Disney’s 4-hour Investor Day presentation today is expected, among other things, reveal plans for a “significant expansion of the Star Wars universe”, unveil which of Disney’s feature films will head directly to Disney Plus and, most relevant to this piece, unleash a few new Marvel Studios projects. Ahead of today’s meeting, we have identified a new production company associated with Marvel Studios: Frequent Productions.
The creation of production companies is one of the earliest signs that movement has begun on new projects. Each project is assigned its own company and then work on the projects begin in earnest under those banners. At the moment, there are 3 production companies we are 100% sure are associated with Marvel Studios:
- Solve Everything (almost certainly the Fantastic Four film)
- Grass-Fed (we have no idea, but have a lot of guesses)
- Frequent (see some guesses below)
There are also 3 other production companies, uncovered earlier by Arlyn Murphy, that have been created and COULD be associated with Marvel Studios but, as of now, there’s not enough evidence to make the call; however, should they be associated with Marvel Studios, they’d represent another 3 projects which have been green lit:
- Blueberry Waffles
- Log Jam
- Standoffish
Based on what we know, the most logical assumption we can make is that Frequent Productions is related to the Nick Fury-centric series being developed by Kyle Bradstreet. That series (which I am increasingly more convinced is a Secret Warriors adaptation), would seemingly be the furthest along in development and “ready” to move into the earliest stages of “pre-production” in order to prepare to film next Spring. We’ve heard the studio hopes to film it in the Spring and is looking at Atlanta’s Tyler Perry Studios, which is currently being used by Marvel Studios to film Hawkeye, and Frequent Productions will be operating out of Atlanta.
Going into today’s Investor presentation with the knowledge that Solve Everything is likely to be Fantastic Four and Frequent could maybe possibly be the Nick Fury series, we can generate some realistic expectations about what projects the studio may “announce.” Keep in mind that as far as official Marvel Studios announcements go, the Nick Fury series and Deadpool 3 don’t “OFFICIALLY” exist yet, so out of these 2 “sure thing” companies (Grass-Fed and Frequent) and 3 “50/50” companies (Blueberry Waffles, Log Jam and Standoffish) we could guess that 2 of them belong to those 2 projects. That gives us 3 other “possible” projects that MIGHT POSSIBLY BUT WE CAN’T BE CERTAIN be announced. Among those most likely to match up with these production companies are Ironheart, Young Avengers, Ghost Rider, Secret Invasion and The Illuminati, all projects which were in the earliest stages of development earlier this year. It’s also possible that some other projects have moved up in order and we just don’t know about them yet.
On the film side of things, the slate through 2023 seems pretty firm with Thor: Love and Thunder, Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness, Captain Marvel 2, Black Panther 2, Ant-Man 3 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 all either currently shooting or scheduled to shoot and Fantastic Four, Blade and Deadpool 3 seemingly “next up.” Of that list, only Blade and Deadpool 3 aren’t yet known to be tied to any production companies, so they might occupy 2 of those as well. Of course, Marvel Studios could add to their upcoming film slate in a surprising way today as well, but extending it much beyond 2023 given the current environment might be an unnecessary risk.
So truly out of the 5 unoccupied production companies, 3 of them might belong to projects we already know about in Blade, Deadpool 3 and the Fury series. Still, that leaves 2 “surprises” should Marvel Studios choose to reveal them. Personally, I look forward to getting some interesting updates and finding out about the new D+ series they plan to produce in 2021, but am always willing to be surprised! For now, we can say with certainty that Frequent Productions belongs to one of these upcoming Marvel Studios projects but since we don’t know, we’re asking you guys to vote on it over at @MultiverseMurph!
