perhaps the biggest upgrade in the MCU’s history was Sam Wilson’s Vibranium Captain America suit that he sported in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Now, new set photos show Cap has another new suit and so does his new sidekick.

    Set photos from Captain America: New World Order show Anthony Mackie‘s Sam sporting a more “true blue” Captain America suit while Danny Ramirez‘s Joaquin Torres looks to be stepping out in a comic-accurate costume, his first “super suit.”

    The best look at the new Captain America suit comes courtesy of the same Twitter account that provided the first look at WWE Superstar Seth Rollins‘ Serpent Society character (presumably Cobra) on set. The new suit incorporates Sam’s chest logo into a more traditional Captain America color scheme, aka blue.

    Another, albeit low-resolution, look at Sam’s new suit comes complete with a hint of Torres’ new costume. After having been handed the Falcon wings at the end of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, it seems Torres is ready to suit up as The Falcon.

    Though it’s just a glimpse from the rear, the Falcon suit seems to at least share the same color scheme as the suit Torres first sported in 2016 in Nick Spencer‘s Sam Wilson: Captain America #6 which ended an arc that saw Sam take on…the Serpent Society.

    Given that principal photography on Captain America: Probably-No-Longer-Sub-titled-New World Order has just about a month left to go, its possible that these set photos are from a fairly major second act battle between Cap and Falcon and the Serpent Society, though not all parts of all projects are filmed in order. Whatever the case, you can start saving up for that Cap 4 wave of Marvel Legends right now.

    Sources: Twitter and IG

  • Disney Plus Reveals Where ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’ Falls on the MCU Timeline

    Disney Plus Reveals Where ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’ Falls on the MCU Timeline

    After becoming available for purchase as physical media on May 16th, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania was added to Disney Plus on May 17th. The third film in the Ant-Man series kicked off Marvel Studios Phase 5 by introducing Jonathan Majors‘ Kang the Conqueror and taking the Ant-Family into the Quantum Realm for a mind-bending B-movie adventure. But with all the time wimey shenanigans that come with spending time in the sub-atomic universe, where exactly do the adventures of Scott, Hope, Cassie, Janet and Hank take place on the MCU timeline?

    Thankfully, for fans who enjoy trying to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe chronologically, Disney Plus continues to have you covered. As expected, the events of Quantumania take place AFTER Thor: Love and Thunder, Werewolf By Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special meaning the threequel is set farther into the future than any MCU project to date.

    Thanks to Scott Lang Easter eggs planted in Ms. Marvel and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it can be deduced that Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is set in 2025. That idea is something backed up by Marvel Studios Parliament member Nate Moore, who indicated that Quantumania takes place “potentially concurrent” with Thor: Love and Thunder.

    Yeah I mean, look if you think about… 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 on where the events of Quantumania fall on the MCU timeline

    Truly, with an unknown amount of time passing between the beginning and end of Quantumania, it’s hard to nail down exactly what MCU events transpired during the time the Ant-Family was in the Quantum Realm. Fortunately, Marvel Studios The Marvel Cinematic Universe An Official Timeline, “the definitive, filmmaker-endorsed guide to the lore, timelines, and characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe”, will be released in December 2023 and, hopefully, clear up some of the muddied waters of the official timeline.

    Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is now streaming on Disney Plus.

  • ‘Doctor Strange’ Star Chiwetel Ejiofor Joins Cast of ‘Venom 3’

    ‘Doctor Strange’ Star Chiwetel Ejiofor Joins Cast of ‘Venom 3’

    The multiverse is a murky place. Despite Tom Hardy‘s Eddie Brock crossing over into the Marvel Cinematic Universe–and leaving a piece of his symbiote there–the actor behind one of the MCU’s fairly major recurring characters has joined the cast of Venom 3.

    While it’s entirely unclear why a third film in the Venom franchise is being made, Deadline is reporting that Doctor Strange and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star and Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor has joined the cast of Venom 3. There’s no word who Ejiofor will be playing in the film though the trade report referred to him as a co-star.

    Production on the threequel is expected to start this summer though the film is currently without a release date. Kelly Marcel, who co-wrote the film with Hardy, will direct the new installment in the series, taking the reigns from Andy Serkis.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Headed to Disney Plus in June

    ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Headed to Disney Plus in June

    The top global box office hit of 2022 will finally hit Disney Plus next month. Via Empire, Disney has revealed that Avatar: The Way of Water will be available on their streaming service on June 7th.

    James Cameron‘s long awaited sequel raked in over $2.3B worldwide in 2022, earnings the top spot at the box office over a competitive field including Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic Park: Dominion which both totalled over $1B.

    The film has been available as digital media since March 28th but this marks the first time audiences will be able to watch it at home for no additional cost.

    Source: Empire