Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movies

  • DC Studios CEO Confirms Blue Beetle as First Character of the New DCU

    DC Studios CEO Confirms Blue Beetle as First Character of the New DCU

    The DC Cinematic Universe is about to be reborn and it’s going to be quite a messy transition. James Gunn is taking on a rather challenging movie franchise, as he’s set to not only end what Zack Snyder started but also start his own take on the iconic comic universe. The only challenge is that he still carries over some of the old projects.

    So, the question remains what exactly will be the new beginning for this franchise? While taking part in the Inside of You podcast with Michael Rosenbaum, he revealed that while Superman Legacy will be the first true DCU film, Blue Beetle is the first DCU character; hinting at Jamie Reyes’ future in the franchise.

    I mean the first DCU character, for sure, is Blue Beetle, and the first full DCU movie is Superman.

    James Gunn

    It’s definitely interesting and leaves a lot of room for interpretation. As perhaps Reyes ends up being transported into the DCU as part of The Flash’s consequences across the multiverse. Of course, it could also be something we’re not even considering as there’s always something that is adapted shortly before the release.

    You can watch the full interview with James Gunn here:

    Source: The Wrap via YouTube

  • ‘Rise of the Beasts’ Director Steven Caple Jr. In Talks to Return for Next ‘Transformers’ Movie

    ‘Rise of the Beasts’ Director Steven Caple Jr. In Talks to Return for Next ‘Transformers’ Movie

    Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has finally been released in theaters with a surprisingly strong $171M. Early projects believed the film might not even make $40M domestically but it managed to even dethrone Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in its second weekend. The audience’s are also seemingly enjoying their time back with the Transformers, as it pulled in an AudienceScore A- while critics were quite mixed on the project with a RottenTomatoes score of 51% currently.

    The important thing is that Paramount and Hasbro seem quite happy with the film. In a new interview with director Steven Caple Jr. from Deadline, he seemingly revealed that he’s already in talks to tackle the next film in the franchise. He highlights that he’s also ready to tackle the cliffhanger from the project pertaining to Anthony Ramos and Michael Kelly.

    They definitely had a sequel in mind with that ending, and it seems they aren’t going to waste too much time before jumping into it. It’s unclear though if they already have a script ready before the WGA strike happened, or they might be waiting it out as well before jumping into the sequel. Caple Jr. managed to revive a long-dormant franchise and Paramount is definitely not done to ensure it grows to what it once was.

    Source: Deadline, Rotten Tomatoes

  • Sarah Polley to Direct a Live-Action ‘Bambi’ Film

    Sarah Polley to Direct a Live-Action ‘Bambi’ Film

    Bambi is about to return to theaters but this time in live-action. Disney continues its goal of adapting various of its animated classics into the new format. Now, they are set to tackle probably the one that destroyed many’s childhoods. Woman Talking director Sarah Polley has seemingly decided to tackle the live-action adaptation next, a project they’ve been trying to bring to life since 2020. Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Lindsey Beer were attached to write, but there’s no word if their script is being used.

    Of course, just because the film has a director, It doesn’t mean that they’ll also have someone set to write given the WGA strike. They might have made the deal to ensure they have someone attached to the project once the strike ends (if it does at this rate). This is the latest adaptation after The Little Mermaid just hit theaters, which currently has pulled in $414M in theaters.

    Bambi is actually an adaptation of a 1923 novel by Felix Salten titled Bambi, a Life in the Woods. Disney’s adaptation is only their fifth-ever animated movie directed by David Hand. It’ll be interesting if this adaptation is going to take the same route as Jon Favreau’s The Lion King with a “live-action adaptation” consisting of mostly CG characters. Perhaps they cast the infamous Hunter with an actual actor or he remains a shadow in the background.

    Source: Deadline

  • Marvel Studios Removes Two Films from Its 2025 Slate

    Marvel Studios Removes Two Films from Its 2025 Slate

    In addition to a staggering amount of moves to its upcoming theatrical slate, Marvel Studios has removed two films from its 2025 slate.

    Per an official release from Disney, a pair of untitled Marvel Studios films, originally dated July 25th, 2025 and November 7th, 2025, are no longer Marvel Studios films.

    UNTITLED DISNEY is the updated title of UNTITLED MARVEL dated on 7/25/25

    UNTITLED DISNEY is the updated title of UNTITLED MARVEL dated on 11/7/25

    It is likely that these changes come as a result of the ongoing WGA strike. With writers not working during the strike, development on any potential 2025 scripts will have halted completely.

    As it stands, the official updated slate only shows two Marvel Studios films will hit theaters in 2025. Blade, which has faced ongoing challenges in its development, has been tentatively rescheduled for February 14th, 2025 and Fantastic Four has, for now, been moved to May 2nd, 2025.

    At this time, the 2026 slate still features four films:

    Untitled Marvel on February 13th
    Avengers: Kang Dynasty on May 1st
    Untitled Marvel on July 24th
    Untitled Marvel on November 6th

    Updating…

  • Disney’s ‘Avatar’ Franchise Restructures Release Schedule

    Disney’s ‘Avatar’ Franchise Restructures Release Schedule

    As part of Disney’s sweeping changes to their theatrical slate, the release schedule for James Cameron‘s Avatar franchise has been significantly altered. While the next three films in the series were originally intended to roll out every other year beginning in 2024 and ending in 2028, the changes will now push the series into the next decade.

    Originally slated for a December 20th, 2024 release date, the untitled Avatar 3 will now release in December 2025. Avatar 4 will move from its intended 2026 release date into 2029 and Avatar 5, once set for 2028, is not looking at a 2031 release.

    Updating…

    Source: THR

  • Disney Adds Two Star Wars Films to Its 2026 Slate

    Disney Adds Two Star Wars Films to Its 2026 Slate

    At Star Wars Celebration 2023, it became clear that Lucasfilm intended to make a splash in their return to theaters. Just a few months later, the studio has staked out a pair of new theatrical dates.

    According to THR, Lucasfilm, which has not released a film since 2019’s Star Wars: Episode IX-The Rise of Skywalker, will now have two releases in 2026. The first of those, originally slated for 2025, will debut on May 22nd, 2026 and will be followed up with another theatrical release on December 18th, 2026. They are joined on the slate by the preexisting December 17th, 2027 date and it’s likely that those 3 dates will be occupied by the three films revealed at Star Wars Celebration.

    Of Lucasfilm’s 3 announced films, it’s believed that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy‘s New Jedi Order era film, which was being rewritten by Steven Knight after Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson left the project, is furthest along in development. That makes May 22nd, 2026 the likely landing spot for that film and it now seems likely that it will be joined that year by Dave Filoni‘s New Republic-era film which might occupy the new December 18th, 2026 date. James Mangold‘s Dawn of the Jedi-era project remains in development but given the director’s current slate, it seems likeliest to end up in 2027.

    Source: THR

  • Marvel Studios Makes Major Changes to Phase 5 and 6 Release Dates

    Marvel Studios Makes Major Changes to Phase 5 and 6 Release Dates

    As part of a multitude of moves made by Disney, Marvel Studios upcoming film slate has been changed significantly.

    Resultant to the production delays caused by the ongoing WGA strike, Marvel has made a series of changes beginning in 2024. Deadpool 3 will now kick off their theatrical offerings, opening on May 3, 2024, a date that was originally supposed to see the debut of Captain America: Brave New World. Sam Wilson’ first feature film as Captain America will now instead open on July 26, 2024–where Thunderbolts was slated. In turn, Thunderbolts, which has not yet begun production, will be released on December 20th, 2024 which was originally set aside for Avatar 3.

    Blade, which like Thunderbolts has not begun production because of the WGA strike, will now move to February 14th, 2025. The domino effect continues, moving Fantastic Four to May 2nd, 2025 where Avengers: The Kang Dynasty was originally intended to debut. That film is now slated for May 1, 2026 which was the original date of Avengers: Secret Wars and so, as you’ve probably guessed by now, Secret Wars will now release a full year later on May 7, 2027.

    Before

    May 3, 2024-Captain America: Brave New World

    July 26, 2024-Thunderbolts

    September 6, 2024-Blade

    November 8, 2024-Deadpool 3

    December 20, 2024-Avatar 3

    After

    May 3, 2024-Deadpool 3

    July 26, 2024-Captain America: Brave New World

    September 6, 2024-Untitled Disney

    November 8, 2024-The Amateur

    December 20, 2024-Thunderbolts

    The net result, of course, is one less Marvel Studios film in 2024.

    Source: THR

  • ‘Transformers’ & ‘Spider-Man’ to Battle for Top Spot at the Domestic Box Office

    ‘Transformers’ & ‘Spider-Man’ to Battle for Top Spot at the Domestic Box Office

    Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has finally been released in theaters and is surprising quite a bit. While early predictions expected the film to open around $40M, it had a stronger Friday opening and is heading to $60M opening weekend at the domestic box office. Surprisingly though, that might not be enough to dethrone the current box office reign of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Currently, it is slightly edging out the film with $60M against $55.9M but Sunday could still make all the difference.

    The film overall is showing a strong international box office and is going to open north of $160M worldwide. China remains the biggest fan of this robot-in-disguise franchise with an $11.8M Friday. The market has overall shown quite a bit of healing over the last few months. The Little Mermaid struggled quite a bit but it seems Transformers might reignite the excitement before the next major release The Flash.

    It’s a strong jump from the initial expectations. While it didn’t hit the highs of the hopeful $70M, it does give the film a bit more of a chance to make its money back. There’s hoping to build up the iconic franchise again even after Bumblebee underperformed with $21.6M and The Last Knight’s $44.6M. There’s a chance that if they keep pushing it could return to a $100M+ opening again but it’s definitely a hopeful start for the franchise, especially with a decent A- CinemaScore.

    The big question is if the latest Spider-Verse entry will surprise given it already has shown some strong legs. The summer box office is stacked and it definitely has proven that family fare and strong word-of-mouth can carry quite a few projects. Fast X is the only big release that one could say lost any momentum going into its second weekend but we still have a few big releases that will show if people put all their money in early or not.

    Source: Deadline, Deadline (WW)

  • ‘Superman Legacy’ to Introduce DCU’s The Authority

    ‘Superman Legacy’ to Introduce DCU’s The Authority

    It’s Friday and that means we get the traditional Heat Vision newsletter from Hollywood Reporter. This usually comes with a big scoop but sometimes they hide away big reveals in the smallest sections of the text. This time around, it seems THR has gotten its hands on the details that James Gunn’s upcoming film is set to introduce one major addition to the new DC Cinematic Universe.

    Hidden away in a section on the recent casting bits for Superman Legacy, they reveal that The Authority will also be introduced in the upcoming film. While they don’t state which members will appear, it does seem like Gunn is dead set on using the upcoming film as a jumping-off point for his overarching storyline.

    They also mention that they are likely to cast Lex Luthor, which is a tradition at this point given how closely tied the character is with Superman, but it’s curious that they’d not try to build it up over time but instead jump straight in. It does make you wonder how he is setting up this universe and if we’ll see way more crossovers rather than individual projects.

    We knew for some time that The Authority will be introduced and while most might be disappointed we’re not just getting the Justice League, it’s a clever way to give audiences a new group of superheroes that are quite obscure. With Justice League having left a bad taste with audiences some years ago, it’s a way to have a major crossover team without retreading familiar ground.

    Source: Hollywood Reporter

  • Lionsgate Out for Gold with a Reboot of ‘Leprechaun’

    Lionsgate Out for Gold with a Reboot of ‘Leprechaun’

    Perhaps inspired by the mostly successful requels in the Halloween and Scream franchises, Lionsgate is relaunching one of its offbeat horror franchises with a new Leprechaun film. Felipe Vargas will direct the new film working off a script from live-action Lilo & Stitch scribe Mike Van Waes. Roy Lee, who oversaw production on It and Barbarian, and Lionsgate’s Miri Yoon will be producing.

    Beginning with 1993’s Leprechaun, Lionsgate rolled out 8 films in the franchise, including classics such as Leprechaun 4: In Space and Leprechaun in the Hood. Willow and Star Wars franchise star Warwick Davis played the titular imp in the first 6 films before sitting out 2014’s Leprechaun Origins and Leprechaun Returns. According to THR, Davis will not be attached to the new project.

    “Thirty years after its debut, this franchise still casts a spell, and we’re thrilled to be bringing it back with a new vision,” said president of production for Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group, Erin Westman. “Roy and Miri are two of our most trusted producers, especially with this genre, and we’re excited by Felipe’s vision for the film as a director. In his hands, this movie should be very scary and a ton of fun.“

    With Vargas set to begin work on Rosario, his film debut, don’t expect work on the Leprechaun reimagining to begin until late 2023 or early 2024.

    Source: THR