Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movies

  • ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Producer Talks the Film’s Core Themes

    ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Producer Talks the Film’s Core Themes

    Oscar-winning producer Jon Landau has long been a partner of director James Cameron in bringing both cutting-edge technology and well-crafted stories to the big screen. The two partnered up for Avatar and Titanic, which sit at #1 and #3, respectively, on the all-time box office list and both films have stayed with audiences because they had relevant stories to tell. 13 years after Avatar was released, its direct sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, is about to hit theaters across the globe and while it’s already being praised for its technological advancements, Landau believes there’s a whole lot more going on in the film than just fancy VFX.

    As part of the global press junket for Avatar: The Way of Water, Landau expressed what he was looking forward to in the film and why the time was right for the long-awaited sequel:

    Well the excitement are the themes that Jim writes into his stories. You know, themes are what you leave the theatre with, and this movie has heart, has emotion, and it also has, you know, a message again about our world, not just the environment, about people, about accepting people for their differences. In the movie Jim wrote in the line, (Speaks Na’vi), ‘I see you.’ And we want people to know that they’re seen, and that to see others that same way.

    Jon Landau

    The film will see the Na’vi encounter a new tribe who look to be very similar to themselves but who also have evolved quite differently. Footage has shown the Na’vi coming to understand that the new tribe, which inhabits coastal regions of Pandora, aren’t quite as familiar as they might think. In this way, Landau’s comments become a little clearer. While fans have come to know the Sully family, they’re not the only ones on the planet whose way of life is jeopardized. Perhaps Avatar: The Way of Water will partly focus on these tribes putting aside their differences and uniting to save their world, a theme which is always relevant.

    Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters across the globe on December 16th.

  • DC’s Scrapped ‘Batman Beyond’ Film Featured the Return of Another Burtonverse Icon

    DC’s Scrapped ‘Batman Beyond’ Film Featured the Return of Another Burtonverse Icon

    Amid the wreckage created by THR’s bombshell report that Wonder Woman 3, Man of Steel 2 and a Black Adam sequel were all falling apart under the newly minted DC Studios label came word that a Michael Keaton-led Batman Beyond film had also been in the works. The film, which was set to spin out of the events of The Flash, was being written by Christina Hodson (The Flash, Birds of Prey) but development on it was halted once James Gunn and Peter Safran took over.

    A new report from THR has now added a little more detail to what Hodson had in mind and how things fell apart. According to the report, Hodson was given the green light to develop the script prior to the hires of Gunn and Safran. Just a couple of weeks after they came on the scene, probably just enough time for the two of them to get the lay of the land, they asked Hodson to put down her pen.

    Integral to Hodson’s pitch, it seems, was the return of Selina Kyle/Catwoman, who appeared in the Burtonverse sequel Batman Returns in 1992. The Batman Beyond film would have seen Catwoman “resuscitate” a romance with Keaton’s Bruce Wayne which was left open-ended at best in the 1992 film. It’s highly probable that had the film gone forward, the studio would have approached Michelle Pfeiffer, whose performance as Catwoman in Batman Returns was genuinely iconic, to reprise the role. With the film being scrapped, fans will never know if she’d have returned.

    Source: Heat Vision

  • Walter Hamada’s Original DCEU Plan for Henry Cavill’s Superman Revealed

    Walter Hamada’s Original DCEU Plan for Henry Cavill’s Superman Revealed

    Marvel Studios has been busy developing their own Multiverse Saga with Kang the Conqueror at its core, but it seems that DC had their own multiversal plans beyond just The Flash‘s upcoming release. While Walter Hamada is no longer involved with DC or Warner Bros, it seems his original plan was to develop a Crisis on Infinite Earths film but have Henry Cavill‘s Superman slowly build up that storyline through breadcrumbs in various movies.

    It seems likely that The Flash was going to unleash the multiveerse unto the DC Extended Universe with Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton‘s versions of Batman’s existing simultaneously. Ironically, it seems that Dwayne Johnson‘s own plans to make Black Adam a Superman rival and forcefully bringing Cavill back in the role may have also derailed those plans somewhat. Though, it’s uncertain just how far they mapped out the concept and if they were trying to test the waters.

    The idea to not give Superman a sequel but rather use him for cameos is curious–pretty much the Nick Fury for the DCEU. It may have also been a decision based around Cavill‘s booked schedule with The Witcher (ironic given recent developments) and the Enola Holmes movies. Once a Warhammer 40K or World of Warcraft project picks up any steam, he’ll likely throw his hat into the ring for those as well. So, even if he won’t truly return as Superman, there are many franchises that’ll definitely catch his attention.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Peaky Blinders’ Creator Worked on the ‘Man of Steel’ Sequel Pitch

    ‘Peaky Blinders’ Creator Worked on the ‘Man of Steel’ Sequel Pitch

    Well, it looks like after all these rumors we finally know who was the one working on a potential sequel to Man of Steel. In Hollywood Reporter’s weekly Heat Vision blog, they’ve shared that their sources unveiled the news that Peaky Blinders and See creator Steven Knight was involved in pitching the Superman sequel. It seems that this pitch was initially made before James Gunn and Peter Safran joined the newly formed DC Studios to spearhead the franchise moving forward.

    There are sadly no details on what exactly the story was going to focus on, but it seems that Warner Bros. executives weren’t thrilled and “gave notes” that has become a common element. There’s also uncertainty if they even hired someone else to rewrite the project afterwards but it definitely was their dream to bring back Henry Cavill while it was still under Walter Hamada‘s supervision.

    The creator behind Peaky Blinders definitely is an interesting choice to bring the franchise back to life, and it would’ve been great to see what his original plans may have been. There are many questions if they would’ve stuck to the vision introduced by Zack Snyder, or try to go for a more hopeful version that is closer to how the character works in the comics. Either way, we may have a very different version at some pint in the future going by recent events.

    Source: Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Doctor Strange’s Charlize Theron Shares How She Got Into the MCU

    ‘Doctor Strange’s Charlize Theron Shares How She Got Into the MCU

    Marvel Studios’ is no stranger to attracting fresh and veteran talent to become part of their Marvel Cinematic Universe. No matter the discussions online, they still have attracted some amazing talent throughout the years, such as the recent addition of Charlize Theron as Clea in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It wasn’t a major role, but they definitely set the seeds for some massive storylines featuring the sorceress.

    In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actress revealed just how she ended up being inspired and getting into the franchise. Surprisingly, it seems that she’s just a recent joiner of the franchise, and has seemingly been pushed by her Old Guard crew to check it out. Not only did she give it a chance, but it seems that she’s fallen for the franchise and ended up binging it to catch up.

    The simple answer to it is that it’s everything that I’ve said about Old Guard. If I can find the anchor, then I’m never going to be a snob about, like, ‘Oh, does this make me less of a powerful actor?’ I was ignorant, I didn’t know those [Marvel] movies well enough until a family who I consider, like, my adopted family had me watch them. They’re crazy Marvel fans, and I always used to make fun of them. Like, ‘Oh my God, you guys are such f-cking nerds.’ Then one spring break we rented a house and our kids were in a camp and they were like, ‘You need to fucking sit down and watch.’ So, we watched all the movies, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re so fucking good.’ And the kids got in on it, too, and it was such an enjoyable ride. And there’s a mythology around it and it’s been thought out over decades with Clea, and I’m challenged by that. Like, how do you reinvent that? So, I’m excited, but I honestly don’t know what the fuck it’s going to be.

    Charlize Theron

    The experience Theron is sharing is surprisingly not uncommon for those that didn’t join the hype train early on and ended up only recently becoming part of its development. It’s interesting to see that her binging may have also become an inspiration to join the franchise, and here’s hoping that we’ll see more of Clea in the near future after her introduction in Multiverse of Madness.

    Source: THR

  • DC’s Change in Leadership May Not Be Able to Resurrect ‘Justice League Dark’

    DC’s Change in Leadership May Not Be Able to Resurrect ‘Justice League Dark’

    Once upon a time, director Guillermo del Toro was deep into development on a big screen adaptation of Justice League Dark for Warner Bros. Even after del Toro left the film in order to work on Pacific Rim Uprising, work continued on bringing his vision to the screen. That vision would have featured DC Comics’ characters John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Deadman, Etrigan the Demon and Zatanna, along with appearances from others such as Doctor Fate and Detective Chimp and was far enough along in development that a great deal of concept art was generated for the project.

    Obviously, the film never came together with several directors opting for other projects instead. Earlier this year, JJ Abrams announced plans to develop Justice League Dark characters for a series of projects on HBO Max but those plans seem to have already materialized as well, causing fans of the characters to wonder if they’ll ever find their way together on screen.

    However, the silver lining there is that without Justice League Dark ever having been made by anyone, the option for del Toro to pick the project back up remains. While nobody is suggesting that any of the others who passed would have done poorly, it’s hard to imagine many creatives better for the job than del Toro. In a recent interview with Comic Book, the question of whether or not the director had any interest in revisiting the project now that there was a new team of visionaries in place at DC. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound promising.

    Oh, I don’t know. My love for Swamp Thing, The Demon, knows no bounds, but I don’t know. You don’t get a manicure from a big machine, that’s what I learn, you lose a few fingers. So I don’t know if I want a manicure from a big machine. As Danny Glover would say, “I’m too old for this shit”.

    Guillermo del Toro

    That’s certainly not a no, but it also isn’t a yes. Perhaps a sit down with DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran might turn del Toro around on this, but given all the uncertainty surrounding the future of the newly minted studio, there’s no telling if Justice League Dark is in the plans now or ever will be.

    Source: Comicbook.com

  • James Cameron Wrote ‘Avatar 1.5’ to Prep the Cast for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’

    James Cameron Wrote ‘Avatar 1.5’ to Prep the Cast for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’

    It’s been 13 years since fans fell in love with Pandora and its inhabitants in Avatar. James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, is now just a week away from releasing in theaters and just as fans have lived a life full of experiences since the first film released, so have the characters they met in the first film. At the heart of the film was a love story between Zoë Saldaña’s Na’vi character, Neytiri, and Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully, a Na’vi-human hybrid.

    The new film finds the pair over a decade later and with a family of their own which means much of who they are now was shaped by events that happened off-screen. During the global press event for Avatar: The Way of Water, Worthington talked about stepping back into the role and the lengths that Cameron went to in order to make the transition seem as authentic as possible, which included a fully-realized script for “Avatar 1.5” “[Cameron] gave me a script that was Avatar one point five that you know, unto itself is amazing and detailed and full of what they’ve kind of gone through over that gap,” explained Worthington.

    Worthington explained that Cameron seemed to understand that while Avatar: The Way of Water will focus on Sully and Neytiri fighting for their way of life, knowing exactly what their way of life had been for the past 10 years and the dynamic within the family they protect was an essential part of his prep for the role.

    And I think it was part of, you know, Jim realized that story was about them being warriors, and taking on the battles of the clans and things like that. But it almost didn’t feel… as you said, you wanted to explore what this family dynamic is, the natural extension of this love story. But it gave us a good jumping-off point to understand how to fill in that gap that’s missing, you know? To be honest, most people would, would’ve stuck on that one, but not this guy. It was pretty amazing, yeah.

    Sam Worthington

    Fans won’t have the added benefit of going through the experiences contained within Avatar 1.5, but from all early accounts of the film, it’s much more emotional which makes it sound like Cameron’s investment in writing it paid off.

    Avatar: The Way of Water opens in theaters on December 16th.

  • James Gunn, Peter Safran and The Road To Freedom For DC Studios

    James Gunn, Peter Safran and The Road To Freedom For DC Studios

    Earlier this week, The Hollywood Reporter published an extensive piece regarding the future of DC studios. James Gunn and Peter Safran have started to carve out their path, and it seems to be a fresh one. After hearing that Wonder Woman 3 and Man Of Steel 2 are being canceled or shelved, there is one thought that comes to mind: there’s nothing like a clean slate.

    Since Man Of Steel came out in 2013, DC has been trying to carve out its own lane in comic book film storytelling. Regardless of what anyone thought of the films, this business is about the bottom line and the bottom line is they didn’t hit the notes they needed to hit. The audience didn’t receive the content the way it needed to be received. There’s been so many stories of too many cooks in the kitchen, egos running amok, and an unclear vision. We can talk about Black Adam and the conversation around how Dwayne Johnson has handled that whole situation. Quite frankly, the film was entertaining but not something you’d say let’s start a franchise with. Financially that’s proven to be the case at this point. It is a hard sell globally when you bill your post-credit scene as the most memorable moment of the film. 

    In a lot of ways, Johnson has tried to book his foray into comic book film just like he’s booked his movie career. It’s been like professional wrestling where perception is more important than anything. That’s fine enough when it’s wrestling. This is not that. When you try to bogart your way into the franchise game when most fans want to see Black Adam vs Shazam, it’s just not gonna work how you want it to. 

    Earlier this year in Vanity Fair, Johnson talked about separating the stories between the two characters. “When the first draft of the movie came to us, it was a combination of Black Adam and Shazam: Two origin stories in one movie,” Johnson recalls. “Now that was the goal—so it wasn’t a complete surprise. But when I read that, I just knew in my gut, ‘We can’t make this movie like this. We would be doing Black Adam an incredible disservice.’ It would’ve been fine for Shazam to have two origin stories converge in one movie, but not good for Black Adam.” This refrain from Johnson is not surprising in the least. Let’s dive a bit further.

    All of what Johnson says sounds incredibly altruistic on its face, but let’s be honest. In stories with heroes and villains, Shazam would beat Black Adam eventually because the hero wins. Considering everything we know about the Fast & The Furious franchise and the ego clash with Vin Diesel, it’s easy to be skeptical.

    The moral of the story here is Johnson is emblematic of a culture that’s existed over at WB that hasn’t actually been in service of the fans. You can claim to want to treat the fans well and service them but you do that with good storytelling. The stories haven’t been quite good enough and the agendas are many. If you can tell good stories the people will come and they will stay. DC has a very passionate fanbase that deserves much better than it’s gotten over the past decade. 

    The reason that James Gunn and Peter Safran were hired is to change all that. The expectation is that they are minds and voices that we as fans can trust. With that trust comes patience, and a willingness to have an open mind. Yes there will be some tough changes and we may lose people we liked in their roles, but let’s get this right. That should always be the goal, getting it right. One thing is crystal clear, the hierarchy of power in the DC universe has changed, and it’s about damn time.

  • REVIEW: ‘Night at the Musem: Kamunrah Rises Again’

    REVIEW: ‘Night at the Musem: Kamunrah Rises Again’

    Over the course of 8 years, 20th Century Fox released a trio of Shawn Levy-helmed Night at the Museum films. While none of the films ever reached blockbuster status, 2006’s Night at the Museum sits at #100 on the all-time North American box office list and the series introduced some memorable and loveable characters to audiences. Disney acquired the franchise in its merger with Fox and decided to return the franchise to its animated roots (the film series is based on a 1993 children’s picture book written by Milan Trenc) and while the short film smartly shifts the focus to a new main character, it ultimately falls short of capitalizing on any nostalgia the audience might have for the original.

    One would assume that Disney’s decision to produce an animated follow-up was intended, at least in part, to rekindle some spark in a generation of people who found the magic in the franchise when it kicked off 16 years ago. Though it was never well-received critically, Night at the Museum has had a long shelf life and is the sort of film that audiences might find themselves sticking around to watch when they flip through the channels and find it on network television. Its first direct sequel, 2009’s Battle at the Smithsonian, did a little less business at the box office and dropped off in terms of audience engagement and by the time Secret of the Tomb debuted in 2014, audiences seemed to lose interest (indeed I did not recall a third film in the series had ever been made). In that sense, Disney had a big job to do in order to draw initiated fans back in and despite Kahmunrah Rises Again serving as essentially a highlight reel of everything fans loved about the live-action films, there’s too much missing to make fans of those films love this.

    The biggest obstacle for Kahmunrah Rises Again comes from an at times jarring replacement of the talent behind the characters. None of the original cast returns to voice their animated counterparts and the results range from heartbreaking (seeing Teddy Roosevelt and not hearing Robin Williams‘ trademark gusto hurts), to head-scratching (it took me the majority of the film to realize Zachary Levi was voicing Larry) to downright infuriating (Steve Zahn trying to imitate Owen Wilson). The final straw in this discombobulating exercise was the absence of one of the world’s preeminent and prolific voice actors as the villain of the piece; Hank Azaria, whose performance as Kahmunra stands as one of the funniest of his career, was replaced by Joseph Kamal. It’s not that the new voice actors dropped the ball; it’s simply that for fans of the original films, their presence can’t overcome the absences they mask.

    While Kahmunrah Rises Again’s reliance on the figures from the museum exhibits certainly takes familiar audience members out of the experience, the decision to shift to a new lead character does give the franchise a bit of hope. Now a high schooler, Night Guard Larry Daley’s son Nick, who has grown up aware of the magic of the museum, becomes the protagonist as he takes on the post of Night Guard for the Summer. While he mostly just stumbles through the same experiences his father has before, the new perspective does ultimately allow for a nice coming-of-age story for Nick.

    Night at the Museum probably isn’t among the major franchises Disney had in mind when they acquired some heavy assets from Fox. It’s not Alien, Predator or the boatload of Marvel characters that they’ve already put to use; rather, it’s a franchise that was already mostly abandoned by fans, making an attempt at a revival a curious choice. This animated feature film, while having no major deficiencies of its own and telling a fine story, isn’t likely to change anyone’s mind about the franchise and fans of the live-action films might find themselves feeling more cynical than anything.

    Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again is now streaming on Disney Plus.

  • RUMOR: ‘The Flash’ Spinoff Focused on Michael Keaton’s Batman Scrapped in DC Studios’ Restructuring

    RUMOR: ‘The Flash’ Spinoff Focused on Michael Keaton’s Batman Scrapped in DC Studios’ Restructuring

    Everything is changing over at DC Studios, as the future of the former DC Expanded Universe seems quite uncertain. We’ve had the reveal that Wonder Woman 3 has lost its director Patty Jenkins, a Black Adam sequel seems unlikely at this point and so much more. Now, it seems a new rumor has popped up from Jeff Sneider that another project has been canned as James Gunn and Peter Safran restructure the new DC universe.

    It seems that The Flash and Birds of Prey‘s Christina Hodson has been working on a spinoff from The Flash that would’ve acted as a reboot of the original Michael Keaton-led Batman franchise. Keaton would further explore his character that is set to return in the upcoming film, though details on how the project would’ve explored his return remain uncertain. There’s also no word just how far they got with the script, as they may have just kicked around the idea before it was scrapped.

    It does seem more and more likely that The Flash might end up as a hard reboot for the DC Cinematic Universe moving forward, even if there are still no specific plans set by DC Studios’ new co-leads. Though, once the roadmap for the next ten years have been set, we might get a better look at what the future has in store for us.

    Source: YouTube via The Direct