Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movie News

  • Steven Yeun’s ‘Thunderbolts’ Role Reportedly Revealed

    Steven Yeun’s ‘Thunderbolts’ Role Reportedly Revealed

    Marvel Studios’ search for its “evil Superman” is over if a new round of rumors and reports is to be believed. As work on Thunderbolts progresses ahead of its scheduled June production start, it appears that The Walking Dead star Steven Yeun has landed the role of Robert Reynolds/Sentry.

    Rumors of the involvement of the Sentry in the plot of Thunderbolts have swirled since late Fall of 2022 when a casting call for an “evil Superman” circulated online. After sorting through a few of Marvel’s Superman analogs, Sentry rose to the top of the list of possible choices and additional information from reliable insiders has continued to build the case that he’ll make his MCU debut in the film. Now a slew of reports, including one from The Illuminerdi, all indicate that the 39-year-old Yeun has landed the part, which will make him a key player in the MCU beyond the events of 2024’s Thunderbolts.

    Though Yeun is most well known (and beloved by fans) for his long-running role as Glenn on AMC’s The Walking Dead, should he have landed the role of Sentry it won’t be his first rodeo as a nigh-omnipotent and indestructible hero. Yeun has served as the voice of Mark Grayson, the Viltrumite-human hybrid hero known as Invincible, for 2 seasons of the animated Amazon Prime series Invincible. For all their similarities in terms of powers, however, Sentry and Invincible are far from the same character and stepping into the role of Sentry would provide Yeun an opportunity to explore a character with a much, much darker side. In the comics, that darker side is, in part, due to an entity known as The Void, and that entity is rumored to appear in Thunderbolts as a key part of Sentry’s character arc.

  • Disney+’s ‘Wonder Man’ Logline Hints at Show’s Intended Tone & Time Frame

    Disney+’s ‘Wonder Man’ Logline Hints at Show’s Intended Tone & Time Frame

    While word of a slowdown of the big Marvel Studios machine continues to spread, the company continues to prep several projects for production over the next several months. Among them is the streaming series Wonder Man, created and overseen by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty director Destin Daniel Cretton.

    The show has been on a bit of a fast track since being revealed in a trade report last June; in fact, despite not being part of either of Marvel Studios’ big Summer con presentations (SDCC and D23), Wonder Man is tentatively set to begin principal photography in late March or early April. As such, the series has made quite a bit of news lately as the cast begins to shape up and it’s in the news again now as insider Daniel RPK has unveiled a potential logline for the project

    Wonder Man has been described as a Hollywood satire and the new information from RPK does seem to fall in line with that.

    Based on the character of Wonder Man, one of Marvel’s oldest characters, first introduced in 1964 in the pages of Avengers No 9. Known as Simon Williams, a celebrity actor and stuntman. In a nutshell, it is a story of two actors struggling to make it in the Hollywood of the MCU, [asking] the big question what does Hollywood look like in a world where super heroes are real?

    Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is set to bring Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man, to life and will share the screen with Ben Kingsley who will reprise the role of Trevor Slattery (likely the other struggling actor) in the project. If Slattery is the other struggling actor, it calls into question just where on the MCU timeline it will fall. When last seen, Slattery seemed to have chosen to stay in Ta Lo with fuzzy bestie Morris after having spent the better part of a decade either in prison or as a prisoner of Wenwu after portraying the Mandarin at the behest of Aldrich Killian. However, before taking that job, Slattery was indeed a struggling actor doing things…no two ways about it…in the street that a man shouldn’t do.

    Could part of Wonder Man be set during the Infinity Saga? There’s no reason it couldn’t be and it actually lines up with part of Williams’ villain origin story. In the comics, Simon’s father, Sanford, developed a munitions factory named Williams Innovations. After Sanford’s death, Simon ran the company into the ground as competitors like Stark Industries took its business. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes put an interesting spin on that part of the story by having Tony Stark buy the company much to the disgust of Simon. In either version, the downfall of Williams Innovations drove Simon down the road toward becoming a super-powered villain. This could easily be adapted to the MCU without Robert Downey Jr. needing to appear; on the other hand, Marvel Studios could choose to skip this part of Simon’s story entirely and set it entirely in the present day.

    Whatever the case, MCU fans will have at least a couple of years to wait before they’ll find out. With Marvel Studios looking to spread out their streaming series a bit more, Wonder Man likely won’t hit Disney Plus until early 2025.

    Source: Patreon

  • Nintendo Has Been Heavily Involved With ‘The Super Mario Bros Movie

    Nintendo Has Been Heavily Involved With ‘The Super Mario Bros Movie

    Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath took on the challenge of bringing one of gaming’s biggest mascots to the silver screen with The Super Mario Bros. Movie. While it’s not the first full-length cinematic take on the character and the Mushroom Kingdom, it definitely is the closest we’ve ever gotten to the original gaming franchise. According to the directing duo of Teen Titans Go! fame, Nintendo was involved in every step along the way.

    From story to visual development to the animation, Nintendo has been with us every step of the way.

    Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath

    It’s no surprise given just how protective Nintendo is about its intellectual property, especially the one that pretty much put them on the map. Though, it does seem they are also using this film as a chance to tell his “origin tale” with some inspirations from Mario’s many iterations throughout the years. We get the Boston background from the 1993 film, a teaser with the theme song from the original The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

    It’s a bit of an origin tale. It’s the story of Mario becoming Super Mario.

    Aaron Horvath

    Though, they also wanted to have elements from the players that brought the character to life live in the animated adaptation. As such, they took that inspirational approach of Mario representing the player experience in how he will always succeed as long as you don’t give up.

    When you play the game, if you don’t give up, Mario will succeed. So we transferred that player experience from the game to a characteristic that [movie] Mario would have.

    Aaron Horvath

    It’s definitely a great little way of including the player in one way or another in the film. While we won’t have a chance to control the iconic character ourselves, perhaps we’ll get some cool outfits inspired by the movie for the net game entry, as we haven’t had an announcement since Super Mario Odyssey in 2017

    Source: Total Film

  • ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Directors Reveal Why Chris Pratt was Cast

    ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Directors Reveal Why Chris Pratt was Cast

    Super Mario Bros. Movie hasn’t truly been surrounded by controversy. When we got our first look, the film looked extremely faithful to the original gaming franchise and Nintendo is heavily involved to ensure it’s true to the original. Yet, there was one aspect that had many scratching their head and that was Chris Pratt‘s casting as the main hero.

    What did add to the insanity was that Pratt was also cast as the voice of Garfield, which led to an ongoing meme of him voicing every character in pretty much any animated project. Yet, director Aaron Horvath shares that what sold them on him in the role was that “he’s really good at playing a blue-collar hero with a ton of heart.”

    For us, it made total sense. He’s really good at playing a blue-collar hero with a ton of heart. For the way that Mario is characterised in our film, he’s perfect for it.

    Aaron Horvath

    Some might argue that he’s long grown out of that type of role, but Guardians of the Galaxy did shape Chris Pratt‘s career and the type of characters he’d end up playing. Now, he’s seemingly become the go-to for that typecasting, though he has also shared his love for the franchise during one of the Nintendo Direct’s promoting the film.

    The first trailer did get some criticism for not really showing off Pratt‘s take on the Italian plumber from Boston, but we’ve rarely heard him speak more than a singular line at a time. So, perhaps with more time, we’ll truly see how he brings his iconic accent to life.

    Source: GamesRadar

  • ‘Captain America 4’s Anthony Mackie Shares Marvel Studios’ Extreme Security Measures

    ‘Captain America 4’s Anthony Mackie Shares Marvel Studios’ Extreme Security Measures

    Marvel Studios was once quite famous for bein the most tight-lipped studio in the market. Yet, given their popularity, they’ve also become popular victims to a variety of leakers that not just share minor details on the various films but even let entire storylines find their way online. It’s definitely a frustrating experience as rumors from the earliest stages of the production lead to false expectations based on various rumors.

    Of course, the pandemic saw some of the biggest leaks due to just how long these projects needed to find their way to theaters. So, it’s not too surprising that they are taking much harsher directions to avoid anyone leaking something. Even its titular stars aren’t safe from it, as Anthony Mackie revealed the process of how many steps there are to read his script for Captain America: New World Order.

    Like, today. I literally, I’ll show you the email. I got my script today. Haven’t read it. Haven’t opened it. I haven’t got my passcode to the website that let’s you get to the website. We literally get a passcode to a website that gives us a location to meet the person to sign, to sit with a computer, and read our script.

    Anthony Mackie

    It must be awkward having someone sit there in a corner just waiting for you to finish reading. Mackie, in his usual charm, jokingly shares what the experience is like with this intern supervisor.

    They don’t trust nobody. And it’s always like some 21-year-old intern and he just hates you. You know, he’s sitting there eating Cheetos and he’s like, ‘Read faster,’ you know? And I’m like, ‘I’m dyslexic.’ And he’s like, ‘I don’t care.’ Like it’s, oh, it’s a whole thing

    Anthony Mackie

    Who knows how far they’ve also gone to ensure nothing leaks from the productions moving forward. There were hints that they also restructured their internal approach to test screenings, which some have criticized but showcases just how much the current rumor mill culture also restricts the way these production studios can work.

    Source: Kelly Clarkson Show via The Direct

  • New Funko May Have Unveiled an MCU Original Hero Kahhori for ‘What If…?’ Season 2

    New Funko May Have Unveiled an MCU Original Hero Kahhori for ‘What If…?’ Season 2

    Marvel Studios has mainly focused on adapting existing characters from the choices; sometimes even twisting some familiar faces in new ways like the Scarlet Scarab in Moon Knight. Yet, a new Funko leak may have unveiled a brand new character that could be a Marvel Cinematic Universe exclusive character.

    Instagram user lasvegasfunkoholics has shared a Funko Soda that includes a character named Kahhori. Now, this character seemingly has no connection to an existing one in the comics and seemingly will appear in the upcoming second season of What If…?‘s second season given that another leaked Funko Soda includes Zombie Iron Man and the logo is included.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CpQJnIFp7Uy/

    There are also Soda Funko’s for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as they are seemingly rolling out quite a few MCU-centric Soda Funkos. There will be some confusion of who Kahhori is and if she might also have a role in live-action. There’s also the chance that she might appear in The Marvels or potentially one of the Disney+ shows set to release this year, Secret Invasion and Loki‘s second season.

    Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige has always been open to potentially introducing brand new characters original to the franchise. Agent Coulson may not have been a hero but Clark Gregg‘s iconic character went on to become a fan-favorite and was also even introduced into the comics even before he got his own spinoff series Agents of SHIELD. So, we’ll have to keep an eye out for where Kahhori might appear.

    Source: Instagram, The Direct

  • ‘Creed 3’ Heading for Franchise’s Best Opening

    ‘Creed 3’ Heading for Franchise’s Best Opening

    Michael B. Jordan is set to make his directorial debut in style, as Creed III is heading to theaters this weekend. To no one’s surprise, the film is set to take the weekend with a strong $36M, though with good word-of-mouth it could even go beyond $40M. As such, it’ll likely dethrone Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which beat out a cocaine-fueled bear last weekend.

    It should be noted that this would mark the best opening for the Creed trilogy, as the first opened at $29.6M and its sequel at around $35.5M. The MGM release is also the most expensive film at $75M, so it’ll definitely be interesting to see how far the film goes. It has a good chance to grow to beat the last film’s $214M domestic run. It also marks another big win for Jonathan Majors, who just appeared in Quantumania.

    The Ant-Man threequel is expected to hold on to the second spot with around $16M to $19M, but given its massive drop in the second weekend, for now predictions are more on the pessimistic side due tot he B CinemaScore and PostTrack rating. Though, the film is now performing more like an Ant-Man film than an Avengers-style release that could still give it a bit more momentum for the next few weeks before its biggest direct competition releases in Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

    Guy Ritchie‘s Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is also heading to theaters but is currently only on track for around $5M though it’s unclear if it’ll go higher given it received a more mixed critical reception. We also have Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba: To the Swordsmith Village heading for a strong $7.5M over the weekend. Cocaine Bear and Jesus Revolution are also expected to have decent holds to round out the weekend. Expectations are they’ll hold on to $10M and $8M respectively.

    Source: Variety

  • Fantastic Four and Blade May not Appear in ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’

    Fantastic Four and Blade May not Appear in ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’

    With every Avengers movie, it becomes a big question of who we might see take on a major role in the project. Throughout the last three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was easy to follow the main cast that’ll appear in these films but as the franchise continues to grow, there are many more opportunities to see some new familiar faces.

    Many are excited about the prospects of their favorite characters having a major role in an Avengers film, especially with the more diverse offerings with Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop, Spider-Man, and many more. We also have the upcoming new additions of Blade and the long-awaited Fantastic Four, though it seems that they may not have a role in the next Avengers film, The Kang Dynasty.

    In an interview with Gizmodo, Jeff Loveness revealed that he’s hard at work on The Kang Dynasty and is seemingly actively trying not to have any of the other projects shape his work in some way. As such, he hints that he’ll “probably not even” include the Fantastic Four or Blade in the upcoming Avengers sequel.

    But much like when I took on this Ant-Man job, I can’t really focus on that outside stuff. I have just got to lay down the bones of a good story, hopefully, and find the characters that I want to tell [it]. And then it becomes a game of ping pong with the other people. Like whoever comes on and does Fantastic Four or Blade or—I’m probably not even using those characters, you know—but it all informs itself. And so, you just keep an ear open if [someone says], “Hey, if Blade wants to jump in, go for it, man.” But it’s up to me to focus on my movie and, you know, work with [Michael] Waldron a little bit on his thing to make sure it all kind of makes sense. But I think the second you start looking at the 25 other movies coming out, you get a little lost in the sauce.

    Jeff Loveness

    He does keep the door open and who knows if Marvel Studios might consider some rewrites from Avengers veterans to help find the balance between the various crossovers. Still, it’s great that Loveness stands by his approach to creating a singular story which he also highlighted for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. While it didn’t get the reception as hoped, it still shows he just loves telling a good story.

    Source: Gizmodo

  • ‘Shazam’ Director Teases More is Possible in James Gunn’s New DCU

    ‘Shazam’ Director Teases More is Possible in James Gunn’s New DCU

    The moment James Gunn showcased his new DC slate for the newly founded DC Studios, many expected the current run of DC-based characters to be ending their run. No one knows if Ezra Miller will return after The Flash, especially with all the drama surrounding his public actions. Dwayne Johnson‘s JSA-focused mini-cinematic universe is definitely out after the chaos that was Black Adam. Yet, we now stand at a curious crossroads where many are wondering if they should even check out the latest DC entry.

    Of course, it’s always good to support a film no matter if it’s part of some bigger plan or not. And, for those specifically uncertain about Shazam’s future in the newly founded DCU, director David F. Sandberg has confirmed that he’s already had talks internally in regards to the franchise’s future and there’s actively no reason that they couldn’t make more films. Well, only if no one ends up watching the film.

    https://twitter.com/ponysmasher/status/1630409449860141058

    The only thing potentially hurting Shazam! Fury of the Gods is that it seemingly is not getting any real marketing push from Warner Bros. and is projected to open to a soft $40M. That is a far cry from the first film’s release and it’s unclear if it truly is just the lack of promotion or also the sour taste left by the Black Adam fallout. There’s a chance with raving reviews that it builds up more momentum and could go beyond the soft opening expectations but the question is if it’ll end up turning a profit, especially if DC Studios sees potential in at least a third entry.

    Source: Twitter

  • Warner Bros Wants ‘The Lord of the Rings’ to be Like ‘Star Wars’

    Warner Bros Wants ‘The Lord of the Rings’ to be Like ‘Star Wars’

    In a surprising twist, Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series, Rings of Power, is about to get its biggest competition yet in Warner Bros. Discovery, as they purchased the rights to once again create films based around the iconic novels of J.R.R. Tolkien. While their future is uncertain about where they are going with this new take, it does seem they are once again being quite ambitious.

    According to insiders, it seems that Warner Bros. has high hopes to turn Lord of the Rings into their Star Wars. They seem to ambitiously want to explore stories that all take place in the same world that offer different glimpses of this sprawling fantasy world created decades ago. It’s an ambitious thought, though raises more questions on how exactly they hope to achieve it.

    Unlike Star Wars, they don’t have a galaxy worth of storytelling with a franchise that is steeped in a wide variety of genres. Marvel and DC at least have decades of history with a broad range of characters they can bring to the silver screen, yet Lord of the Rings is mostly famous for two distinct stories.

    So, it would be quite challenging for them to not only find a way to create unique stories that could carry a “Cinematic Universe” approach but also somehow keep this very traditional fantasy story fresh. Warner Bros. is definitely ambitious with this project, but it does raise some eyebrows on how exactly they hope to achieve this even if they bring back the original trilogy’s director, Peter Jackson.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter