Following the recent development of the Avatar sequels resuming production in Wellington, New Zealand last month, there is word from Deadline that Marvel Studios is hoping to restart filming on Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings by the end of July.
Filming had been taking place at Fox Studios Australia facility in Sydney, New South Wales.
This comes after Australia productions were halted over COVID-19 concerns and director Destin Daniel Cretton self-isolating when it was believed he might have come into contact with someone that was sick with Coronavirus.
Like New Zealand, Australia has been able to keep Coronavirus cases to a minimum and this means they’ll be able to resume filming sooner than other projects located in other countries.
We’ll have to see if they’ll truly be able to finish the film to meet that May 7th, 2021 release date considering the current delays they’ve seen and new protocols might see completing scenes taking longer than normal.
Delays would certainly impact Thor: Love & Thunder being ready on time as there had been expectations to begin shooting this summer/fall.
Director David Ayer really really likes making movies about criminals in Los Angeles, as he’s back with a new film titled The Tax Collector starring Bobby Soto and Shia LaBeouf.
A brand new trailer has dropped online which shows off a familiar setting but a slick slightly more grounded look to it than his more recent offerings.
THE TAX COLLECTOR – David (Bobby Soto) and Creeper (Shia LaBeouf), are “tax collectors” for the crime lord Wizard, collecting his cut from the profits of local gangs’ illicit dealings. But when Wizard’s old rival returns to Los Angeles from Mexico, the business is upended, and David finds himself desperate to protect what matters more to him than anything else: his family.
The film will be released on VOD, Digital HD, and in theaters (we’ll see if that happens) on August 7th.
Former 20th Century Fox executive Emma Watts has been previously named the successor to Stacey Snider as the president of production at 20th Century Studios, while Disney took reigns of the legendary film studio. In January, Watts resigned her position at 20th Century and according to Deadline has found a new home at Paramount.
Emma has taken the role of president at Paramount Motion Pictures group starting on July 20th and will directly report to Paramount Pictures Chairman/CEO Jim Gianopulos.
Wyck Godfrey, the current president, will be returning to produce film and television.
This is exciting news for both Watts and Paramount, as she has an excellent eye for projects having produced films such as The Martian, Deadpool, Logan, Avatar and Ford v. Ferrari.
The next big project at Paramount will be Martin Scorsese’s $200 million-plus budgeted crime thriller Killers of The Flower Moon starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, which will be co-financed by Apple.
Paramount has been in a rut for the last couple of years after losing the distribution on the Marvel Studios films to Disney. Along with having a tough time competing with other studios despite their success with franchises like Transformers and Mission: Impossible. Not to mention expensive action projects like Ghost In The Shell, Gemini Man, and Terminator: Dark Fate losing them a lot of money when they didn’t perform at the global box office as expected.
Hopefully, Emma Watts can attract directors and high-end projects to the studio that will get audiences excited.
The Ronin has been able to independently confirm that Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures’ upcoming/untitled Spider-Man 3 has indeed added veteran visual effects supervisor Kelly Port to the film’s production team.
Port most recently worked on Marvel’s box office juggernauts Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. I’m curious if this potentially hints at the scale of the superhero sequel or they simply wanted someone already familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has tackled Spider-Man.
He was nominated for Best Achievement In Visual Effects at the 2019 Academy Awards for his work on Avengers: Infinity War.
Kelly has a history with Disney previously working on Beauty & The Beast and Maleficent.
Director Jon Watts is returning to finish his trilogy with a script penned by Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna. The pair of screenwriters also worked on the last two installments.
Outside of Spider-Man being framed for the murder of Quentin Beck aka Mysterio and his secret idenity being revealed by J.K. Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson, we don’t know much about the third MCU Spider-Man film other than Parker will likely be hunted-down by authorities.
The recent Morbius teaser trailer confirmed that the Sony Pictures spinoff film takes place in the same space as Spider-Man: Homecoming as it featured a brief cameo from Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes aka The Vulture during some sort of prison escape scene.
No casting announcements have been made as the planned summer shoot was squashed by COVID-19, also delaying Uncharted‘s March production start. Sony most likely is going to have Tom Holland shoot the video game adaptation first in Germany (projects filming there expected to resume soon) before moving over to the Spidey project at some point.
While there have been production grids making the rounds online recently suggesting a September start for the Spider-Man sequel (working title Serenity Now) in the United States, it’s really hard to take any of those dates seriously when the COVID-19 pandemic changes day-to-day. Making those listings/dates kind of useless. Most recently, the state of Georgia has seen a massive spike of new cases over the last week and would suggest most filming that was expected to take place in Atlanta won’t be happening anytime soon along with prep/set construction given the size of the crews needed to put that together.
If the production start on Spider-Man 3 is indeed delayed into 2021 (looking more likely every day), I wouldn’t expect the film to be released on November 5th, 2021 and most likely will be pushed to another date in 2022.
The recent extension deal between Sony and Marvel includes another unnamed MCU film that will feature Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, however, what that project ultimately will be remains to be seen.
Here are some interesting Marvel tidbits that have surfaced recently.
‘WandaVision’ Expected To Have At Least 9-Episodes
A stunt person’s public resume spotted by Murphy’s Multiverse seemingly reveals that there might be at least 9-episodes of WandaVision airing on Disney+.
When WandaVision will be ready to begin airing on the streaming service hasn’t been made official. Vision actor Paul Bettany recently revealed that they still have some reshoots before they’re completely finished when that will happen is a little less unclear.
Anthony Mackie Says Marvel Studios Needs More Diversity
While speaking with Variety, MCU star Anthony Mackie took Marvel Studios to task about the diversity behind the camera.
MACKIE: “It really bothered me that I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white.”
While Marvel Studios has a few non-white producers such as Nate Moore (Eternals, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther), Trinh Tran (Hawkeye, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Captain America: Civil War), and Malcolm Spellman (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier) Marvel and the producing team could certainly be doing a lot better in all areas of hiring and expanding their diversity behind the scenes, not just in front of the camera.
Mackie also stated to Variety that the upcoming series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier is like a six-hour film.
MACKIE: “We’re shooting it exactly like a movie. Everybody who had worked on TV before was like, ‘I’ve never worked on a TV show like this.’ The way in which we were shooting, it feels exactly like we were shooting the movie cut up into the show. So instead of a two-hour movie, a six or eight-hour movie.”
When the Marvel series will begin airing is also up-in-the-air as they didn’t finish shooting and the latest restrictions from the European Union banning American travelers would suggest that they won’t be able to complete those Prague scenes anytime soon.
The United States is also still stuck in the first wave of the coronavirus making it extremely dangerous for studios to ramp-up productions in Atlanta leaving shows like Falcon and Loki in production limbo for the moment.
Ernie Hudson Confirms He Attempted To Play King T’Chaka In The MCU
Ghostbusters and The Crow star Ernie Hudson confirmed to Comic Book that he asked Marvel producers about playing T’Challa’s father and former Black Panther, King T’Chaka. However, he asserts that Marvel thought the role was too small for him.
The original rumor that Hudson was in the mix came from Latino Review back in 2014.
Hulu’s ‘Helstrom’ Series Doesn’t Seem To Have The Marvel Studios Branding
An official logo for Helstrom posted by Hulu when announcing their lineup for Comic-Con@ Home seemingly omitted the Marvel branding from the project, which is based on characters from Marvel Comics and was produced by Marvel Television before Jeph Loeb stepped down. The company has been renamed to Marvel TV Studios and is overseen by Marvel’s new CCO, Kevin Feige.
In Marvel’s Helstrom, Daimon and Ana Helstrom are the son and daughter of a mysterious and powerful serial killer. The siblings have a complicated dynamic as they track down the terrorizing worst of humanity — each with their attitude and skills.
This could support the idea that Helstrom is neither part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (unlike the Disney+ shows) and most likely won’t be getting a second season.
I had been mostly exclusively reporting on the various directors working on the series at HN Entertainment, so I’m curious to see what the Vancouver-shot show looks like.
There have been some signs that the 10-episodes will begin airing sometime near Halloween in October/November.
It looks like Disney is putting a lot of energy into their Pirates of The Caribbean franchise.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed Disney is now developing a second film alongside the reboot they’re working on. This second project would star Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey actress Margot Robbie in an undisclosed leading role with screenwriter Christina Hodson writing this new film.
Hodson is likely best known for her work on the DC Comics films such as Birds of Prey, Batgirl, and most recently with rewrites on The Flash.
Robbie being Australian might be a good excuse to shoot at the various sea-side locations and studios down under. I’m also curious if they’re planning on giving her the role of Redd, the updated attraction character from the parks that is now a female pirate.
This female project is said to be featuring new/original characters. Also, would separate from the Pirates reboot that writers Ted Elliott and Craig Mazin (Chernobyl, The Last of Us) had been working on recently for Disney.
It certainly sounds like the studio is planning on expanding on the franchise without Jack Sparrow as both the films aren’t being pegged as sequels or a continuation of the previous installments.
Collider reported this week that Jurassic World: Dominion will be bringing back another classic Jurassic Park character. They’ve revealed that veteran character actor Campbell Scott (House of Cards) has been recast in the role of Dr. Lewis Dodgson, who briefly appeared in the original Jurassic Park giving Dennis Nedry the embryo canister to steal dinosaur DNA samples.
Dr. Dodgson had a larger role in the Michael Crichten novels as the head of InGen’s competition BioSyn. He’s said to be the CEO of BioSyn Genetics in Dominion.
Scott might be best known to audiences as playing Peter Parker’s father Richard Park in the two Amazing Spider-Man films.
Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow returns with a cast that includes Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Daniella Pineda, Justice Smith, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, Dichen Lachman, Scott Haze, Isabella Sermon, Jake Johnson, and Omar Sy.
Recent reports revealed that Universal had planned on resuming production on Dominion next month at Pinewood Studios UK.
It was originally set for release on June 11th, 2021, but it expected to move to a later date.
Warner Bros. has flinched for a second time as they’ve officially delayed Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending action blockbuster from July 31st to August 12th.
Tenet had originally been set for release on July 17th.
This comes after the state of New York removed movie theaters from Phase 4 of reopening and multiple states across the United States seeing record breaking numbers of new cases including Texas and Florida surpassing 5,500+ per day.
However, it hasn’t scared the studio enough to push the film out of the summer entirely as they’re essentially bumping the release date a less than two weeks from it’s previous date. There had been reports that Christopher Nolan had been head-strong with the studio making demands to keep the release date in July, despite the coronavirus being extremely deadly and theaters potentially being places where it can spread like wildfire.
Theaters almost attempted to reopen without mandatory masks for patrons until a handful of them noticed the backlash from that weak safety policy.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the studio delayed the film to the fall or winter.
TENET – John David Washington is the new Protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s original sci-fi action spectacle “Tenet.” Armed with only one word—Tenet—and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time. Not time travel. Inversion.
Director David Leitch has landed yet another studio action project according to The Hollywood Reporter. The co-director of John Wick will return to the world of assassins with Bullet Train for Sony Pictures and they’re hoping to begin sometime in the fall.
They’ve also provided a brief idea of what to expect from the project. Its script is being handled by Fear Street screenwriter Zak Olkewicz.
Bullet Train centers on a group of hitmen and assassins with conflicting motives on a train in Tokyo.
Oddly enough, Bullet Train shares it’s title with an existing Japanese film from 1975 directed by Jun’ya Satô with legendary action stars Sonny Chiba (The Street Fighter, Kill Bill) and Ken Takakura (Black Rain, The Yakuza) in leading roles. I’m curious if the original film from Japan will have any influence on this new project.
Sony is hopeful because of the contained setting of the project (on a train) they’ll be able to limit the number of people on set during the filming.
David’s previous releases all have strong action sequences which has helped him gain the reputation of a solid action film director, thanks to his background in stunts.
At one point, Antoine Fuqua was attached to direct.
The director has been putting together multiple deals to make multiple films at various studios, but I’m unsure if he’ll be able to make all of them. Here is a rundown of the other various projects that David has been reportedly attached to direct over the last year or so.
A feature adaptation of the Ubisoft video game The Division for Netflix with Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal attached to star.
A remake of the classic Bruce Lee martial arts action film Enter The Dragon for Warner Bros. Pictures.
Undying Love, a vampire action film set in Hong Kong and based on the Image Comics property.
A feature film remake of the classic David Carradine series Kung Fu.
Leitch is also producing a string of upcoming releases such as the Universal action flick Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) coming to theaters on February 26th, 2021, the Toyko-set Netflix assassin film Kate starring Elizabeth Winstead (Birds of Prey), and the recently announced memory loss thriller for STX titled Fast & Loose.
While sequels to Hobbs & Shaw, Atomic Blonde, and Deadpool 2 are said to be in early development stages. It remains to be seen if David will return to direct those projects.
Despite Robert Rodriguez’s original intention to shoot his next film Hypnotic in California, the film starring Ben Affleck is instead reportedly heading to Austin, Texas.
Even though Texas has become a new hot-spot in the United States for coronavirus, the Austin Chronicle is reporting that the Affleck project is going to attempt to begin shooting next month in the state at Robert’s Troublemaker Studios facility located in East Austin around July 27th.
The high-end estimates of Hypnotic’s budget are said to be in the range of $80 million. However, with the explosion of new cases in Texas, I wouldn’t be shocked if the shoot is delayed beyond the summer. Production was originally planned to begin in late April.
The film’s script was penned by Rodriguez and Monsterverse screenwriter Max Borenstein (Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of The Monsters, Godzilla vs Kong).
Ben Affleck has been set to star in Robert Rodriguez’s action-thriller Hypnotic, playing a detective who, while investigating a string of impossible high-end heists, becomes entangled in a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program.
Robert recently worked on the Netflix superhero film We Can Be Heroes along with directing on Season 2 of the Star Wars live-action series The Mandalorian for Lucasfilm/Disney. He also released the cyberpunk film Alita: Battle Angel last year for 20th Century Studios, the manga adaption was a collaboration with blockbuster filmmaker and producer James Cameron.
I’ve learned that cinematographer David Klein, who worked with Robert on The Mandalorian, is expected to reunite with him on Hypnotic.
If they do end up starting production this summer or fall there is a good shot that it’ll be ready for release sometime next year.
Affleck had wrapped his erotic thriller Deep Water with co-star Ana de Armas and had been shooting a smaller role in Ridley Scott’s period drama The Last Duel before the production shutdown earlier this year.
THE RONIN 