Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Netflix

  • Netflix’s ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Series Loses Showrunner

    Netflix’s ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Series Loses Showrunner

    Netflix has been trying to become the hot spot for anyone trying to bring their popular franchise to life. They have ventured out into the world of video game adaptations, especially after their success working on the animated series Castlevania. It led to them working on projects like Arcane, an adaptation of League of Legends, as well as the recently released Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Their next project is a live-action adaptation of the ever-popular Assassin’s Creed franchise.

    Sadly, it seems that they have lost a key member of the project, Jeb Stuart. He was hired to showrun the project and is no stranger to working with Netflix, as he’s recently worked on the Viking sequel, Valhalla. Collider has shared the news that he is no longer involved and it seems that once again a “difference in vision” is the reason for that. He goes on to highlight that:

    I think it was a little bit of a move of executives from LA to London, and it allowed the London group who, unfortunately, had to inherit my vision of what it was instead of getting to develop their own vision. So I think that’s fair. I know it’s going to be great whenever it comes out. I think the Ubisoft guys are fantastic. I think it’s a terrific franchise. It was just a good, mutual time to move on for both sides.

    Jeb Stuart

    So far, there’s not been an announcement about who might take over as a showrunner on the project. We also don’t know what the vision might be that led to Stuart leaving the project, but they may be still actively looking for someone to fulfill that very role. The project is seemingly still moving forward, but it looks like the wait will be longer than expected.

    Source: Collider

  • REPORT: ‘Wednesday’ Season 2 May Not Stream on Netflix

    REPORT: ‘Wednesday’ Season 2 May Not Stream on Netflix

    We just heard recently that Wednesday is very likely to get a season renewal in the near year, as the series ended up becoming one of Netflix’s biggest hits with 400 million hours viewed in a week, even beating out Stranger Things. There was only one complication: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) owns the rights and was a co-producer on the series. Now that the studio is owned by amazon, there was some uncertainty if the Jenna Ortega-led project may move away from its streaming home; especially with its recent success.

    In a new report by the Independent, it seems that the new MGM series may be moving to Prime Video rather than remaining on Netflix going into its second season. They do point out that this isn’t a sure thing and there’s a chance that Netflix won’t waste this opportunity to keep the popular series on its streaming platform, but it’s most definitely an option as of now.

    Amazon has made the statement in the past that they aren’t going to force every project that was produced under the MGM banner to remain exclusively on Prime Video, but it doesn’t exclude the fact that they’ll completely rule out the idea. According to the Independent, the team behind Wednesday is already securing writers and looking into filming locations for a second season, which is at least a positive hint at more to come. For now, we just have to wait a little longer for any confirmation if the series will return to Netflix or not.

    Source: Independent

  • ‘Knives Out’ Director Already Started Work on ‘Glass Onion’ Sequel

    ‘Knives Out’ Director Already Started Work on ‘Glass Onion’ Sequel

    After a long wait and $450M+ investment by Netflix, the first sequel to Knives Out has finally been released on the streaming platform. Glass Onion offers another exciting murder mystery starring Daniel Craig as the lovable detective Benoit Blanc. This time around, he finds himself stuck on a Greek island where things slowly start to unravel over an unlikely gathering of friends.

    Glass Onion has just been released on the platform and while it didn’t blow away any expectations with its viewership numbers, the film did have a strong short run in theaters showcasing the power of this franchise. Luckily for director Rian Johnson, Netflix is already all-in for a sequel and it looks like he already started work on it.

    So much of what I’m trying to do, because I’m starting to write the next one, is really just about trying to clear my head and think about what’s on my mind right now. Hopefully that translates in some way to what’s on all of our minds right now in terms of culture.

    Rian Johnson

    Speaking of “terms of culture,” he was asked if he would tackle something inspired by Elon Musk‘s chaotic management of Twitter but he jokingly points out that he already technically made that film. It’ll also be interesting to see what cast he once again gets together, as the film was not only jam-packed with a talented cast of characters but also had various cameos sprinkled throughout in supporting or minor roles. Whatever he has in store

    Source: Wired

  • ‘Glass Onion’ Pulls in Strong 82.1M Hours Viewed over Christmas

    ‘Glass Onion’ Pulls in Strong 82.1M Hours Viewed over Christmas

    It might not be too surprising, but it looks like Glass Onion‘s opening weekend was already quite the success for Netflix, as the film managed to pull in 82.1M hours viewed over the weekend from December 19th until 25th. Going by its total runtime of over two hours, the film was watched by around 35M households during its opening weekend.

    The Knives Out sequel received a limited theatrical run, which had many scratching their heads on why they didn’t let it run for longer given it managed to pull in quite a bit of money and had a good chance of winning the weekend’s box office. Given the lack of mid-budget films in theaters, it could’ve been the one project to potentially push Netflix’s gross from its initial $450M investment for the exclusive rights to Glass Onion and its yet-to-be-filmed sequel.

    Netflix also invested another $40M to get the film produced (yes, that investment did not include the actual production cost) but the film currently is slightly behind 2021’s The Unforgivable‘s opening of 85.9M. It’s on the lower end of the most popular films on the streaming service. Still, it’s a Christmas opening when most people are spending time with family and it has quite a long runtime.

    One thing is clear, we’d definitely get a third Benoit Blanc sequel but the viewership numbers could be the selling point for a slew of sequels beyond just the two. While it seems unlikely that director Johnson will get his chance to get the “Knives Out Mystery” title changed, the viewership seems like a great sign for many more entries in the future.

    Source: Variety

  • Rian Johnson Shares His One Regret with ‘Glass Onion’

    Rian Johnson Shares His One Regret with ‘Glass Onion’

    After a long wait, Glass Onion has finally arrived. The official first sequel to Knives Out continues the story of Benoit Blanc, a genius detective that finds himself stranded on a curious trip with some of the most influential people to tackle an unlikely murder mystery.

    Director Rian Johnson once again got the chance to tackle his genre-bending style in a new entry but it seems he does have one specific regret about the film’s release. It seems he’s not quite happy with the way Netflix handled the titling of the film.

    As of now, the film’s official title is Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, but that wasn’t what the director was going for. He purposefully chose the title to keep each entry as its own unique entry, kind of like “a new novel off the shelf.”

    I want everyone who liked the first movie to know this is next in the series but the whole appeal to me is it’s a new novel off the shelf every time.

    Rian Johnson

    That is not too surprising given the genre he is playing around with. Most of the classic murder mystery novels each had a unique title and were mainly connected through their titular character. Perhaps “A Benoit Blanc Mystery” would’ve been more fitting rather than clinging to the title of the first film.

    Netflix paid a lot of money to ensure that any future entries of the franchise remain exclusively on the streaming service. The film had a good chance to make a massive splash at the box office but was only given a limited release window. Now, we anxiously await to see just how big of a splash the film made on Netflix to ensure it’s future entries.

    Source: The Atlantic

  • ‘The Witcher’ Showrunner Teases More Netflix Spinoffs

    ‘The Witcher’ Showrunner Teases More Netflix Spinoffs

    The Witcher is only a few more days away of releasing its second spinoff, The Witcher: Blood Origin. After the success that was the first season, Netflix moved forward fast with the animated film The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf before moving forward with a live-action prequel series. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Lauren Hissric hinted that we may be getting more in the near future.

    We have plans to keep this going in various permutations. I love the mothership, I’m going to stick to it, but obviously, we have Blood Origin coming out. I hope that this doesn’t end for a while. So I think the possibilities are endless, and we’ll see what happens

    Lauren Hissrich

    It looks like they have quite a few plans moving forward. Blood Origin wasn’t quite the critical success they may have hoped even with some big names attached like Michelle Yeoh. The series currently stands at 39% approval rating by critics and there’s the question if fans will have a similar reaction. Of course, there are also the viewership numbers that might be the real test for Netflix if there’s more to The Witcher moving forward, especially when Season 4 rolls around with Liam Hemsworth in the title role.

    Henry Cavill will be given a “heroic sendoff” in the upcoming season that may pull in some strong numbers but the question remains if it can keep up that momentum for her plans for many more seasons to continue. The possibilities are endless but Netflix’s patience may not be for a franchise that can’t pull in the numbers to make the budget worth their time.

    Source: Entertainment Weekly, Rotten Tomatoes

  • ‘The Witcher’ Showrunner Teases Henry Cavill’s “Heroic Sendoff”

    ‘The Witcher’ Showrunner Teases Henry Cavill’s “Heroic Sendoff”

    There have been so many reports on why Henry Cavill decided to leave The Witcher after its upcoming third season. Stories from behind the scenes tease strife between him and the writers due to it not being accurate enough to the books in his opinion. Then there were the accusations by former writers that the writer’s room was openly mocking the source material. No matter where the project stands, it seems that Cavill is still getting quite a sendoff from the project.

    In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, The Witcher showrunner Lauren Hissrich has teased that he’ll reserve a “heroic sendoff” for the actor’s tenure as Gerald of Rivia. Even with all the rumors circling, she highlights the actor’s dedication to the role and wants to honor that commitment with a proper farewell.

    Henry has given so much to the show and so we want to honor that appropriately.

    Lauren Hissrich

    She also goes on to highlight what they’ve tried to accomplish with Season 3, especially highlighting that they may be the closest ever to a “one-to-one adaptation of the books.” Hissrich highlights how they tried to adapt Time of Contempt in the next season.

    What is so interesting is that season 3, to me, is the closest thing that we’ve done as a one-to-one adaptation of the books. Obviously, we can’t do every page, but Time of Contempt gave us so many big action events, plot points, defining character moments, huge reveals of a big bad. There’s so much to do that we were able to stick really, really closely with the books.

    Lauren Hissrich

    While Cavill is set to leave behind a role he was quite committed to, it does seem like they are at least trying to honor the time they spent together. It’s unclear if any of the rumors may be confirmed or not, we still have a season to look forward to.

    Source: Entertainment Weekly

  • Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Finds its Belle-Mere

    Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Finds its Belle-Mere

    We’re still waiting for an update on the upcoming live-action adaptation of One Piece. We haven’t had an official casting in some time but luckily enjoyed a recent update by the manga’s creator Eiichiro Oda himself teasing that the project is going to be “amazing” or “great” depending on the translation. Still, the CVs of various actors have given us a few teases of actors that were cast in various smaller roles from the production.

    The same has just happened with actress Genna Galloway, who revealed in her CV that she’s playing the role of Belle-Mere as first shared by @OP_Netflix_Fan on Twitter. For those that might not know the character, she’s the adoptive mother of Nami (Emily Rudd) and Nojiko (Chioma Umeala). She plays an integral part in the development of Nami’s character and the famous Arlong Park Arc.

    That is not all though, as her Spotlight CV also includes a rather curious detail. Josef Kubota Wladyka directed the episode(s) she was a part of. The Tokyo Vice director was rumored to have a role in the production all the way back in June. We still don’t know how many episodes each director tackled but it definitely has been quite interesting getting these tidbits.

    We might have to wait until 2023 to get an official update on the production but these tidbits have been great to hold us over until we finally got an update. Conway is no stranger to working with Netflix, as she was involved with this year’s Resident Evil. So, it’ll be interesting to see what she brings to her next project.

    Source: Spotlight via Twitter

  • Netflix No Longer Moving Forward with ‘Klaus’ Director’s Next Film

    Netflix No Longer Moving Forward with ‘Klaus’ Director’s Next Film

    Why is it always animation when companies need to save money? Sadly, it seems that Netflix has decided they are no longer moving forward with a hand-drawn animated film by director Sergio Pablos. The mastermind behind the amazingly animated Klaus was going to direct a film titled Ember but surprisingly this might not have been scratched for cost-saving measures but rather due to creative decisions.

    Pablos is not losing the rights to Ember, however, and is openly looking to show the film at another studio. The director has worked on projects like Despicable Me and Smallfoot. So, perhaps he’ll find a new home as part of Dreamworks’ current new direction but there’s also always the chance that they could try their hand at Disney getting their hands on it.

    The only thing we know about the film was its description as an “epic adventure tale of humankind’s quest for fire told through the eyes of young Dikika who embarks on an impossible race to a distant volcano to retrieve the precious spark that will save her tribe.” It was only hinted as a hand-drawn animated project but there are no details if it would’ve shared a similar art style to Klaus.

    Animation has been going through a rough patch and here’s hoping that we’ll see a more positive development. While Netflix still released some of its projects like the recent Wendell & Wild or even Pinocchio, it also decided to scratch quite a few productions. Animated TV projects like Wings of Fire, and With Kind Regards From Kindergarten never got a chance to get going.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘One Piece’ Creator Offers Update on the Live-Action Netflix Series

    ‘One Piece’ Creator Offers Update on the Live-Action Netflix Series

    Jump Festa has finally arrived and many have wondered if we’ll get any updates on Western productions regarding some of the popular Shonen Jump storylines. One in particular was the Netflix adaptation of One Piece that has the challenging task of bringing the iconic story of Monkey D. Luffy to live-action. With its cartoony world, it seems like a daunting task for anyone to tackle but showrunners Matt Owens and Steve Maeda have been all-in ever since the production started back in January. We didn’t get any trailer or first look during Jump Festa, but a message from One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda has given us an update and it looks like he’s excited about the adaptation.

    Oda leaves a message for all attendees every year and this one was no different. In it he reflects on the last 25 years, the upcoming game adaptation One Piece Odyssey and highlights the “Hollywood Live-Action” series. @Orojapan1 has been kind enough offer a rough translation of the statement shared by Oda, where he goes into some detail about the series and potentially hints at a 2023 release.

    And the Hollywood Live-Action is also in production! We’re currently going through the rough drafts for Season 1. Tehre’s been a lot of work behind the scenes, but I was the most worried one during the process…But it’s really great!!!

    Eiichiro Oda translated by Orojapan

    another translation from @newworldartur rephrases it a bit, as he states they “have the base footage of Season 1” and once again highlights that he was nervous about the production but instead of great he calls it “actually looks amazing.” Until an official tranlsation is released, we can only use these fan translatinos that offer a glimpse on what was discussed or revealed during the panel. Still, it does seem like a reassuring trend is that he’s seemingly quite happy with the production.

    But it’s also not surprising that he was nervous during production, as it is his creation that is being adapted in a new medium under the supervision of others. Not too long ago, we learned just how involved he is with the project and the fact they are already working on the rough drafts for the first season might hint that they are further along in production. So, here’s hoping that a first look isn’t too far anymore and it’s reassuring to know that the franchise’s creator is calling this adaptation “great”.

    Source: Twitter, Twitter