Filmmaker Christopher Nolan is still riding high from his massively successful atomic bomb drama Oppenheimer, and we now have some idea of what his next feature film will be and when we’ll see it on the big screen. Deadline reports that Nolan will be re-teaming with Universal Pictures (after severing his longtime relationship with Warner Bros.) for yet another feature film that Matt Damon (“Oppenheimer”) is reportedly eyeing a lead role.
Not only that, but it already has a planned release date of July 17, 2026, which would likely mean Universal has greenlit the film and is now feet-first into the casting/pre-production stages.
Filming is expected to begin in early 2025, which, of course, means that we’ll likely receive a lot of casting news and more details in the coming weeks and months.
“Oppenheimer” not only won seven Academy Awards (for Best Original Score, Best Editing, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actor, Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Cinematography) in 2024 but gave Universal a huge box office earner that summer with the R-rated drama amassing an impressive $975.5 million at the global box office. It got a major boost via the organic online theatrical marketing campaign Barbenheimer that attempted to get audiences to see both “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” as they opened the same weekend, but both became two of the biggest films of 2023.
The partnership between Nolan and Universal is seemingly going to be cemented here, and we shouldn’t be all that shocked if this ends up being the director’s new homestead studio for the foreseeable future.
While Marvel Studios is gearing up to shoot things like “Spider-Man 4” with Destin Daniel Cretton (“Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings”) directing and the Russo Brothers (“Avengers: Endgame”) making their triumphant return to the MCU for “Avengers: Doomsday,” another big tentpole project is still seeking a director. That project would be their “Blade” reboot after losing two previous helmers (Bassam Tariq and Yann Damage). One rumor can be put to bed after British filmmaker Jeymes Samuel (“The Book of Clarence,” “The Harder They Fall”) squashed the rumbling he was in talks with Marvel Studios for the gig starring Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight,” “Jurassic World Rebirth”) as the new Eric Brooks.
Stating, “I don’t know where these rumors start, but I am not in talks to do ‘Blade’ with Marvel.”
You can read his full rebuttal on that rumor he posted on Twitter yesterday below.
I don’t know where these rumors start, but I am not in talks to do Blade with Marvel. I love me the Daywalker tho, I cannot wait to watch that joint.
Sidebar: When Blade 2 came out I prayed they would make: ‘WESLEY SNIPES/CHRISTOPHER LEE – BLADE III’
That aforementioned rumor originated from World of Reel, which has a spotty track record (putting it lightly) for reporting tidbits like these and was later disputed by Jeff Sneider on his YouTube podcast. So it wasn’t all that surprising that this turned out to be inaccurate.
Buyers, beware when it comes to rumors that might sound too good to be true as there are plenty of places, even from those who have strong reputations that haven’t been terribly accurate lately. An abundance of caution should be applied to mainly any non-trade reports or rumors from the jump anyway. Caution is certainly a sentiment shared by “Doctor Strange” director Scott Derrickson, who posted this evergreen message on social media today, warning folks how often rumors concerning Marvel projects tend to be bunk.
“In my years working for Marvel and in all the years since, I would say about 95% of what gets reported as Marvel news is false,” Derrickson posted on Twitter today.
Anyways, there do still seem to be plans to move forward with “Blade” despite the dust-up and extended delays to the horror/action film, which Kevin Feige reaffirmed is aiming to be another R-rated project after the huge success of the studios’ first R-rated release, “Deadpool & Wolverine,” destroyed box office records even with an adult-skewing audience. Funny enough, that film featured the return of Wesley Snipes as the Daywalker, which likely will help Marvel a lot by reminding the general public about the vampire-hunting character ahead of the new film.
I’m sure we’ll be hearing the real name of the director for “Blade,” hopefully soon, to end this online speculation and rumor mill.
Superhero project rumors can come from all different places, and a new one making the rounds online from Production Weekly (picked up by various geek circles and websites over the week) claimed that Matt Reeves (“The Batman,” “The Penguin”) was producing a “Mr. Freeze” film. Days later, the studio revealed that the rumor wasn’t true, and over the weekend was officially debunked by DC Studios‘ James Gunn.
The studio executive chimed in on the DC project rumor on threads where he admittedly liked the idea of a Freeze project but would go on to say, “There’s no truth to it at all.” Gunn has been one of the more vocal studio presences online and goes out of his way to interact with fans on social media. That includes responding to and debunking/confirming the various rumors about his projects at DC Studios.
“It’s not a bad idea, so I wouldn’t say never, but no, there’s no truth to it at all,” Gunn said in response to the rumbling on Threads (See below).
There is a possibility that the upcoming Bane/Deathstroke film (“Suicide Squad 3”?) in development at DC Studios (first reported by THR last week) could have led to the incorrect entry in Production Weekly, but I think it’s more a case of folks needing to exercise caution with reposting their information which can be fabricated or at best, very inaccurate.
Fans have been curious to see if Reeves would attempt to use Freeze in his more grounded take on Gotham City with “The Batman” films led by Robert Pattison, and that has led to speculation about him potentially showing up in the upcoming sequel. Although it has mostly come off as wishful thinking from the fan community rather than something that is 100% going to happen.
I’m sure we’ll end up seeing Mr. Freeze at some point, but this rumor seems to be dead for the time being, and we don’t exactly know when/where the Batman rogue will make his grand return to live-action.
With “The Penguin” giving audiences another DC Comics villain to root for on the small screen, DC Studios is looking to give fans more baddies on the big screen, too. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed in a new report that the studio is looking to make a new feature film that includes both “Teen Titans” (a feature film has been in the works for a while) villain Deathstroke and longtime Batman rogue Bane.
We don’t have much to go on other than they’ve hired “Captain America: Brave New World” screenwriter Matthew Orton to pen the script. However, a film with two high-profile DC villains paired up begs the question, are they simply developing “Suicide Squad 3” set within the new DCU?
Concept art from James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad” revealed that in one incarnation, Slade Wilson was being considered to be part of the sequel’s roster and was seemingly replaced with Bloodsport (Idris Elba). Bane has also been a longtime fan favorite in the franchise, with the fan community once campaigning for Dave Bautista to take the role of the hulking DC Comics villain, who has been part of the team in the comics and was born/raised in prison.
Also, at one time during the Snyderverse era, a solo film about Deathstroke was in the works from writer/director Gareth Edwards (“The Raid”), but that all fizzled out. Joe Mangellio had been in the role previously showing up in a button scene at the end of “Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice” teasing the Legion of Doom for “Justice League,” that never materialized. The actor was expected to not only lead his own solo film but appear as an antagonist in the Ben Affleck solo “Batman” movie that ended up pivoting to Matt Reeves’ “The Batman.”
Gunn once teased his interest in reviving another DC character with feature film aspirations at Warner Bros., that being Lobo. This foul-mouthed bounty hunter character (comparable to Marvel’s Deadpool and Wolverine) has been inferred before that he could be played by former “Aquaman” actor Jason Momoa. Placing Lobo into the fray of a third “Suicide Squad” film could be just as satisfying as a solo romp, honestly.
Another possibility is that this film could be a “Secret Six” film, given that Bane and Deathstroke were on that DC team together. But it seems odd that they just wouldn’t want to use the existing “Suicide Squad” branding for a villain team-up project for the reasons mentioned above.
“The Suicide Squad” elements are still going strong from Gunn/DC Studios with “Peacemaker” (A “The Suicide Squad” spinoff) season two on the horizon, “Creature Commandos,” and Viola Davis is expected to lead the “Waller” show, too. It should be noted that “The Suicide Squad” characters Weasel and Waller feature in “Creature Commandos,” a live-action Rick Flagg Sr. is appearing in “Peacemaker,” and the upcoming “Waller” series could easily plant seeds for the next “Suicide Squad” installment.
We’ll have to wait for further details and confirmation from the studio before getting our hopes up.
“Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” has landed its second actor as DC Studios, and Warner Bros. has selected the person who will play the reboot’s main villain. Deadline has revealed that Matthias Schoenaerts (“The Old Guard”) has been tapped, assuming the part will be Krem of The Yellow Hills from the comic book the studio is adapting for this new off-world adventure.
According to director Zack Snyder, Schoenaerts had been once considered to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Justice League” had Ben Affleck backed out of the role. So, returning to the world of DC Comics is certainly a full-circle moment for the Belgian actor. He was recently seen alongside actress Kate Winslet in the HBO series “The Regime.”
Of course, this isn’t the first casting on the film as fellow HBO alumni Milly Alcock from “House of The Dragon” was previously announced as the titular superhero.
Aussie filmmaker Craig Gillespie (“Cruella,” ‘Dumb Money,” “I, Tonya”) is set in the director’s chair for the superhero flick that is currently eying a January start in England and was previously announced to have a June 26, 2026, release date.
More casting announcements are expected in the coming weeks and months, leading up to the production start next year.
In a surprising reveal today, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures have selected director Destin Daniel Cretton to helm “Spider-Man 4,” the fourth installment of their Tom Holland-led string of MCU-set Spidey movies. This comes after Destin had previously made “Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings” and is still actively involved with its untitled sequel. An exciting update on the superhero pic that comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter and is backed up by other outlets like Deadline, ending over a year of speculation and rumors of who would take the reigns from Jon Watts.
Screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers are returning with an expectation that filming could begin as early next year. We shouldn’t be terribly shocked if Destin adds his own contributions to the script like he did with “Shang-Chi.”
Cretton had previously returned to the MCU with the upcoming Disney+ series “Wonder Man.”
No official plot details have yet to be revealed for “Spider-Man 4,” but Marvel is in a very good position to do an event-level crossover with Charlie Cox‘s Matt Murdock (who briefly appeared in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” as a lawyer working on behalf of Peter Parker) as the series revival “Daredevil: Born Again” has Daredevil, Punisher, and The Kingpin inhabiting the same MCU space as Parker in New York City. Perhaps, allowing the studio to bring the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man back to his roots as a crime-fighter and tackling crooks like The Hand (aligned with Wilson Fisk) and the New York City mafia by way of The Maggia (Hammerhead, Tombstone, and other mobsters could finally get their big-screen live-action debuts).
A potential mob war plot wouldn’t be exactly a stretch or challenge for Destin, as he previously tackled The Ten Rings in “Shang-Chi,” a criminal syndicate led by Shang-Chi’s father, Wenwu, and is now being overseen by his sister.
Other street-level heroes operating in the same city include Luke Cage/Power Man, Danny Rand/Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones.
The filmmaker had been once attached to make “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” before the project was re-tooled into “Avengers: Doomsday” with Robert Downey Jr. set to star as a version of Victor von Doom and landed the Russo Brothers as Cretton’s replacements.
A release date hasn’t been mentioned, but there is a good shot that “Spider-Man 4” could be ready for the summer of 2026 if production starts up in the new year.
While filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn has given us movies like the “Pusher” trilogy, the Mads Mikkelsen Viking thriller “Valhalla Rising,” “Drive,” “Only God Forgives,” and “The Neon Demon,” he’s been mostly focused on the small screen with efforts like “Too Old To Die Young,” and “Copenhagen Cowboy” as of late. But is now aiming to make a big return to feature films as announced at the Venice Film Festival by the director this week (via Variety).
”Feature film is still the mother of all mediums” Winding Refn said (while promoting his new short film “Beauty Is Not A Sin“) after previously declaring that “cinema is dead” a while back. The outlet adds that his yet-to-be-titled movie is fully financed and will shoot next year in Tokyo, Japan. This new project is in both English and Japanese and is based on an original story that is being kept under wraps for the moment, but it “will have a lot of glitter and lot of sex and violence,” Refn promises.
He also hinted that themes and characters that inspired his last two efforts, “Only God Forgives” and “The Neon Demon” will make a return. Although, what exactly that means is a little unclear without more details about the plot. However, it’s an obvious nod that the movie will be another effort set within the neo-noir genre.
Tokyo would make for an exciting location to set for a neo-noir project from Winding Refn, given that you have all sorts of ways to enter the country’s underworld, from the nightlife (gaming, clubs, bars, restaurants, hosting services, sex workers, and other entertainment businesses) that has connections to the Japanese criminal syndicates known as the Yakuza to potentially other seedy avenues like Japan’s extremely lucrative pornography industry that certainly would lean into the sex side of things.
This won’t be the first time Westerners have attempted to tackle darker-themed projects set in Japan. We saw it recently used in the Michael Mann-produced crime series “Tokyo Vice,” based on the novel by American crime reporter Jake Adelstein, and the Ridley Scott film “Black Rain” (set in Osaka) from the 1980s starring Michael Douglas, Andy García, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw, and Yūsaku Matsuda which was an impressive effort to explore Japanese nightlife/Yakuza from a Western perspective. Both share neo-noir elements and may have an influence on this new movie, if only minor.
Another more recent exploration into the underbelly of Japan was Takeshi Kitano’s excellent trilogy of Yakuza films, “Outrage,” which explored the politics and backstabbing that would most likely occur within the crime syndicates as money/power become great motivators for violence. They’re not perfect movies, but I’d highly recommend them if you want to watch more contemporary efforts that attempt to harken back to the work of the late Kinji Fukasaku (“Battles Without Honor & Humanity” franchise also referred to as “The Yakuza Papers”), the “Outrage” movies might be worth your time.
It remains to be seen if either Ryan Gosling (“Drive,” “Only God Forgives”) or Elle Fanning (“The Neon Demon”) will be part of the new film’s cast, but it wouldn’t be all that surprising if there was a reunion. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that Gosling ends up with another meaty role with limited dialogue.
Stay tuned for future updates on the new project, such as the film’s title, plot, and casting.
“Alien: Romulus” has turned out to be a huge shot in the arm for “Alien” franchise after being on life support when Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant” failed to replicate the success of “Prometheus,” and put his third prequel movie “Alien: Awakening” (Scott had mapped out plans with screenwriter Michael Green for many more installments beyond that) into limbo for foreseeable future. The movie has a budget of $80 million (modest in comparison to other genre-focused studio tentpoles) and is set between the events of “Alien” and “Aliens,” now projected to earn an impressive $100 million-plus at the global box office and nabbing over $40 million domestically. This makes “Romulus” the second-biggest domestic opening (previously held by “Alien Vs. Predator“) for the franchise behind the $51 million “Prometheus” (Budget was $130 million) opening weekend in 2012.
Of course, this success certainly bodes well for more movies, including the potential for a “Romulus” sequel (without spoiling the film, it ends with the open-ended plausibility of a sequel). While on the red carpet promoting the film, director Fede Álvarez was asked by Deadline (See video below) about the potential for a new “Alien Vs. Predator” film project (the IP actually titled “Aliens Vs. Predator” for the video games, comic books, and other material).
Álvarez didn’t exactly reveal too many details on what he would do with the property, but he pitched the idea of co-directing the big-screen crossover with “Prey” director Dan Trachtenberg.
[Laughs] I don’t know, depends on how well [“Alien: Romulus”] does and if people still want to see that. I think [it’s] maybe something I have to co-direct with my buddy Dan [Tranchtenberg]. That could be something we could do…I direct one half, and he directs the other half,” the filmmaker told Deadline.
Álvarez also compared the idea to the collaborative working relationship between Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez on films like “From Dusk Till Dawn” (Fede misspoke as Tarantino wrote the script and Rodriguez helmed) and “Grindhouse” (their horror double-feature). They did co-direct together on “Sin City” and “Four Rooms.”
When we consider 20th Century Studios’ recent attentiveness to these franchises, it’s really only a matter of time before they attempt another “AVP” project.
For his part, Trachtenberg is overseeing the next two installments in the “Predator” franchise, with both “Badlands” (Elle Fanning reportedly is in the mix to potentially lead it) and an untitled follow-up to “Prey.” The latter will most likely feature Naru (Amber Midthunder) being invited into a predator clan, not unlike the “AVP” comic book character Machiko Noguchi, and potentially extending her lifespan via pred-tech, allowing Naru to potentially be still alive in a futuristic setting. Giving them plausible wiggle room to add Naru to a hypothetical “AVP” reboot that could connect to “Alien: Romulus” via the yet-to-be-explored planet of Yvaga.
“Alien Vs. Predator” was released back in 2004 and had director Paul W.S. Anderson take direct cues from things like the schlock sci-fi exploitation movie “Galaxy of Terror” (Roger Corman’s “Alien” knockoff that a young James Cameron worked on at New World Pictures) and H.P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains of Madness” (also takes place in ancient ruins hidden in Antarctica with unspeakable monsters awaken by explorers). The PG-13 movie ended up making the studio money but got ripped apart by fans and critics alike, leading to a smaller budget for the R-rated sequel “AVP: Requiem.” A sequel that felt worse than the previous film due to the small-town contemporary setting (used to save studio money on production costs) and weak/unforgettable characters.
Given the poor reception of those movies, don’t expect too much of a continuation or any direct links moving forward. Its been seen those movies take place outside of the main “Alien” franchise timeline/canon and a reason to simply reboot. A couple of integral elements were always missing from those movies, such as the return of the Colonial Marines (oddly enough, we haven’t seen them on the big screen since 1986 despite being a massive part of the “Alien” expanded universe) and a futuristic off-world setting (the Jackson’s Star Colony was a massive highlight from “Romulus”). Those might be more expensive additions but that would be sort of no-brainer if they’re going to take a third crack at this property.
While the bungled video game “Aliens: Colonial Marines” botched the single-player campaign and the game itself was buggy as hell, it did add creative variant types of Xenomorphs (just as “Aliens: Fireteam Elite” did), which really should be a huge part of a new “AVP” film. They could easily give audiences multiple different takes on the creatures, like Rhino, Burster, Spitter, Boiler, Prowler, Bull, Flying Queen, and the Alien King.
How they would get to those variants wouldn’t be all that hard, given an off-world colony would likely have established agriculture farms on the colonized planet, using a mix of animal life imported off-world (think the oxen and dog from “Alien 3”) alongside other inhabitants on an alien planet as their hosts instead of only humans. Another angle could be doing warring Xenomorph hives (A conflict between hives and red xenos introduced via the Dark Horse Comics run “Aliens: Genocide” from 1991-1992) are expansion elements that could be perfect fodder for these new movies, given the aim of each installment seems to be adding to lifecycle lore and creating different variants of the species.
In a perfect world, a new “AVP” installment could bring together “Alien: Romulus,” and whatever Trachtenberg is doing with his “Predator” movies. Instead of simply being it’s own standalone.
I also wouldn’t be terribly shocked if the ‘Alien: Romulus” box office success may boost the idea at the studio of revisiting never-made “Alien” projects like the aforementioned “Alien: Awakening” or even the twice-nixed “Alien 5” with Sigourney Weaver reprising the Ellen Ripley role. Although, the former seems a lot more realistic between the two, allowing for franchise stewards Ridey and Scott Free Productions to complete their planned prequel trilogy and potentially bring back the Engineers (Paradise wasn’t apparently their homeworld but possibly one of many of their terraformed/seeded planets inhabited by devoted humanoids that may have worshiped them as Gods) alongside Michael Fassbender’s David, Katherine Waterston’s Daniels, and Danny McBride’s Tennesse. At the end of the film, we see David now in complete control of the Covenant ship, the final two crew members, and the entire group of sleeping colonists.
20th Century Studios, FX/Hulu, and Scott Free are behind the new streaming series “Alien: Earth” from creator/showrunner Noah Hawley (“Fargo”) and could be another puzzle piece to getting the money folks at the studio to give Scott his wish to complete his David Saga trilogy. Raising the demand and profile of a franchise launched all the way back in 1979 will be key to finding a new generation of audiences to support it.
We’ll just have to be patient to see what the studio does next with these characters and if a crossover like “AVP” or “Alien: Awakening” will ever materialize.
Fede Álvarez reveals his pitch for ‘Alien vs. Predator’ : “Maybe something that I have to co-direct with my buddy Dan (Trachtenberg)” pic.twitter.com/HmhabAXN84
The guessing games can now finally end, as “Captain America: Brave New World” actor Giancarlo Esposito (“The Mandalorian”) has announced during the Marvel Studios’ presentation at San Diego Comic-Con that he’ll be playing Sidewinder in the new installment due out in theaters on February 14, 2025. Ending months of speculation about his Marvel casting.
Seth Voelker, aka Sidewinder, is the King of The Serpent Society. Which is a slightly more modern terrorist group from the pages of the Captain America comic books that mirrored H.Y.D.R.A. and had Madame Hydra, aka, among their ranks under the codename Viper and once attempted to take over the group entirely. The other main Serpent Society member in “Brave New World” includes Rosa Salazar’s Rachel Deighton, aka Diamondback, who eventually switches sides.
Another tidbit confirmed was, yes, the giant Celestial sticking out of the planet from “Eternals” is indeed made out of adamantium and could potentially have some sort of connection to the Wolverine/Weapon X Program coming in the future to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, alongside the “X-Men” reboot. The fight over the newly advanced mineral via Tiamut, similar to vibrainium, had been teased in the film’s first-look trailer.
This is likely why there was rampant speculation that Esposito’s character could be connected to the X-Men or a mutant himself.
One of the more compelling reasons to finally use The Serpent Society for Sam Wilson’s Captain American tenure is that it has an extremely deep bench of members, allowing for a steady stream of bad guys for him to throw hands against in future installments as it feels like “Brave New World” could be the start of Anthony Mackie’s trilogy.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” marks Marvel Studios‘ first big entry into live-action mutants ahead of their reboot of the “X-Men” franchise that is currently in development. The Multiverse-focused movie has over-delivered at the box office and is on the path to surpassing the first two movies within weeks. Deadline is now projecting that the R-rated superhero event pic should earn $205 million domestically and $438.3 million at the worldwide box office.
The success of “Deadpool & Wolverine” is obviously going to give the studio confidence that people will show up to more R-rated projects if they offer them. Marvel’s Kevin Feige has already confirmed their “Blade” reboot, starring two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali, is aiming to be another R-rated MCU entry with the mature angle being “inherent to the character.”
This certainly should give Marvel Studios an extra incentive to proceed with things like “Deadpool 4,” “X-Force,” and potentially the Canadian-based mutant team Alpha Flight. Some other characters that might deserve the R-rated movie treatment include Punisher (Actor Jon Bernthal already reprises Frank Castle in “Daredevil: Born Again”), Deathlok, Psylocke, and the new Wolverine with his solo adventures in Madripoor (established via “The Falcon & The Winter Soldier”) or his Weapon X Program origin.
While the Multiverse angle of “Deadpool & Wolverine” (No spoilers) seemed to point toward Wade’s appearance in “Avengers: Secret Wars,” what’s next for the Merc With A Mouth and the TVA isn’t entirely clear.
THE RONIN 
