Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movies

  • Marvel Studios Makes a Major Change to The Phase One Timeline

    Marvel Studios Makes a Major Change to The Phase One Timeline

    Disney Plus has now added all of Marvel Studios One-Shots to their streaming library, giving fans a chance to relive some of the memorable shorts that once accompanied the home releases of their films. Agent Carter, All Hail the King and more are now streaming on the service and have all been added into the official, chronological viewing order. Interestingly enough, one of the One-Shots has knocked one of Marvel Studios biggest hits out of its place as a bookend to Phase One.

    As you can see from the screenshot, the 2012 One-Shot Item 47, which was released on The Avengers Blu-Ray, is now the official end of Phase One. The 12-minute short, which was heavily tied to ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., starred Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford as a couple who, in the wake of the Battle of New York, find a Chitauri weapon and use it to go on a crime spree. S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents Sitwell and Blake, played by Maximiliano Hernandez and Titus Welliver, respectively, intervene on the couple’s spree and eventually incorporate them into S.H.I.E.L.D.

    While the events of the series were never mentioned again and neither Caplan nor Bradford’s characters were ever seen again, the One-Shot, directed by Louis D’Esposito, led directly to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. getting the green light on ABC. Bob Iger, who was Disney’s CEO at the time, gave the go ahead on AoS after watching Item 47 and the series debuted one year later on the network. Of course, Agents Sitwell and Blake continued on in the series and, in Sitwell’s case, the films with Sitwell dying during the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Blake pretty much just disappearing.

  • Disney Working on Live-Action ‘Aristocats’ Film

    Disney Working on Live-Action ‘Aristocats’ Film

    Disney has been quite obsessed with bringing their many animated projects to live-action. They even made an entirely CG film based on The Lion King, which was still treated as a live-action adaptation due to the photorealism. Yet, they also used real animals for the Disney+ adaptation of Lady and the Tramp It looks like they have set their eyes on another project mostly focused on animals in the form of Aristocats. A new piece has revealed that Will Gluck and Keith Bunin are writing the script for a live-action take on the 1970’s animated film.

    The original story was about a family of cats living in Paris that were thrown out of their home by a jealous butler, as they were set to inherit everything from their wealthy owner. With the help of a tomcat, they make their way home and meet some colorful characters along the way. The project is in very early development but there are hints it’ll be closer to Lady and the Tramp rather than a fully animated adaptation like The Lion King.

    The original has some questionable characters in it that will definitely be rewritten, but there’s a good story here to revisit and even expand potentially. If they are going for the style that is hinted at, it’ll be impressive for them to get cats to play along to bring the project to life. I am especially curious how they might tackle the musical scenes if they are included at all. Not every live-action adaptation has embraced the musical aspects, but it wouldn’t be the same without “Everyone wants to be a cat” at one point in the film.

    Source: Deadline

  • Peter Billingsley Returning for ‘A Christmas Story’ Sequel

    Peter Billingsley Returning for ‘A Christmas Story’ Sequel

    Here’s a sequel I am sure no one ever asked for, but it looks like Legendary and Warner Bros. are making a sequel to the Holiday classic, A Christmas Story. Deadline broke the story that Peter Billingsley is also set to return as Ralphie for the sequel, which is creatively titled A Christmas Story Christmas and it will premiere exclusively on HBO Max. They also believe that Julie Hagerty will return to play his mother, but nothing else is known about the rest of the cast.

    The film follows Ralphie in the 1970s, who wants to give his children the same magical Christmas that he had years ago. He reconnects with his old childhood friends while also getting over the fact that his old man has passed away. It’s not the first time the story was revisited, as Billingsley was also involved with a Broadway musical version known as A Christmas Story The Musical, which went on to nab three Tony nominations.

    Nick Schenk, who is known for his work with Clint Eastwood on films like Cry Macho or Torino, will write the script and is set to executive produce the film. Christmas Chronicle‘s director Clay Kaytis has been attached to direct the legacy sequel. Wild West Picture Show productions will oversee the project with Billingsley and Vince Vaughn set to produce. Legendary’s Cale Boyter and Jay Ashenfelter will oversee the project, which is set to start production in Bulgaria this February.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘The Batman’s Eyeing a 3-Hour Runtime

    ‘The Batman’s Eyeing a 3-Hour Runtime

    It looks like Matt Reeves is all in with his upcoming adaptation of The Batman, as a Czech film distribution site has confirmed the long-rumored three-hour runtime for the latest adaptation featuring the Dark Knight. Robert Pattinson‘s take on the character will run for 176 minutes, or around 2 hours and 55 minutes according to the site, which was first shared on Reddit in the form of a distribution list. What makes this so noteworthy is that this makes the film the longest in the Batman franchise. THR has now confirmed the runtime in a new piece.

    The upcoming DC film, which will premiere on March 4th, is the second-longest entry in the franchise, as it’s only beaten out by Zack Snyder’s Justice League with its 4+ hour runtime. It’s even longer than the recently released Eternals, which had quite a bit of discussion surrounding its extended runtime. Reeves is very thorough in how he approaches his films, and its length may reflect just how dense the project ended up being. The central mystery might unravel in interesting ways that are only hinted at in the trailers.

    Source: Vertical via Reddit, THR

  • John Cena-Led ‘Freelance’ Adds Alice Eve and Marton Csokas

    John Cena-Led ‘Freelance’ Adds Alice Eve and Marton Csokas

    It’s only been a little under a week that we learned that John Cena, fresh off of his hit new series Peacemaker, was going to team up with Alison Brie in a new comedy titled Freelancers. Pierre Morel, who is known for his work on Taken, will take over directing duties, and the project seems to be moving full force, as they have also added Star Trek Into Darkness‘ Alice Eve and The Last Duel‘s Marton Csokas.

    The movie follows Cena‘s character, who is part of the special forces but ends up retiring. As it usually is, he finds his retired life boring and takes up the role of security for a journalist, played by Brie, on her trip to interview a dictator. As it’s an action-comedy, you might guess things don’t go quite as planned, and they must learn to live with each other while everything around them goes to hell.

    The film has already started production in Colombia, but it is uncertain what roles Eve and Csokas may have in the project. Eve’s has recently worked on projects like Downton Abbey, Black Mirror and is set to appear in Amazon’s The Power. Csokas has a list of films on his belt with The Equalizer, xXx, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and more.

    Source: Deadline

  • 3-Issue ‘The Flash’ Prelude Comic to Release Ahead of Film’s November Premiere

    3-Issue ‘The Flash’ Prelude Comic to Release Ahead of Film’s November Premiere

    It’s going to be a big year for the DC Extended Universe, as there are quite a few projects in some form of development. Among them is the multiversal storyline of The Flash, which may rewrite the DCEU as we know it. Ezra Miller is set to return in the titular role, as he meets up with a new yet familiar face in the form of Michael Keaton‘s Bruce Wayne. We still know very little about the film’s plot, but it seems we might get some new information as of April in the form of a prelude comic series.

    Writer Kenny Porter and artist Ricardo López Ortiz will tackle a three-issue comic series that’ll release monthly. The series titled The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive will tell the story of his conflict with a villain named Girder. He ends up learning how to take on this threat under the watchful eye of the Dark Knight, as he tries to face the metallic threat.

    The first issue will release on April 26th and consists of 48 pages. The collection of all three issues will be made available in October ahead of the film’s release in November. The main cover will be drawn by Max Fiumara with a variant cover by the film’s director, Andy Muschietti. Juan Ferreyra will prepare the cover for the second entry and the final issue will be by Jason Howard in July.

    Source: Twitter

  • Bong Joon-Ho Sets Next Project at Warner Bros, Robert Pattinson In Talks to Star

    Bong Joon-Ho Sets Next Project at Warner Bros, Robert Pattinson In Talks to Star

    Fans have waited two years to see what Bong Joon-Ho’s next move would be after taking the 2019 awards season by storm with Parasite. We’ve known for a while now that Joon-Ho had begun development on an American adaption of Parasite, teaming with Adam Mckay on a 6-hour mini-series for HBO, but there had been no news on just what film he’d be working on next. It seems after enough time to carefully pick his next project, he’s found the perfect one over at Warner Bros.

    Joon-Ho is in talks to write and direct an adaptation of the unreleased novel, Mickey7 written by Edward Ashton. The film is already in the process of casting, with Robert Pattinson in talks to star. Joon-Ho is said to have boarded the project after he was given a copy of the unreleased novel late last year. The casting process was said to be quite crazy as many A-listers in Hollywood were eager to get a shot at the role. In the end, though, Pattinson proved to be the best candidate after wowing both executives and Joon-Ho.

    Mickey7 tells the story of a disposable employee who is sent on the most treacherous and dangerous missions. Mickey, of course, proves to be the best employee for the job because after one Mickey dies, another is cloned with perfectly intact memories. Once Mickey reaches the seventh life, he goes missing on a mission to colonize the ice planet of Niflheim and is presumed dead. Healed back to life by the natives of the planet, Mickey returns only to find that they’ve already gone ahead with Mickey8 and they’ve begun the terraforming of Niflheim.

    No release date for the project has been set as the production team is still coming together.

    Source: Deadline

  • EXCLUSIVE: Tony Todd to Star in ‘Werewolf Game’

    EXCLUSIVE: Tony Todd to Star in ‘Werewolf Game’

    Horror icon Tony Todd has stayed very busy over the past several years. The actor reprised his role as Candyman in Nia DaCosta’s 2021 thriller, voiced Scare Glow in Netflix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelations and has nearly half a dozen projects in post-production. And now we can add one more project to the mix as Todd has signed on in a lead role in the upcoming horror film Werewolf Game.

    Written by Jack Payne II, and directed by Payne and Cara Brennan, Werewolf Game is based on the game Mafia, also known as Werewolf, created as a social experiment by Dimitry Davidoff, in which a group of people portray villagers and try to deduce who among them is a “werewolf” while the werewolves choose who to kill. Todd will play the film’s antagonist, The Judge, and is also serving as an executive producer on the film, which is set to debut in 2023. Casting is currently underway for nearly a dozen lead roles and production is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles in late-March. The film’s storyline, according to IMDB, is included below:

    Adapted from the adult party game of social deduction, created by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986, Werewolf Game is a death-game, horror mystery film. Twelve kidnapped strangers must play a game where they vote on who amongst them to murder. At night, the “werewolves” hidden among them come out to brutally kill one of the 12 “villagers” in return. The days repeat until one winning group remains.

  • UPDATED: ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Production Reportedly Restarted After All

    UPDATED: ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Production Reportedly Restarted After All

    UPDATED: So, there has been some confusion surrounding the current state of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s production. In the THR article, it was included with the statement that “production was set to restart this week” without a confirmation it was able to do so. It’s uncertain if this was a statement based on old information, but The Direct’s Jack McBryan has offered an update stating that production is currently underway:

    While he mentions something that happened earlier this month, the implication is on a report from January 14th – last week – by THR. It’s when the production wasn’t able to restart as planned that Monday and includes the reference to the cast and crew, as well as Lupita Nyong’o, contacting COVID. At the time, the report was accidentally overlooked, which is why the latest entry was mistakenly written as the first update on her condition. For now, it seems that the latest THR piece published on the 18th may have been based on old information, or they were able to restart today. No matter if they did or not, hopefully everyone affected by COVID was able to recover.

    Source: THR, Twitter

    It seems like just a few days ago, we were reporting that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was able to start up production again after a long vacation break so that Letitia Wright‘s severe injury can heal. Sadly, it seems that in a new piece by The Hollywood Reporter the production was forced to close down again, as cast and crew members were tested positive for COVID. It was originally going to start up production this week again, which will once again face further delays. Among those tested positive is also one of its stars Lupita Nyong’o.

    This news is sadly becoming common once again, as Star Trek Picard also was closed down after over 50 people involved with the production were tested positive. As a result of this rise in numbers, it seems a new deal was struck for new COVID-19 safety protocols to ensure that this cannot happen further with the spread of the Omicron variant.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘The King’s Man’ to Release on Hulu in February

    ‘The King’s Man’ to Release on Hulu in February

    The latest entry in the Kingsman franchise took a different step, as instead of continuing Eggsy’s story, we went back in time to the day the secret organization was formed. Matthew Vaughn returned to direct the prequel, The King’s Man, that released in theaters recently. 20th Century isn’t wasting any time though, as the film is already eyeing a digital release in February. Hulu subscribers will get their hands on the film as of February 18th, but has different release schedules internationally.

    The film explored the first confrontation of the newly founded Kingsman against history’s worst tyrants, as the fear of death hangs over the world. The King’s Man had an all-star cast to bring this origin story to life including Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou, Charles Dance, and many more.

    The UK, Ireland, Japan, and Korea will get access to it early as February 9th, while Latin America will have to wait until March 2nd for the Star+ streaming service. The rest of its Disney+ releases internationally will only be slightly after the U.S. release on February 23rd. So, if you haven’t had a chance to check it out in theaters yet, you won’t have to wait that much longer to watch it from the comfort of your home.