Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movies

  • Marvel Studios Eyeing Sam Raimi to Return for ‘Doctor Strange 3’

    Marvel Studios Eyeing Sam Raimi to Return for ‘Doctor Strange 3’

    Following Scott Derrickson‘s departure from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Sam Raimi stepped in to take the reigns and put together one of Marvel Studios’ best Phase 4 films. Raimi infused the film with his signature style, providing audiences with a giant walking eyeball, a zombie Doctor Strange and a reminder that Marvel Studios films can be both “comic booky” and fun. Rumors have begun to swirl that Stephen Strange has a major role to play in the Multiverse Saga and that the studio is keen on pushing out another Doctor Strange solo film sooner rather than later and now that they might just have Raimi in their sights to helm it.

    During a segment of the Hot Mic Podcast, co-host Jeff Sneider indicated that it’s his belief that Raimi will return to direct the third installment in the Doctor Strange franchise. Though Sneider was clear that he was not confirming Raimi’s return, he hinted that it was pretty clear that was the direction things were headed.

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness grossed just short of $1B at the box office ($955.8M), making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2022. The film’s post-credit scene, which introduced Charlize Theron as Clea, hinted at Strange playing a major role in the larger narrative of the Multiverse Saga and recent rumors have suggested that the character will essentially fill the shoes Tony Stark wore towards the end of the Infinity Saga.

    Despite the rumors, Marvel Studios has not officially announced the Doctor Strange threequel; in fact, Disney Chairman Bob Iger recently indicated that the studio may be less inclined to revisit characters for a “third and a fourth” film in the future in favor of bringing new characters to the screen. Additionally, news of a slow down and increased measures of quality control within Marvel Studios don’t seem to match up with the rumored “fast-tracking” of Doctor Strange 3. Disney will be in attendance at April’s CinemaCon, providing them with an opportunity to publicly address any additions, subtractions or delays to Marvel Studios’ slate, should they chose to do so. Otherwise, fans may have to wait until SDCC ’23, or later, to see what Iger’s return to the company means for Marvel Studios theatrical plan.

    Source: YouTube

  • REVIEW: ‘Chang Can Dunk’ is Worth a Shot

    REVIEW: ‘Chang Can Dunk’ is Worth a Shot

    Chang Can Dunk is the latest Disney film that explores what it means to live in high school as an underdog and the overall challenge of somehow growing up while finding your place in the modern world. The main storyline set seems quite simple with 16-year-old Chang making a bet with the popular kid that he can slam dunk within a few weeks just to prove himself to his peers. Yet, while the story seems like your typical sports-drama, director Jingyi Shao uses it more as a template to explore some heavy-hitting themes.

    On the surface level, Chang Can Dunk seems rather superficial as its main hero portrayed by Bloom Li goes out of his way to impress a girl. As the popular basketball kid starts hitting on her, he awkwardly tries to get her attention before making a bet he can’t really back out from. It becomes a classic underdog story of a young kid proving to himself and everyone around him that he’s not worth ignoring.

    Without giving away any major spoilers, what makes this Disney+ original so interesting is that the film keeps its focus tight on Chang’s overall character arc. We don’t get this happy-go-lucky home life as his mother is overworking herself and doesn’t show any active interest in what he cares for. We don’t often see a mother and son that drifted apart as much as they did, but their acts of desperation in how they show concern for the other.

    Technically, Chang’s struggle of connecting with his mother is at the core of the story, and it’s also the strongest element at play. It’s similar to how Turning Red challenges the overprotectiveness of parents that can end up pushing them away, or simply alienating them from the high expectations put upon them. There’s also the cultural relevance of that pressure that adds to the overarching message.

    We see Chang build a rather strong support system around him with some of the highlights just being him hanging out with his best friend Bo (Ben Wan), his mentor De-Andre (Dexter Darden), and Kirsty (Zoe Renee). It’s especially sweet to see the way he connects with De-Andre, who was a former pro-basketball player that lost his dream, and the way it further strengthens the dangers of popularity and fame.

    The film has a strong focus on going viral online, and it’s not just a tool for some creative shot composition. They truly go all out with the concept, as Bo becomes this vocal point of evolving the way he films online videos that just add a few creative and unique shots to make the film stand out. Overall, the film has some really strong shots and makes good use of empty space to highlight headspace of Chang at times. Of course, it’s also carried by Bloom Li‘s performance who can sell the highs of falling into the beauty of stardom and the depression of feeling alone.

    The only real drag on the overall story is the cliché it is built around. It feels like a project that wants to subvert the usual stories we see in high school-focused sports dramas. The moment a classic trope is unveiled, the film actually surprises by pushing the story into a whole new direction focusing on the actual core narrative that was more sidelined up to that point. We don’t harp too long on the misbegotten actions, as eventually, people forgive those they care about. It’s sometimes family that has the hardest time forgiving themselves.

    The message overall is powerful and makes the film stand out. It just struggles through the clichés at times and ends up dragging out the reveal that just sticks too much to the cliché. It had me dreading the moment due to how predictable it was and it still happened exactly how it is set up. It’s saved by what happens after but it still feels like it fell into the cliché pool rather than just dipping its toes.

    The film is definitely worth a shot for those that love these types of films, especially once the story starts coming together. Jingyi Shao definitely offers an inspiring story that should not be missed out on. It may sometimes fall a little too far into clichés and isn’t the slam dunk it truly could be, there’s something special about this project that makes it worth watching. It’s a perfect watch for a young audience that may not yet know the dangers of online fame and trying to fit in.

  • Fewer Sequels, More Avengers in Store for the MCU

    Fewer Sequels, More Avengers in Store for the MCU

    As Bob Iger continues to reign in the free-spending gunslingers behind Disney’s big brands, fans of those brands continue to wonder what the future will hold. During an appearance Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Iger gave some indication of what the future of Marvel Studios may hold.

    On the heels of a pair of sequels that weren’t the critical darlings that Disney had hoped they’d be, Iger indicated that Marvel Studios may reevaluate their approach to sequels.

    There are 7,000 characters, there are a lot more stories to tell. What we have to look at at Marvel is not necessarily the volume of Marvel stories we’re telling but how many times we go back to the well on certain characters. Sequels typically work well for us. Do you need a third and a fourth, for instance, or is it time to turn to other characters?

    Robert Iger

    It’s hard not to read between the lines of Iger’s comments and think about Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. The former has been widely criticized for taking the wrong lessons from its much more successful predecessor, Thor: Ragnarok while the latter has been under fire for its drop-off at the box office.

    It’s not all bad news for Marvel Studios, though. Iger is confident that the future, which he loosely defined as the “next five years”, holds a lot of promise.

    There’s nothing in any way inherently off in terms of the Marvel brand. I think we just have to look at what characters and stories we’re mining. If you look at the trajectory of Marvel in the next five years, there will be a lot of newness. We’re going to turn back to the Avengers franchise with a whole new set of Avengers, for example.

    Robert Iger

    Interestingly enough, that newness includes the scheduled MCU debuts of the Punisher, Blade, Deadpool, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, none of whom are new to the superhero landscape, only the MCU; so roughly in the sense that a used car is new to you, though not truly new. Beyond that, characters such as Sentry, Wonder Man and Nova are known to be making true debuts, so it will be worth tracking which of Marvel’s 7,000 other characters get the opportunity to make the jump to the MCU.

    Iger’s comments on a “new set of Avengers” is also worth some thought. After having four Avengers films weaved throughout the Infinity Saga, each serving as “Phase enders”, the studio chose to reserve the Multiverse Saga’s Avengers films for Phase 6. With Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars set to end the Multiverse Saga, the expectations placed on those films is already staggeringly high.

    Source: Deadline

  • Keira Knightley Calls ‘Boston Strangler’ a “Love Song to Female Investigative Journalists”

    Keira Knightley Calls ‘Boston Strangler’ a “Love Song to Female Investigative Journalists”

    Between 1962 and 1964, 13 women were stalked, sexually assaulted and strangled in the Boston area. By July of 1962, word of the “Mad Strangler” or the “Phantom Strangler” had begun to spread and with that word spread fear among women in the area who believed they might be next. With the murders taking place in multiple different jurisdictions within the greater Boston area, police were slow to see the potential serial nature of them; Boston Record American journalist Loretta McLaughlin, however, was not. Working with Jean Cole, McLaughlin began investigating the murders and tying them together through evidence. In 1963, the pair published a four-part series in the Record American about the murders committed by the Boston Strangler. Though their work in connecting the cases was groundbreaking, the pair of journalists are rarely discussed in connection with the case.

    The Hulu original movie Boston Strangler, starring Keira Knightley as Loretta McLaughlin and Carrie Coon as Jean Cole, looks to shine a light on the important work done by McLaughlin and Cole in helping police tie the murders together and, eventually, identify a killer and put a stop to the serial killings. While there’s still some doubt that all 13 murders were the work of one man, the killings stopped with the arrest of Albert DeSalvo. During the global press junket for the film, Knightley spoke on the role the two women played in stopping the murders and why the story of their work, which has been ignored for so long, needs to be shared.

    Well, I think for me, this whole film is really a love song to female investigative journalists. And really highlights how important it is to have women in position of power in storytelling because it was these two women that really went, “This is an important story. This is
    information that needs to be in the public in order to keep women of Boston safe.” And I think, largely, it was a story that had been, at that point, ignored by the male establishment.

    Knightley went on to indicate that given the climate and culture at the time, it’s possible the string of murders may have gone unnoticed much longer had McLaughlin not made the connection.

    And I don’t know that their male colleagues would have seen the importance of it. So I think it’s wonderful to be part of something that is really highlighting how important it is to have as many good female journalists as you possibly can for the safety of our communities.

    Given the prominence of McLaughlin and Cole’s persistent work–even in the face of discrimination– in helping save the lives of potential victims and noticing the serial nature of the killings, Boston Strangler certainly works as a reminder of the challenges faced and overcome by women in predominantly male fields. As part of Women’s History Month, you can check out Boston Strangler on Hulu beginning March 17th.

  • RUMOR: James Spader Set to Return to the MCU as Ultron

    RUMOR: James Spader Set to Return to the MCU as Ultron

    Over decades of Marvel Comics, Ultron has never stopped finding a way to return as a thorn in the side of the Avengers. It appears his cinematic counterpart is going to take up that habit as well. A new rumor shared by the mods at Reddit points to the return of the rogue A.I. in an upcoming Marvel Studios property.

    According to the rumor shared in Tales from the Mod Queue, James Spader will return as the voice of Ultron for Armor Wars. Originally announced as a streaming series, Armor Wars is now getting the big-screen treatment and giving James Rhodes his time to take center stage. Though it’s currently not on the slate, rumors have suggested that the film could go into production as early as late 2023.

    Fans have hoped for the return of Spader, whose Ultron is one of the MCU’s best and most memorable villains, for some time. While the plot of Armor Wars is unknown, it is said to spin out of Rhodes’ arc in Secret Invasion. In the comics, Armor Wars centered around the technology of Tony Stark falling into the hands of criminals who used it to enhance their own suits. Given that Stark created Ultron in the MCU, it would be terrifying to think that he kept some sort of backup that could allow for the reemergence of the AI should it fall into the wrong hands.

    Yassir Lester has been tasked with scripting Armor Wars for Marvel Studios which producer Nate Moore said was being developed as a film to allow for some of Lester’s big ideas to be realized under a big budget.

    Source: Reddit

  • ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ Reportedly Facing a Lengthy Delay

    ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ Reportedly Facing a Lengthy Delay

    The Marvel Studios slow down was bound to cascade. As the studio pulls back under a mandate from Bob Iger to space out their projects, a new rumor suggests that the Multiverse Saga will face a delay of almost 3 years compared to the slate revealed at SDCC ’22.

    According to anonymous sources in contact with the mods at r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers/, Avengers: Secret Wars, the final project in the Multiverse Saga which was originally slated to release on November 7, 2025, will now be pushed until 2028. The report goes on to add further speculation that part of the reason for the delay would be to release the final movie of the Multiverse Saga on the 20th anniversary of the MCU which began in 2008 with Iron Man.

    While several projects are said to be delayed following this new mandate from Iger, no official word has come from Disney on any changes to the MCU slate since Iger’s return. The last update to Marvel Studios’ slate came in October when the following changes were made:

    BLADE moved from 11/3/23 to 9/6/24

    UNTITLED DEADPOOL MOVIE moved from 9/6/24 to 11/8/24

    FANTASTIC FOUR moved from 11/8/24 to 2/14/25

    UNTITLED MARVEL moved from 2/14/25 to 11/7/25

    AVENGERS: SECRET WARS moved from 11/7/25 to 5/1/26

    Presumably, Disney will address any official changes to the slate in the near future with the upcoming CinemaCon providing one possible opportunity. Until then, it’s best not to start tattooing release dates just yet.

    Source: Reddit

  • ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3’ to Have the Longest Runtime of the Trilogy; Still Too Short for You

    ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3’ to Have the Longest Runtime of the Trilogy; Still Too Short for You

    With just under two months to go until the May debut of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, director James Gunn has remained fairly active in social media discussions about the film despite being engrossed in his new role as co-chair of DC Studios. The final installment in Gunn’s Guardians trilogy promises to be an emotional roller coaster as it brings an end to the story of this iteration of the team and not every member is expected to survive their encounter with the film’s villain, Chukwudi Iwuji‘s High Evolutionary.

    Gunn has consistently praised Iwujij’s performance in the film and recently took to Instagram to hype the High Evolutionary, who is responsible for the experiments/torture of Rocket. Gunn’s post simply teased “Can’t wait for you all to meet this guy” along with a creepy picture of High Evolutionary’s face stretched over some enhancements but fans took the chance to interact with Gunn to ask about the film’s runtime.

    Though he didn’t give an exact runtime for the sequel, Gunn did respond that “It’s longer than 1 & 2.” As can be seen here, Guardians of the Galaxy checked in at 2 hours and 2 minutes and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 at 2 hours and 17 minutes, a runtime that included 5 stingers. Gunn’s statement means that not only will Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 be the longest Guardians film but also the longest film of his directorial career and one of the ten longest MCU films. That checks out as there’s a lot to do in the film. Time will have to be spent on exposition about the High Evolutionary and Adam Warlock, exploring the new dynamics of the Guardians with a time-displaced Gamora, killing someone(s) and setting the stage for the future of the team. Given all that, a 2 hour and 18+ minute runtime seems fair.

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 debuts in theaters on May 5th!

  • ‘John Wick 4’ Heading to Franchise’s Best Opening Weekend at the Domestic Box Office

    ‘John Wick 4’ Heading to Franchise’s Best Opening Weekend at the Domestic Box Office

    The fourth entry of the John Wick franchise is almost upon us and the early tracking is looking at a promising high-opening weekend that could land anywhere between $60M to $70M. It would continue a strong tentpole spring market that saw some massive openings with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (ignoring its overall legs, it still is February’s third-highest opening ever), this weekend’s performance of Creed 3 and some surprise players like Cocaine Bear.

    John Wick: Chapter 4 may have lost its additional subtitle, but it’s still set for a strong weekend once it releases. Pandemic numbers are still shaky to predict as most box office openings are given mostly conservative estimates; especially by studios. There’s also the factor of a fourth entry in a film commonly being a big question mark for most.

    Still, the film is expected to be higher than Parabellum, which opened at $56.8M and managed to leg out to $171M. Worldwide it was the highest grossing of the franchise at around $585M. The appeal of these films seems to be with an otherwise dormant older audience that loves the appeal of this grounded action spectacle, similar to the audience that showed up for Top Gun: Maverick throughout its impressive leggy run. It’ll be interesting if that same appeal will remain for the spinoff Ballerina.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Creed 3’ Knocks Out With $58M+ Opening Weekend

    ‘Creed 3’ Knocks Out With $58M+ Opening Weekend

    The numbers are down and it looks like Creed 3 is ready for a knockout this weekend. The MGM and Amazon Studios produced film is now the highest-grossing Rocky and Creed entry of the franchise, which bodes well for the franchise’s future. The biggest aspect is that the film is poised to pull in $150M over its run putting git ahead of the first two entries and marking a big move forward for Michael B. Jordan‘s directorial debut. As of now, it is also the highest debut ever for a sports film.

    Amazon recently purchased MGM which had some worried that this might end up with a too quick streaming turnaround, but this performance may force Amazon to rethink that strategy and could become another long-term showcase of the importance of theatrical releases. Marvel Studios and Disney’s animated fare have taken quite a bit of damage from the “45-day” streaming window with strong frontloading for the former and a general lack of visits for the latter. Either way, Creed 3 is making a powerful stand and may hopefully also make Netflix realize what they missed out on with Glass Onion during Thanksgiving.

    It also was a smart move to move the film away from Wakanda Forever, as it was originally set for Thanksgiving and got the chance to open the March market which has more staying power than the usual calm February (with some exceptions like the strong openers of Deadpool, Black Panther, and recently Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumnania). March is going to be a competitive market that may push the overall box office for this year forward even if projections still don’t see a return to 2019’s bombastic era.

    Another strong performance this weekend was Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer Into the Swordsmith Village, which pulled in $10.1M. It’s interesting how strong the Friday openings are for Anime openings as it calms down heavily over the weekend after they moved from $4.1M to $3.4M on Saturday. The big ouch of the weekend is the long-awaited opening for Guy Richtie‘s Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre which only opened to $3.1M opening.

    Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania held on as much as it could ending the weekend with $12M, which isn’t going to break any records but does mean the film simply hasn’t had the same hold as other pictures. It’s developing closer to Batman v Superman domestically without a much stronger international push. While many are going to call this “the end”, it simply shows an interesting trend. Marvel films are strong openers and extremely frontloaded but if word-of-mouth simply is tepid or mixed, most will wait for that Disney+ release. Plus, the heavy sci-fi direction ma simply just does not jell with the usual “simplicity” of a former palate cleanser franchise.

    Still, Cocaine Bear took the third spot after a decent second weekend. It’s B- CinemaScore didn’t hit it too hard as it still held on for a genre piece which usually drops 60% or worse on the second weekend but it may still be holding on to some online fanfare. We haven’t had a good or just pure “fun” slasher in a while, which may be pushing the film further even as the general audience has mixed feelings about the offering. Overall, still a strong weekend overall for the box office.

    Source: Deadline, Variety

  • Joaquin Phoenix Returns to Gotham in BTS Video and Pics from ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ 

    Joaquin Phoenix Returns to Gotham in BTS Video and Pics from ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ 

    2019’s Joker stands as one of DC’s most successful films. The film grossed over $1B and won several awards, including star Joaquin Phoenix‘s Oscar for Best Actor and Warner Bros. quickly went to work on getting Phoenix back in the saddle for a sequel. That sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, is now in production in Los Angeles and as it was filming on location recently, some glimpses of Phoenix back in action as Arthur Fleck were captured.

    The video could be a bit misleading if not for some follow-up photos. Though there’s a man running down the road in Fleck’s suit and makeup from Joker, that is NOT Fleck.

    It’s not entirely clear what’s taking place in the scene being filmed, but Joaquin Phoenix Updates speculates that this may be Fleck’s escape from Arkham and the man in the Joker suit from the first film is helping Fleck escape by drawing attention to himself. According to the site, articles on the set of the sequel indicate it is set in 1983, two years later than the original.

    Joker: Folie à Deux, which will be part of the new DC Studios Elseworlds banner, will co-star Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener and is slated for ann October 4th, 2024 release.

    Source: Joaquin Phoenix Updates