Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movies

  • ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Still on Track to Release This Year

    ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Still on Track to Release This Year

    Another earnings call has arrived from Disney, which tends to mostly give us some small glimpses of how projects are being developed. They tend to not reveal any big news, but it seems that Disney CEO Bob Chapek has made one statement regarding an upcoming Marvel Studios project. He has revealed that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is still on track to hit its November release this year, as shared by Decider’s Alex Zalben on Twitter.

    To be fair, he only states it’s “on pace to come out this year” which could still see a potential delay from its November 11th release date. The reason for some concerns came due to the troubled production earlier this year, as an injury forced them to delay the production. Luckily, Letitia Wright, who was injured during production, was able to return to finish production earlier this year.

    It’s a relief to know that the film is still eyeing to stick to its 2022 release, as who knows if it might also lead to some further delays to projects that are connected, such as Ironheart is currently being worked on. Director Ryan Coogler is also working on that project alongside other Wakanda-focused Disney+ series that haven’t been announced yet. So, if work delays on the next Black Panther entry, it could affect those projects as well.

    Source: Twitter

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Doctor Strange 2’s Michael Waldron Teases the Growing Multiversal Threat of MCU’s Phase 4

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Doctor Strange 2’s Michael Waldron Teases the Growing Multiversal Threat of MCU’s Phase 4

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is quite the self-contained story about Strange overcoming his need for control and Wanda accepting to finally let go. Yet, we can’t deny that it also sets up quite a lot of important elements for the franchise moving forward, especially when it comes to the multiverse that is part of the madness.

    The film introduces the concept of Incursions when two realities start colliding with each other and even teases how that ends up looking like when he faces off against a sinister version of himself. Yet, comic readers will quickly realize that the last time we’ve heard about Incursions we were building up to the Secret Wars crossover event. In an interview with our very own Charles Murphy, Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron teases many threats that have been piling on throughout Phase 4.

    And there’s the threat. And it’s out there and now it’s out there. There’s a multiversal threat. In the same way that when the MCU first went cosmic many years ago, there was the teed up threat of Thanos. Now it’s probably a matter of you’re setting up some multiversal threats on the board. Whether it’s Kang, Incursions, whatever. It’ll be interesting to see how all those things come together.

    Phase 4 has been building up not one but multiple big threats that have the multiverse as a common trait. We technically got the Incursions teased in Loki, where we saw a cartoon hinting at an event where multiverses started fighting for dominance. At the core of all these events was Kang the Conqueror, whose Variant we first met in that very Disney+ series. Perhaps Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which will see Jonathan Majors tackle the role and could further set up where

  • EXCLUSIVE: Brother Voodoo Was Never Planned for ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

    EXCLUSIVE: Brother Voodoo Was Never Planned for ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

    Even by Marvel Studios standards, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was a film shrouded in secrecy up until its release. The promise of secrets and surprises mixed with the multiversal nature of the movie led to plenty of rumors and speculations ahead of the release. Now that audiences have had a chance to experience the Doctor Strange sequel, fans are getting plenty of information about the actual contents of the film as well as the process of bringing them to the screen.

    Possibly above all else, fans are debating how the surprise appearances of certain characters, such as the Illuminati, compared to some of the widespread rumors of certain cameos being in Multiverse of Madness. In an exclusive interview with Murphy’s Multiverse, the film’s writer Michael Waldron spoke on the secrecy involved in making the film and the Illuminati.

    But Waldron also spoke on rumors that certain characters from the comics would play major roles or supporting leads in the Doctor Strange sequel that ultimately did not. In particular, the writer discussed the characters of Clea and Jericho Drumm, also known as Brother Voodoo. As we know from the mid-credits scene, Charlize Theron did make a brief and teasing appearance as Clea, but whether or not she was ever meant to be a significant character is unclear. Waldron simply noted that “I think Clea has always been on the table.”

    When asked about the rumor that Jericho Drumm had a role in the film, Waldron revealed that Brother Voodoo was never a part of Multiverse of Madness:

    I think there was definitely a discussion of Jericho Drumm, but never anything that I worked on.

    Michael Waldron

    The speculation that Drumm would make his way to the MCU made—and still makes—plenty of sense. First appearing in Strange Tales #169, the Haitian-born Jericho Drumm left for America to become a psychologist. Upon returning home, he found his brother, Daniel, dying from a spell cast on him. Daniel made Jericho promise to study to become a Houngan, starting his path towards eventually replacing Stephen Strange as the Sorcerer Supreme. We already saw Daniel be killed in the original Doctor Strange as the keeper of the New York Sanctum at the time.

    Alas, Brother Voodoo did not make an appearance in Multiverse of Madness, though his connections to Doctor Strange still make him a strong choice for future stories, including Doctor Strange 3. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now playing in theaters worldwide.

  • Bryce Dallas Howard is Ready To Direct a ‘Star Wars’ Film

    Bryce Dallas Howard is Ready To Direct a ‘Star Wars’ Film

    Disney+ has given us a whole new look into the Star Wars Universe with its original series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Those series have featured multiple episodes directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, for what many fans believe to be some of the best of both shows. For a while now, people have to say Howard deserves a shot a directing a film, we hear have even talked about how she’d be perfect for one and even recently ranked her amongst our top picks for the new Fantastic Four director.

    In an interview with Gizmodo, while promoting her newest film, Jurassic World: Dominion, Bryce Dallas Howard was asked if she was ready to take the reigns of a Star Wars feature film, and it seems like she’s onboard if someone is willing to ask her.

    Oh, my goodness, I think it would take someone asking me.

    Bryce Dallas Howard

    Howard‘s episodes of The Mandalorian are seen as some of the most memorable with “Sanctuary” seeing the first meeting of Dinn Djarin and Cara Dune. In it, the pair band together to defend a village from a group of raiders who’ve taken control of an empire AT-ST. “The Heiress” was another one of her episodes, bringing Bo-Katan and the Night Owls into live-action, previously only seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels.

    But perhaps her most coveted work is in episode 5 of The Book of Boba Fett. In “The Return of The Mandalorian” we see the return of Dinn Djarin as he plans to visit Grogu, but is stopped by Ahsoka Tano in order to help him continue the youngling’s training. The episode also features the first on-screen meeting of Tano and Luke Skywalker, quite the monumental moment for fans of the franchise.

    While there’s no word on a possible project right now for Howard, Star Wars Celebration is rapidly approaching and we will hopefully get some news on the future there.

    Source: Gizmodo

  • Twenty-One Pilots Originally Worked on ‘Top Gun: Maverick’s Soundtrack

    Twenty-One Pilots Originally Worked on ‘Top Gun: Maverick’s Soundtrack

    Here’s a curious surprise, it seems that Twenty-One Pilots was originally meant to work on the soundtrack for Top Gun: Maverick. While many know that Lady Gaga took on that task with her ballad Hold My Hand, we may have gotten a very different soundtrack at an earlier point. The news comes from the Twenty-One Pilots frontman Tyler Joseph, who shared on the radio station KROQ the story, making the claim that it was the film’s main star and producer Tom Cruise who had them kicked off the project after already signing on by Paramount Pictures.

    I was working with the music placement person for the new ‘Top Gun’ on writing a new song for them, and then I believe Tom Cruise came in and just fired everyone. You’ve seen that new ‘Top Gun’ thing that he’s got? The trailer has been out for, like, three years, so there’s been a few overhauls, and I was a part of that, so, they moved on.

    Tyler Joseph

    It’s certainly not unheard of that Cruise has shown his influence over projects, especially a legacy sequel. He also highlighted that he worked on a few scenes to write the original music. So, it’s curious that they got kicked at a later point, highlighting it was around the time he saw the footage.

    It was actually pretty soon after they brought me in to show me parts of the movie and what they were looking for and stuff. Then I got word that there was like a wholesale swap.

    Tyler Joseph

    Lady Gaga took over at that point, but it’s unclear what may have exactly led to that “wholesale swap” as he points out. It’s not great when you start working on a project to suddenly get kicked, but it probably will never be confirmed if it truly was Cruise that got them kicked off the project.

    Source: IndieWire

  • Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively Set to Return for ‘A Simple Favor’ Sequel

    Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively Set to Return for ‘A Simple Favor’ Sequel

    Deadline is reporting that Lionsgate will be teaming up with Amazon Studios to produce a sequel to one of their most successful projects, A Simple Favor. Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively have been announced to return to the franchise, reprising their roles as Stephanie Smothers and Emily Nelson respectively. As well, respected film and television director Paul Feig is slated to return to helm the follow-up to his independent success with the first film. Jessica Sharzer is also returning to write the sequel’s screenplay in addition to serving as an executive producer for the film.

    2018’s A Simple Favor has been one of Lionsgate’s most successful projects on both a commercial and critical level. The Anna Kendrick-led film turned in a decent-sized financial profit-earning over $97.5M at the box office while also holding an 84% certified fresh rating with Rotten Tomatoes. A Simple Favor is the story of Stephanie (Kendrick), a widower and single mother, who vlogs through the surprising investigation pertaining to the disappearance of her friend Emily (Lively).

    Without getting into specific spoilers, the film left the door open for story opportunities for a hypothetical sequel. And now with the sequel becoming a reality and entering active development, fans of the independent darling will have the opportunity to potentially have some of the unresolved threads of the first film answered.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Pulls in 148.6M Views Within First 24-Hours

    ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Pulls in 148.6M Views Within First 24-Hours

    Avatar: The Way of Water just released its first trailer and already made quite the splash in the film market, as the film managed to garner 148.6M views within its first 24-hours. The announcement comes from Disney and 20th Century which also highlighted that 23M were lone from China. Keep in mind, that this is excluding everyone that watched the trailer in its exclusive theatrical launch alongside Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which made its own mark with $450M worldwide.

    To put it into comparison, the film has managed to pull in more viewers than Black Widow (116.8M), Incredibles 2 (113.1M), and Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker (112.4M). It’s impressive considering the first entry was released in 2009 and people mostly had to go on the promise of multiple sequels being in development. The impressions are certainly positive and will seemingly draw in quite a crowd going by these early numbers. The film will release on December 16th with the return of Sam Worthington‘s Jake Sully and Zoe Saldaña‘s Na’vi Neytiri.

    The original made quite the splash in theaters by becoming a massive hit and taking the top box office spot from director James Cameron‘s other hit, the Titanic. While Avengers: Endgame managed to pass the film’s initial box office success, a sneaky re-release campaign gave it an additional boost to once again claim the top spot. As both franchises are under Disney’s subsidiaries, the company has managed to keep its hands on two very valuable IPs and highlights that they are also all in to give Cameron the time he needed to develop multiple Avatar sequels.

    Source: THR

  • Charlize Theron Shares ‘Doctor Strange 2’ BTS Image to Celebrate Joining the MCU as Clea

    Charlize Theron Shares ‘Doctor Strange 2’ BTS Image to Celebrate Joining the MCU as Clea

    It was exciting when we got our first look at the many members o the Illuminati throughout our time with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Yet, the film gave us one last surprise in the form of its post-credit sequence. After a surprisingly go-lucky Strange is wandering the streets, he is suddenly greeted by a mysterious person in the middle of the street. Eagle-eyed viewers instantly recognized the actress Charlize Theron. Comic fans also instantly realized that she is playing the Sorcerer Supreme of the Dark Dimension and Dormammu’s niece, Clea.

    To celebrate joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the actress took to Twitter and shared a small BTS image of her showing off her Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness make-up. In the comics, her costume and design were heavily focused on the color purple and it was great seeing those elements remain in their translation into live-action. Sadly, she didn’t give us a full look at the costume she wore in the post-credit sequence, which seemingly took a lot of elements from across the character’s vast comic history.

    It does seem like they are setting her up as a big part of the third entry of the Doctor Strange franchise, but we don’t have an official announcement on it even happening. They may even head out into the Dark Dimension in a different film altogether, but the fact she’s pretty much signed on is an exciting one either way. Her appearance was quite the treat for viewers, and hopefully will be the first of many appearances moving forward for the actress in the MCU.

    Source: Twitter

  • New ‘Doctor Strange 2′ Funko Leaks Reveals First Look at Dead Strange’s Funko’

    New ‘Doctor Strange 2′ Funko Leaks Reveals First Look at Dead Strange’s Funko’

    A new leak has made its way online that reveals part of the next Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Funko Pops. While we’ve gotten the tease of Sinister Strange in the past, this lineup includes our first look at the fittingly named Dead Strange, who we initially expected to be a zombified version of the character from the multiverse. It also includes America Chavez, who takes on a new role by the end of the film which was originally going to even lead into Spider-Man: No Way Home until the release dates got shuffled around.

    The additional reveal is Captain Carter, who already had one from her appearance in the What If…? series. Yet, the fact that an Illuminati member is getting a Funko could mean that the others aren’t too far behind, which would be some exciting additions to any collection. The fact they added the iconic ponytail and nightmare cape consisting of beings from hell just adds that extra flair to once again highlight just how insane the whole concept was when it happened in the film.

    If there’s already packaging out there, it means the official announcements shouldn’t be too far out. We still have to wait a bit until we get a clearer look at their designs, but it’s a fun tradition to explore new Funko Pops with each new Marvel series. We’ll see if the rest are also going to get announced at some point, as it would seem strange not to make use of the biggest cameos in the film for those interested to add to their collection.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Writer on Working With John Krasinski to Bring Mr. Fantastic to Life

    ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Writer on Working With John Krasinski to Bring Mr. Fantastic to Life

    While the Illuminati have been heavily teased throughout the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailers, a latter one getting a little too spoiler happy, they still managed to keep surprised when John Krasinski showed up on the screen as Mr. Fantastic. He’s been a fan favorite to take on the role for quite some time, and people finally got their wish even if Wanda turned him into string cheese. Doctor Strange writer shared what it was like working with the actor to bring the character to life.

    I’m not involved in the casting, but as with all of these performers, I worked really closely with him in bringing that character to life with him and Sam. And especially on that one, because that was the one character that had no real precedent ever in the MCU, at least. Figuring out how we want this guy to be — that was a lot of fun. That particular character is certainly one of my favorite comic book characters.

    Michael Waldron

    In the same interview with Variety, he hints that it was Kevin Feige that made the necessary calls to make this dream casting a reality. When asked though if he might have any idea if we’ll see him return in the role at some point, all he could really answer was that:

    It’s a question for somebody else

    Michael Waldron

    Of course, he’s not responsible for castings, and with Jon Watts exiting the Fantastic Four project, there are a lot of opportunities to let him bring the role to life. Of course, they may have a better chance this time around of actually exploring the character with the rest of the Fantastic family. Our very own Torjborn Frazier made his case for him continuing the role, which you can check out by clicking here.

    Source: Variety