Author: Christopher Marc

Posted on in Film News

‘Black Widow’ Heading Towards $80M+ Opening Weekend & David Harbour Teases Red Guardian’s Future

Marvel Studios and Disney waiting over a full year to release Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow is likely going to pay off big time for the studio, as the film is said to have already earned nearly $40 million ($39.5 million) on Friday at the domestic box office and it’s a good start considering the solo film’s $200 million budget.

Estimates from Deadline now place the full weekend opening potentially heading towards $80-90 million, which will give the film a pandemic era box office record. 

Collider also recently spoke with Red Guardian actor David Harbour about plans to see his Russian character making a return to the MCU in the not too distant future. 

“There is some chatter around certain things. We were pretty focused on just this. They also have a lot of stuff in the pipe that, it seems like in this particular phase, there’s a lot of different… There’s like Eternals…There’s different elements to this universe that I think they’re branching out at this point until they start to do this. I knew I wasn’t involved in that branch. The discussions were… They didn’t really give a sense of what was up next. It was more just really focused on this movie, and some speculation of possibilities,” David Harbour responded to the question of his character Red Guardian’s potential return in the future. 

Stuff like a Thunderbolts project or even Anthony Mackie’s Captain American 4 would be a good bet to make for Red Guardians’ return unless Marvel potentially considers giving Alexei Shostakov a solo Disney+ series.

Director Cate Shortland has talked up the idea of returning for a Black Widow sequel focusing on “other characters,” in theory, that could be a way to have him return by including Alexei alongside Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova as the new Black Widow. 

“I think following a different character, yes. I think Scarlett is really happy that she’s leaving the party, you know, and she’s not the last to leave. She decided she wanted to go. And I don’t think she would want to come back at the moment,” the filmmaker told the Radio Times when asked about the possibility of a sequel and alluding to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova taking over the mantle.

As it stands, Marvel hasn’t announced plans for Black Widow 2. However, Pugh’s Yelena will appear in the Hawkeye series that will likely drop on Disney+ later in the year.

BLACK WIDOW – In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. Directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige, the movie stars Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff. Florence Pugh stars as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff.

Posted on in Features

SPOILERS: ‘Black Widow’ Has A New Take On Taskmaster & The Future Of Yelena In The MCU

***WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BLACK WIDOW***

Black Widow has been a film that took a decade to get to the big screen as there had been a previous incarnation at Lionsgate with David Hayter (X-Men, Watchmen) attached to write and direct, but because of various superhero films flopping including the other Lionsgate/Marvel collaboration, the R-rated Punisher: War Zone from 2008.

Ultimately, Marvel Studios circled-back with Australian filmmaker Cate Shortland taking the director’s chair, someone that had to be convinced to take the gig and other contenders such as Eternals’ Chloe Zhao being considered. The film launched on Disney+ and theaters yesterday, as with previous Marvel films it seems like it’ll be extremely successful.

The film is sort of a closed loop for Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff since she dies in Avengers: Endgame and will likely stay dead, although, the studio could develop a run of reversing character deaths when it suits them via The Multiverse, but this could increasingly dull post-Loki and resurrection of Gamora in Avengers: Endgame.

However, Black Widow does introduce us to two characters that will likely have a bigger role to play moving forward. That would be Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova (already confirmed for the Hawkeye series) and the mysterious MCU version of Marvel Comics villain Taskmaster.

Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster

While it started to become obvious that Taskmaster was indeed going to be woman (Mason being a red herring from the jump) within the suit/mask because promotional materials (Taskmaster’s lack of crotch bulge on posters was a dead give away), however, it seemed like it was still a surprise that it turned out to be Dreykov’s (Ray Winstone) adult daughter Antonia surviving a bomb and altered with technology to become a perfect mimic. She’s revealed to be played by Quantum of Solace actress Olga Kurylenko.

Gender-swapping Anthony Masters from the comics, isn’t the real problem I have with this casting choice or the big screen version of the character.

I’m personally confused about going with Antonia, mainly, because she was supposed to be a child when Natasha assassinated her and father. However, my biggest problem is that actress Olga Kurylenko is clearly not younger than Scarlett Johansson and is actually almost five years older than her, turning 42 later in the year. Making the the reveal more puzzling for people like myself who understand the age difference between the two actresses goes in the wrong direction.

Retconning both their deaths undercuts Natasha Romanoff’s history as a ruthless deadly assassin, softening her image which sort of does a disservice to that hardened backstory. It’s also unnecessary since the character is dead and had redeemed herself multiple times in previous films.

We’ll likely see Taskmaster return at some point, likely part of the Thunderbolts team that is slowly being assembled. Hopefully, future projects will give us better action scenes with her because Black Widow didn’t do a great job there and felt a bit generic.

Speaking of Thunderbolts, the end credit scene features Julia-Louis Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra de La Fontaine meeting up with Yelena to give her a new mission, to take out Clint Barton. This likely explains her involvement with the Hawkeye series and would suggest she won’t start out as a friend.

We previously saw Val recruit John Walker’s U.S. Agent at the end of The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, it’ll be curious if Thunderbolts are getting their own project or being assembled to be unleashed as future antagonists like in upcoming movies like Captain American 4.

Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova was the biggest highlight for me in Black Widow and while the solo film wasn’t my favorite because the pre-release hype for the action was a huge let down when the final film didn’t have a lot of memorable action sequences, most felt more cartoony if anything because of the overuse of digital effects for a grounded character like Romanoff. It’ll be nice to have some real stakes with future Black Widow sequels led by Yelena’s incarnation of the character.

We’ll have to wait and see how Marvel will use these characters.

Posted on in Film News

Paul Verhoeven Declined To Direct Legendary Flop ‘Cutthroat Island’ To Focus On His Expensive ‘Crusade’ Movie Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger

Paul Verhoeven is busy these days making more slightly more artsy films than his commercial Hollywood work with projects like the WWII espionage pic “Black Book,” the French-language revenge thriller “Elle,” and his latest the erotic nun movie “Benedetta” that will debut this week at Cannes. 

In the 1990s, Verhoeven attempted to recapture the magic from the Oscar-winning sci-fi action satire blockbuster “Total Recall” by reuniting with Arnold Schwarzenegger for a big-budget epic “Crusade,” that would see the action star returning to his “Conan The Barbarian” roots. The project is Hollywood legend as the studio behind “Total Recall,” Carolco was having massive financial troubles at the time and had two pricey projects on deck, they could only afford to make one of them. Those projects being “Crusade” and the other Geena Davis-led pirate adventure blockbuster “Cutthroat Island,” the studio picked the pirate movie and it tanked so hard it bankrupted the studio, ultimately killing Carolco and “Crusade” among other films with it. 

In an interview with Variety, the Dutch filmmaker reveals that Carolco originally offered him “Cutthroat Island,” but declined because his passion was for reuniting with Schwarzenegger and dishes some details as the project would have seen his character become the king of Jerusalem only settle on a farm by the end of the film, taking cues from Voltaire‘s “Candide.”

Verhoeven reveals he almost made “Cutthroat” after it was offered to him but declined, At one point they even asked me if I was interested in “Cutthroat Island,” but I really wanted to work with Arnold again after “Total Recall.” Our idea was to make this movie where Arnold becomes the king of Jerusalem. At the end he abandons all of that to live with his girlfriend and settles in a little farm. It’s basically the end from Voltaire’s ‘Candide,’ when the main character is asked what he’s going to do now and he says he’s going to cultivate his own garden.

When it was time to make “Pirates of The Caribbean: Curse of The Black Pearl,” Disney must have been extremely nervous after “Waterworld” and “Cutthroat Island” being monster bombs, both boat/ocean based adventure movies.

Some of the other never made Schwarzenegger movies include a mostly silent version of “I Am Legend” from director Ridley Scott with mostly practical effects that turned into the Will Smith vehicle and a direct sequel to “Total Recall” based on Philip K. Dick‘s “Minority Report” that in the wake of Carolco’s bankruptcy switched studios with director Steven Spielberg severing all ties to “Total Recall” and hiring Tom Cruise to star. 

Posted on in Film News

Henry Cavill Returns To Spy Genre With Matthew Vaughn’s ‘Argylle’; Bryan Cranston, John Cena & More Join Too

Matthew Vaughn’s next feature film Argylle is officially a go!

A while back, The Ronin first revealed that the title for Vaughn’s flick would be Argylle (originally we thought it was a working title) along with confirmations that the film’s production team would consist of cinematographer George Richmond (Fantastic Beasts 3, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Rocketman, Eddie The Eagle) and production designer Daniel Taylor (Tetris).

Deadline has now revealed/confirmed the full cast after a handful of names from the cast were revealed yesterday by Observer.

The spy flick based on the upcoming novel by Ellie Conway will star Henry Cavill (The Witcher, Man of Steel), Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2, Moon, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards), Bryce Dallas Howard (Black Mirror, Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Dominion), Bryan Cranston (Godzilla, Breaking Bad), Catherine O’Hara (Home Alone, SCTV, Schitt’s Creek, John Cena (Bumblebee, F9: The Fast Saga), and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained).

This will be a return for Cavill to the spy genre after taking roles in Guy Ritchie’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E and playing a villain in Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout opposite franchise star Tom Cruise.

Director Matthew Vaughn will be reuniting with Cavill after working with him on his second feature film Stardust and more recently worked with Jackson on Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Conway’s novel follows the world’s greatest spy, Argylle, as he is caught up in a globe-trotting adventure.

Here is the character information from the Observer.

Bryce Dallas Howard is in talks to star in the lead role. Tricked into thinking she’s a writer, her lethal skills return with her memories, setting her down a path of revenge against the shadowy organization she used to work for, the Division. Also in talks to star are Sam Rockwell as a former Division agent and our heroine’s love interest, and Samuel L. Jackson as a rogue agent dedicated to exposing the corruption within the clandestine spy network.

Singer Dua Lipa will also make her acting debut in the project and teased a release in 2022 alongside a teaser poster.

Argylle is said to be the first of a planned trilogy.

We were previously able to confirm filming will be taking place in London as Deadline adds filming begins this August.

Giant Freaking Robot first dished on early plot details.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Big Budget Action Pic ‘Red Notice’ Releases November 12 On Netflix

Netflix has officially announced their high-profile and expensive action movie Red Notice, will drop on November 12 on the streaming giant. The pricey pic costing between $160-200 million stars Hollywood blockbuster darlings Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson, and Ryan Reynolds in the lead roles.

In the world of international crime, an Interpol agent attempts to hunt down and capture the world’s most wanted art thief.

SOURCE: NETFLIX

Posted on in Film News

‘Loki’ Stunt Coordinator & ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Actress Monique Ganderton Down To Work On Marvel’s ‘X-Men’ Reboot

Monique Garderton is the stunt coordinator and second unit director of Marvel’s popular Loki series with multiple other MCU credits such Avengers: Endgame (as stunt coordinator), Avengers: Infinity War (played on-set Proxima Midnight), Captain Marvel, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, Iron Man 3, and Guardians of The Galaxy (doubled for Karen Gillan’s Nebula). Currently, she is working on Marvel’s She-Hulk series led by Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters, which is still shooting in Atlanta under the working title of Clover.

The stunt coordinator recently took fan questions (to celebrate the recent episode of Loki) from followers on Instagram stories and was asked about her desire to work on Marvel’s reboot of the X-Men franchise and said she’d love to. She has experience with the last era of X-Men, playing Death in the opening sequence of X-Men: Apocalypse alongside doing stunt work on X-Men: The Last Stand (doubling for Rebecca Romijn/Mystique) and The Wolverine. Garderton’s shared behind the scenes images of her work on previous X-Men films with her response.

Given how many female characters are connected to the X-Men franchise having her leading/overseeing the reboot’s stunt work and potentially direct second unit action sequences feels like something that is very likely going to happen, if she continues to work on Marvel projects for the foreseeable future.

While there is a script in development on Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool 3, Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige haven’t indicated officially that the main X-Men movies are coming anytime before 2025. There are plenty of unverified rumors about plans for the mutants, but we’ll have to wait a little longer for the studio to give us some real official updates.

Wade Wilson (possibly alongside other Deadpool character) is carrying over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as there has been strong indication from Kevin Feige they’ll be doing a hard-reboot with the main X-Men team like they’re doing with Jon Watts’ Fantastic Four.

Interestingly enough, I previously suggested that Marvel should consider Loki director Kate Herron for X-Men.

SOURCE: MONIQUE GANDERTON

Posted on in Film News

‘John Wick 4’: Lance Reddick Officially Returns As The Soft-Spoken Badass Charon

Lance Reddick was assumed to be returning for John Wick: Chapter 4 and that has now been officially confirmed after Deadline reported the actor’s reprising the role of Charon, Reddick posted on Twitter reaffirming the news.

His soft-spoken character was mostly on the sidelines in the first two installments but in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Charon was given a bunch of action scenes when he alongside Keanu Reeves’ John Wick have to defend The Continental from the formidable forces of The High Table.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ended with John Wick surviving the fall from the roof of The Continental hotel after Ian McShane’s Winston shot him. Winston’s motivations weren’t entirely clear as he didn’t seem shocked that Mr. Wick got away and could be giving The High Table a false sense of security. Wick eventually lands at the feet of Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King, who had his organization taken away from him by The High Table and convinces John to go to war with him against the mysterious group of criminal syndicate puppet masters. 

Filming began recently in Germany at Babelsberg Studio, the same stage facility used for Atomic Blonde and The Matrix 4.

The franchise’s newest additions joining for the fourth film include Japanese action star Horiyuki Sanada as Watanabe, Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen playing Wick’s old pal, British martial artist Scott Adkins (The Expendables 2, Doctor Strange), Atomic Blonde’s Bill Skarsgard, Stowaway’s Shamier Anderson, and the film’s female lead played by Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama. Returning with Reddick are Ian McShane as Winston and Laurence Fishburne back as the Bowery King.

We’re still in the dark about established characters played by Halle Berry, Asia Kate Dillion, John Leguizamo, Peter Stormare, Common, Jason Mantzoukas, Anjelica Huston, Said Taghmaoui, Yayan Ruhian, and Cecept Arif Rahamn making an appearance in John Wick 4.

Berry is currently busy shooting her sci-fi drama The Mothership for Netflix.

The Ronin first reveled and confirmed cinematographer Dan Laustsen would be back behind the camera.

John Wick 4 will hit the big screen on May 27, 2022 and Lionsgate had confirmed plans to make John Wick: Chapter 5, but will no longer shoot back-to-back with the next installment. Franchise creator and architect, Derek Kolstad, stated that he won’t be involved in the next two films and suggested John Wick 5 could be the final pic.

Reddick is also playing Resident Evil villain Albert Wesker in a new live-action series at Netflix.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Karen Gillan Says Working With Taika Waititi On ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ Was A Fun Experience; Teases ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3’ Script Is “Incredible”

Karen Gillan is ditching the blue makeup for her latest feature film, Gunpowder Milkshake, an all-female action project at Netflix that seemingly takes cues from modern flicks like John Wick. The Scottish actress is currently doing press for the movie and revealed to Variety what it was like working with director Taikai Waititi earlier this year during the Australian shoot for Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder.

“Taika is amazing. It was so cool to take this character and work with him. Taika definitely brings out a different, more silly sight of Nebula, for sure. Which makes total sense because his stuff is more wacky and bonkers, in the best possible way. His technique is so improvisational, especially in a big blockbuster film, you don’t expect to get that much freedom to improvise. He just shouts out things like, ‘Do this! Say that again! Again!’ It’s such a fun experience,” Karen Gillan said of her experience working with director Taika Waititi on Thor: Love & Thunder.

She also adds that James Gunn’s script for Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 is “incredible” without expanding upon that in any great detail. The third installment will begin shooting this November according to Star-Lord actor Chris Pratt and has a release date of May 5, 2023.

Gillan’s action pic Gunpowder Milkshake hits Netflix on July 14 and has a sequel in early development at StudioCanal.

GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE – Sam (Karen Gillan) was only 12 years old when her mother Scarlet (Lena Headey), an elite assassin, was forced to abandon her. Sam was raised by The Firm, the ruthless crime syndicate her mother worked for. Now, 15 years later, Sam has followed in her mother’s footsteps and grown into a fierce hit-woman. But when a high-risk job goes wrong, Sam must choose between serving The Firm and protecting the life of an innocent 8-year-old girl – Emily (Chloe Coleman). With a target on her back, Sam has only one chance to survive: Reunite with her mother and her lethal associates, The Librarians (Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, and Carla Gugino). These three generations of women must now learn to trust each other, stand up to The Firm and their army of henchmen, and raise hell against those who could take everything from them.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in Film News

Director Bong Joon Ho Says His Animated Film Won’t Release Until 2025-2026; Inspired By ‘The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures Of The Abyss’

South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho (The Host, Memories of Murder, Snowpiercer) was on the rise long before his Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for the fantastic thriller, Parasite. After the film’s release, he’s gathered quiet a large following in the west among mainstream audiences and we’re all excited to see what he gives us next.

Bong Joon Ho is currently at the Cannes Film Festival (Parasite won the Palme d’Or previously in 2019) this week and dished about a couple of upcoming projects he’s been working on via Indie Wire, including his untitled animated film. It was revealed back in May, that the director would be making an animated film inspired by the 2007 French scientific book The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of The Abyss from Claire Nouvian. However, it won’t be his next project as he’s now announced that it likely won’t be ready for a release until 2025 or 2026.

“…Inspired by a French scientific book that my wife bought and brought home. The pictures of the sea creatures were extraordinary. After that my imagination took over,” the director said of his untitled animated film. He continued to give a potential timeline for the release date, “The underwater colors are absolutely splendid. The starting point was the book. The story and animation flows from it. Animation is something I really wanted to try. I think the project will be done after my next film. I have the team for special effects. It may come out in 2025 or 2026.”

Check out a flip-through of the book below which is visually stunning.

Bong Joon Ho is also working alongside Adam McKay for a HBO series that takes place within the same world of Parasite, except will be set in the United States, the filmmaker reiterating earlier in the year that the project isn’t a remake but an original story.

PARASITE – Ki-taek’s family of four is close, but fully unemployed, with a bleak future ahead of them. The son Ki-woo is recommended by his friend, a student at a prestigious university, for a well-paid tutoring job, spawning hopes of a regular income. Carrying the expectations of all his family, Ki-woo heads to the Park family home for an interview. Arriving at the house of Mr. Park, the owner of a global IT firm, Ki-woo meets Yeon-kyo, the beautiful young lady of the house. But following this first meeting between the two families, an unstoppable string of mishaps lies in wait.

SOURCE: INDIE WIRE

Posted on in Film News

Kevin Feige Says Marvel Studios Moving Away From 6-9 Picture Deals; Similar To Ones Samuel L. Jackson & Scarlett Johansson Made During Phase One

In the early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the studio was trying to make sure they were landing actors on the cheap and to sweeten the pot Ike Perlmutter assumed that giving actors contracts consisting of six to nine film commitments would off-set the low pay (Chris Hemsworth earned only $150K for Thor) they would get on the first round of feature films (television and streaming wasn’t even considered back then).

One of the biggest Marvel deals made was when Samuel L. Jackson signed on to play Nick Fury in at least nine films. Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige has revealed to The Hollywood Reporter during an interview to promote Black Widow that they’re moving away from those extensive deals from the Phase One era.

“That got a lot of attention way back when, with I think [Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans] and Sam Jackson. It varies now. It varies, project to project, cast to cast. Really, what we want are people that come in, are excited to be in the universe, are excited at the opportunity to do more things, as opposed to being locked into contractual obligations,” the studio head told The Hollywood Reporter.

Interestingly enough, Jackson and Hemsworth are working on new projects as Johansson is expected to end her MCU run with Black Widow after reportedly earning an impressive $15 million ($5 million more than she got for leading Ghost In Shell) for the solo outing releasing on Friday.

BLACK WIDOW – In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. Directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige, the movie stars Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff. Florence Pugh stars as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER