Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: TV News

  • DC Studios’ New Cinematic Universe Won’t Recast Everyone

    DC Studios’ New Cinematic Universe Won’t Recast Everyone

    DC Cinematic Universe’s future remains a big question mark. Co-CEO James Gunn has hinted that we’ll see our first look at the franchise’s future in January but anything can happen by then. Thinking back, so much has already changed and shifted with Wonder Woman 3 dead in the water and Henry Cavill no longer returning as Superman; just as he was about to return due to Dwayne Johnson‘s insistence that Black Adam is Superman’s biggest rival. Still, it made many assume that future projects would end up seeing their main stars recast outside of some Gunn mainstays from The Suicide Squad.

    Well, Gunn is no stranger to outright speaking his mind and confirming that not everything is as the Internet wills it into existence. According to one of his latest tweets reacting to a few statements regarding the Snyderverse fandom, he reveals that he’s not going to just recast every actor that’s been a part of the DCEU so far.

    The big question, however, is if the DCEU will remain the way it was or if they simply rebooting the entire thing with The Flash. A multiverse storyline is the perfect outlet to give the franchise another chance even if it’ll likely muddle up some people’s expectations of these stories. It would be ironic if some similar plans were set for Marvel Studios’ The Multiverse Saga but due to its urgency, DC got the chance to reboot their franchise first.

    Source: Twitter

  • Jensen Ackles Campaigned for a Role in ‘The Last of Us’

    Jensen Ackles Campaigned for a Role in ‘The Last of Us’

    The Last of Us is almost upon us and luckily, it means we’ll finally get to see Pedro Pascal‘s take on the iconic character of Joel. Though, as often is the case, you never know who else might’ve almost had the role to define their take on a popular character. As it turns out, The Boys and Supernatural alum Jensen Ackles was campaigning quite a bit to take on the role of Joel Miller but seemingly never truly got into the running.

    I was really pushing hard, but I don’t think I was really in the mix or even had a shot at Pedro Pascal’s role in the Last Of Us. but that was high up on my radar.

    Jensen Ackles

    Ackles is a big name but he got a second boost when he finished his work with The Boys‘ latest season. Plus, who knows if he was what they were looking for at the time, as Joel is more an older character that represents the hardship of when time passes by them and they somewhere gave up. Ackles has a lot of energy and likely might’ve not fallen into what they were looking for.

    The first trailers were quite promising with the adaptation of the classic Naughty Dog gaming franchise. It would be hard to imagine Ackles in the role, but it’s a shame he didn’t get a chance to tackle a different role in the series. Perhaps they are mapping out multiple seasons and are interested in adding him after all.

    Source: Reddit via Twitter

  • James Gunn and Peter Safran Almost Weren’t DC Studios’ New Heads

    James Gunn and Peter Safran Almost Weren’t DC Studios’ New Heads

    DC Studios will shape the future of an entire franchise with James Gunn and producer Peter Safran at the steering wheel. It’s an exciting prospect to see what the future has in store for the franchise, even as they leave behind some of the landmarks that defined the franchise throughout the last few years. Yet, it seems that they almost weren’t in the leading position as Warner Bros. Discovery had their eyes set on someone else.

    As it turns out, their big hope was for Todd Phillips, the director behind the surprise billion dollar box office hit, Joker, and The Hangover trilogy. An insider shared just how far they went in trying to get him involved with the project, after “the whole town turned the job down. It was almost Todd Phillips. They begged him.”

    Everyone was aware of the impossible task set upon them taking over a role that Kevin Feige managed to master against all odds. Gunn was a fitting choice considering he’s worked under Marvel Studios’ leadership to get a glimpse at what it means to run a cinematic franchise. Still, there does seem to be some concern, especially with him not having been in such a position before.

    I wonder if big filmmakers will work for another director with zero experience guiding movies through a huge grinder of a system. He’s not Kevin Feige [of Marvel].

    Though it should be noted that the same issue also would’ve been with Phillips if he was given the position. He only has the additional caveat of having no real interest in the DC universe or any understanding of what makes it tick. Yes, Joker was a success but that doesn’t mean every film he touches would have the same effect. Plus, he has openly mocked the genre in the past and who knows how the DC Cinematic Universe would look like under his leadership.

    Source: New York Post

  • The Sunday Paper—December 18, 2022

    The Sunday Paper—December 18, 2022

    dc studios slate

    The newly-formed DC Studios has continued to cause pure chaos and make the DC Entertainment brand messier than ever—which is hard to do. But perhaps better days are on the horizon for the studio, as co-CEO James Gunn told Twitter this week that DC Studios has a new slate set, and he plans to unveil the first part of it in early 2023. With that announcement, though, came the news that Superman actor Henry Cavill will in fact not be returning to play the character in the future. Cavill announced his return in October with his post-credits scene cameo in Black Adam to much fanfare. Black Adam, for a few reasons now, has become a fairly awkward moment in DC’s history. It probably does not help that Dwayne Johnson’s team reportedly leaked the film’s profit report based on false assumptions to try and prove to the public that the movie was profitable.

    Cavill Superman fans have much to mourn. To dream about what could have been, Walter Hamada’s original DCEU plan for the character was revealed. We also learned that the officially dead Man of Steel 2 would have placed Cavill against classic Superman foe Braniac. Now, fans will have to wait and see what Gunn’s new Superman script will look like.

    With everything happening at DC Studios, it begs the questions of whether the four remaining DCEU films with scheduled releases will actually happen, or alternatively, matter. If The Flash does go forward, it apparently cut Cavill’s and Gal Gadot’s cameos in its most recent cut, which would suggest that DC’s flagship characters across the board will likely get recast in a hard reboot situation. In that reboot scenario, it is very unclear how films like Blue Beetle will play any role in the studio’s grand new plan, but you can read the first official synopsis of the film here. It could be all we get.

    spiderman spinoff
    antman and the wasp cassie

    While DC is having a difficult time, Marvel—through Marvel Studios and Sony—is all business as usual. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania director Peyton Reed this week discussed how the film will be a major and important movie within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, rather than a palate cleanser like many perceive the first two Ant-Man films. He also discussed how crucial Bill Murray’s mysterious character is to the story. Of course, Quantumania will be our first significant foray into Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conquerer. With him in mind, a wild new fan theory is circulating that fans have already watched the ending of Avengers: Secret Wars.

    Many speculate that the Deadpool 3 film will feature Deadpool and Wolverine annihilating the Fox Marvel universe. If you read into a specific word director Shawn Levy used in an interview, it lends a lot of support to that theory. The previous Fox universe of course includes two iterations of the Fantastic Four. While fans eagerly away who the MCU’s Fab Four will be, it seemed confirmed this week that John Krasinski will not be playing the proper Reed Richards in the 2025 Fantastic Four film.

    On the side, it was unfortunately confirmed that the Disney+ Hawkeye-spinoff Echo is delayed after murmurs about the show’s team not being satisfied at the end of production. Thor: Love and Thunder apparently cut Galactus from the film, and Elvis actor Austin Butler is personally gunning for a major MCU role, notably the Human Torch.

    Lastly, Sony keeps getting weirder and bolder with their Spider-Man universe. Yet another obscure villain is getting the solo film treatment in line with Morbius, Venom, Kraven the Hunter, and El Muerto. However, Hypno-Hustler will be produced by and star none other than Donald Glover.

  • ‘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

  • ‘Wednesday’ Season 2 Renewal Expected in Early 2023

    ‘Wednesday’ Season 2 Renewal Expected in Early 2023

    The unique take on the Addams Family in Tim Burton’s Wednesday has been quite the hit for Netflix. Not only did the Jenna Ortega-led project pass the one billion hours viewed mark, it even mananged to become their second most-watched U.S. show only behind the latest season of Stranger Things. So, it would seem logical that Netflix would give that series a second season any second now but it looks like we’ll still have to wait just a bit longer before they finally announce it.

    In a new piece by Deadline, they reveal that producers are already talking to writers about a second season’s writer’s room while also looking into locations. Still, the announcement is not going to arrive before the year ends and likely won’t be confirmed by the New Year. The series was supplied by Amazon after their purchase of MGM and created a unique situation where two rival studios are working on the same show.

    The current restructuring of MGM though by Amazon Studios is not expected to derail any plans for future seasons and it seems that renewal talks are going smoothly. With their purchase of MGM, they’ve ended up developing quite a few projects with other streamers, as the same is the case with The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu, Fargo on FX, Vikings: Valhalla on Netflix and more. So, it doesen’t seem like Amazon will suddenly decide to remove any of these projects for no reason.

    Source: Deadline

  • Netflix Kills ‘Blockbuster’….Again

    Netflix Kills ‘Blockbuster’….Again

    You’d think Netflix would be tired of doing the same thing over and over again, but another series has sadly been scrapped by the streamer. Ironically, it’s the new comedy starring Melissa Fumero and Randall Park as two employees in the last living Blockbuster. Sadly, it seems the new comedy hasn’t quite found its audience and burned out even with a 10-episode release that used the usually popular workplace comedy concept in a familiar setting.

    though, it’s not all too surprising given that the new series hasn’t even broken into the Top 10 rankings in the United States. We don’t have a full transparency on how exactly Netflix decides what is and isn’t allowed to live on but they tend to keep a close eye on who positions where. The addition of that feature has given us a surprising insight into what has a decent chance of avoiding Netflix’s popular chopping block.

    Blockbuster also wasn’t quite the critical darling either, even with Vanessa Ramos as its showrunner. There’s a hilarious aspect about Netflix canceling a show about the Blockbuster store, as they were one of the major reasons that chain went down to begin with. Once you could conveniently watch your favorite programming from your couch, there was no real need to go back to rental stores. In some regard, perhaps the internet hoped that it might fail so that we could just pull the joke of Netflix killing Blockbuster for a second time.

    Source: Variety

  • Amazon Secures Rights to ‘Warhammer 40,000’, Henry Cavill to Spearhead Cinematic Universe

    Amazon Secures Rights to ‘Warhammer 40,000’, Henry Cavill to Spearhead Cinematic Universe

    While we just recently heard that Amazon is looking to Man of Steel’s Henry Cavill to star and executive produce an adaptaiton of the Warhammer 40,000 table top games, they haven’t yet secured the rights to the property. Luckily, it didn’t take long after as they just confirmed that the agreement has been finalized for the rights across TV series, film, animation, and even games. Head of Amazon and MGM Studios, Jennifer Salke, has shared the following statement:

    Warhammer 40,000 has captured the imagination of fans of all ages, from all walks of life, and all over the world. We are excited to work with Henry, Vertigo Entertainment, and Games Workshop across our Amazon entertainment businesses on this brilliant, immersive franchise for our global customers to experience for years to come.

    Jennifer Salke

    Henry Cavill has an executive producer role on the upcoming project, and has secured the rights alongside Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Natalie Viscuso. He also confirms that this is more than just a one time project, as he will spearhead and build up the cinematic universe.

    I have loved Warhammer since I was a boy, making this moment truly special for me. The opportunity to shepherd this cinematic universe from its inception is quite the honor and the responsibility. I couldn’t be more grateful for all the hard work put in by Vertigo, Amazon Studios and Games Workshop to make this happen. One step closer to making a nigh on lifelong dream come true.

    Henry Cavill

    He also couldn’t contain his excitement with a post after the first announcement on his involvement hit the internet.

    It’s a major step forward for the actor hfter having recently left The Witcher series and losing out on his iconic DC role of Superman. Yet, it seems that Warhammer 40K will keep him busy for many years to come if the post-apocalyptic project manages to get rolling. And, it seems like he is able to make a lifelong dream come true and that’s always a great way to approach any cinematic universe.

    Source: Instagram, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter

  • End of an Era: ‘Pokémon’ Ends Ash Ketchum’s Journey After 25 Years

    End of an Era: ‘Pokémon’ Ends Ash Ketchum’s Journey After 25 Years

    Yes, Ash Ketchum has finally reached his goal and will no longer be the main lead of the 25 years ongoing Pokémon animated series. Now, two new characters will take over as the anime enters Paldea and introduces us to a whole new world. It’s crazy to think how long we’ve spent time with Ash and his Pikachu; especially with him still being 10 years old for most of his journey.

    Luckily, Ash’s journey isn’t just randomly over but rather gets a final run with the new special episodes Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series. We get one last journey with our iconic duo before the new team takes over. Sarah Natochenny has voiced the character since 2006 and it originally began all the way back in 1997.

    It truly is the end of an era to not see Ash as part of the series and might be the perfect time for a new generaiton to check it out. The new designs of the main characters do include some staples from Ash, such as the logo from his cap being used as a clip. We might still have to wait a bit before we see the new characters in action and perhaps the farewell series might even hint at where Ash would return in a future episode.

    Perhaps he’ll become a gym leader or teacher so that he can pass on his experiences to a new generation. He may not be leading the series anymore, but that doesn’t mean he can’t still be a part of it moving forward. It’ll be weird not to have Pikachu as a main member of the Pokémon roster either given he’s the series mascot. So, perhaps he finds himself in that same role soon again.

    Source: Twitter

  • UPDATED: Newly Spotted DC Studios Logo Debunked

    UPDATED: Newly Spotted DC Studios Logo Debunked

    UPDATED: Earlier today, we’ve shared a post from producer Patrick Schumacker that had a curious DC Studios logo. What caught everyone’s attention was that he deleted the post quite swiftly which made many think that perhaps there’s more to this image. Now, The Wrap’s Umberto Gonzalez has shared that the logo may have the title on it but it’s simply a holiday gift that was handed out.

    Source: Twitter

    Well, here’s a sudden surprise but it seems like producer Patrick Schumacker, who has worked on the DC series Harley Quinn and Powerless, has shared an interesting new post on Social Media before swiftly taking it offline. That action has sparked quite a bit of interest as @FlashFilmNews was fast enough to get their hands on the image that reveals DC Studios new logo. As the division is new, formerly known as just DC Films, we’ve long wondered if they’d unveil one in the near future. It seems it may have found its way online faster than anyone may have expected.

    What makes this logo stand out is that it’s taking cues from Jim Lee‘s redesign as part of the New 52. The fact it includes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and The Flash may also be our first look at what could be the slate. Though, we still have to say that perhaps its not the official logo and just one version they played around with but why would there be a sweater printed? It could also be something he purchased as a fan but DC Studios didn’t exist before James Gunn and Peter Safran took over as co-CEOs, as it was always known as DC Films under Walter Hamada.

    We still can’t say this is the final design but the fact that Schumacker swiftly deleted it before it went online is a bit telling. Perhaps a reveal was planned for today and he just accidentally scheduled it for the wrong time, but with James Gunn teasing a slate reveal in January, perhaps a logo reveal is something they want to offer as a little holiday gift. We’ll see if something follows in the coming days.

    Source: Twitter