Category: Film News

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Charlie Cox Denies ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Rumor Due To Pandemic Travel Restrictions & Filming Irish Crime Series ‘Kin’

A recent fan-theory claimed that Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock appears in the new Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, however, IMAX versions of the trailer have debunked this and showed the man people believed was Murdock was really just the Damage Control gentleman, who had appeared with Peter Parker in that same room moments earlier.

While online rumors have pointed towards a Matt Murdock cameo in the Spider-Man sequel, someone is pouring cold water on that idea, Charlie Cox himself.

Speaking with the Irish Examiner, Charlie Cox says he’s not only not showing up in the film, but he’s had to break the news to friends and even crew members on the Irish set of his latest AMC+ series Kin. Pointing out that while he was supposedly in Atlanta shooting Spider-Man: No Way Home, he was actually shooting his new crime series in Ireland and adding travel restrictions that were in place at the time would have made that a logistical problem.

“There was a fan on the Kin crew. I came to work one day, and the rumor had come out that I was filming in Atlanta, and he asked me like it was a sensible question, and I was like, ‘I’ve been here every day with you, on set’ but I think he was so hopeful that he still was like, ‘Is it true?’; I had to say to him, ‘How would it be true?”

“Even if I had a few days off, we’re in the middle of a pandemic. I’m not allowed to fly anywhere. What are you talking about?’ Did he think Captain America came to get me?”

If you remember following adamant denials from Tom Holland, former Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield denied rumors he would be appearing in the film as well.

We’ve seen that even with these public denials, it hasn’t done much to detour either fans or outlets from keeping faith that Cox’s Matt Murdock will show up, confirmed or not.

Other segments of Marvel fans have been pointing out that Tatiana Maslany could have easily played the role of Parker’s lawyer in the film given that she is playing Jennifer Walters in She-Hulk, a superhero defense attorney that we know is confirmed for the MCU as she just wrapped her series in Atlanta (same location where Spider-Man: No Way Home was filmed).

Also, it is worth noting if Doctor Strange’s spell did work erasing everyone’s memory of him as Spider-Man before the Multiverse stuff…why exactly would Peter Parker need a lawyer?

I guess we’ll find out for sure this winter when the film drops.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is still marked down for a December 17 release date.

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME – For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the high-stakes of being a Super Hero. When he asks for help from Doctor Strange the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.

SOURCE: IRISH EXAMINER

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‘Shang-Chi’ Earns $90M+ At The Domestic Box Office Over The Long Weekend

Surpassing industry and studio box office projections, Marvel’s Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings is said to be looking at a four-day total of $90 million, according to Variety. This number could increase given we won’t have total numbers for Monday until later in the week and estimates can always go up and come down.

UPDATE: Deadline is reporting that the final weekend numbers are $94.4 million domestically for the four-day long weekend.

It’s three-day total of $75. 5 million not only did better than Black Widow, it also broke a Labor Day weekend record that had been previously held by Rob Zombie’s Halloween back in 2007, when the pic earned $30. 6 million. A weekend not really known for huge box office takes.

The film has already earned an impressive $146.2 million globally on a possible budget of $150 million, which should make Marvel and Disney quick to put a sequel into development very very soon (if it isn’t already).

While YouTubers are trying to convince themselves and their subscribers that the film is a flop, everyone else living in reality can see how successful the film is going to become given that it really doesn’t have much competition until October unless James Wan’s R-rated horror flick Malignant surprises everyone.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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EXCLUSIVE: Marvel’s ‘Secret Invasion’ Series Enlists ‘Lost In Space’ Production Designer Frank Walsh

With The Marvels’ production in full swing at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever shooting in Atlanta, the next big project is about to kick-off soon with Secret Invasion. The big Skrull-centric series that will bring back Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos together since Captain Marvel and the button scene in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

There is a neat crew tidbit we can now share.

The Ronin can confirm that production designer Frank Walsh is working on Marvel’s big event crossover series.

Walsh has recently worked on shows such as Season 1 of Carnival Row, Season 2 of Lost In Space, and episodes of the comic book Netflix series Jupiter’s Legacy. As an art director, he’s worked on projects such as High-Rise, Inception, Game of Thrones, The Mummy, Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, and the infamous Luc Besson-produced sci-fi film Lockout (film was sued for plagiarism by John Carpenter).

We previously confirmed the show’s director of photography will be French-Canadian cinematographer Sylvaine Dufaux (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Future Man) and revealed that the series was expected to shoot sequences in Scotland with production gearing up to begin this month in the United Kingdom.

You can check out some of Dufaux’s work here which includes reshoots for Solo: A Star Wars Story.

The crossover event’s impressive cast also consists of Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite, Hot Fuzz, The Crown), four-time Emmy nominee Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Solo: A Star Wars Story), Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night In Miami, Peaky Blinders) said to be playing a villain, and most recent addition to the Marvel series is character actor Christopher McDonald (Hacks, Happy Gilmore).

There is an expectation due to the proximity to the filming of Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels and overlapping production schedules, we should see some cross-pollination between the two casts. Samuel L. Jackson has already confirmed on social media that he’s shot Nick Fury scenes for The Marvels.

The show’s head writer is Kyle Bradstreet with directors Thomas Bezhucha (Let Him Go) and Ali Selim (The Looming Tower) shooting episodes.

Secret Invasion is expected to release on Disney+ sometime in 2022.

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Marvel & Russo Brothers Were In Negotiations For Mystery Movie Before Scarlett Johansson Lawsuit Stalled Talks

We’ve been excited about the potential return of the Russo Brothers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after giving us Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.

There is now an update of sorts from the Wall Street Journal, as they point out the sibling directing team was indeed in talks with Marvel Studios to return to the MCU for a mystery film but talks apparently have stalled.

The reasoning is being linked to Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow lawsuit against Marvel/Disney, as the Russo Brothers are concerned by the issues raised by the actress including the potential release of the unnamed pic and if their contract for payment will ultimately be upheld by Disney.

This is the first real instance of fallout from the lawsuit since it was filed.

We don’t know what exactly that mystery film could be, but considering they’ve talked up a desire to tackle X-Men’s Wolverine and a hard-reboot is on the horizon. Marvel Studios could look to the Russo Brothers to help with the reboot as they did with seasoned MCU director Jon Watts for Fantastic Four. Watts being behind Marvel’s Spider-Man trilogy before landing the reboot.

However, this is simply my own speculation given the director’s comments in the past about being able to get their hands on mutants.

Here is what Joe Russo said about Wolverine back in February.

“Wolverine has always been such a special character for me. To realize him on screen, it’s very hard because Hugh Jackman‘s performance is definitive. It’s like Batman; you have to really think of a way to, you have to really find the right actor to come in and give a really different take to that character. But I would really love to see him on screen.”

I think the best thing is to take a break, without question. You need a [palate cleanser], you need to rinse the towel a little bit, let everyone enjoy what was, and then come up with something new. But I’d love to take a crack at Wolverine at some point.”

The Russo Brothers would be perfect to handle the scale and volume of characters as they’ve proven multiple times being able juggle a large roster of superheroes. Despite fans potentially wanting someone brand new to direct a reboot, Marvel might be more comfortable from their existing group of filmmakers given the importance of these MCU reboots.

Secret Wars is something they’ve also talked-up but we don’t have concrete information that is happening in the near future.

Another potential contender could be Anthony Mackie’s Captain America 4, given that doesn’t have a director attached. We had been hearing that the studio wanted a POC director for that one, but having Russo Brothers making a third Captain America movie wouldn’t be that shocking either.

SOURCE: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

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‘Blade’: Bassam Tariq Confirms He’s Signed On To Direct The Marvel Reboot

Not too long ago it was reported that director Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) was the frontrunner to helm Marvel Studios’ Blade reboot starring Mahershala Ali. The director has confirmed this, but also that he’s signed on.

During a chat with The Playlist Podcast, Tariq talked a little bit about screenwriter Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Hunters, Watchmen), praising her and working on Blade.

“Yes, I can confirm I am directing Blade, Marvel is letting me do it.”

“I didn’t think [‘Blade’] was going to happen, just to be very honest. I’m honored and it’s a privilege, but I’m here in service of Stacy Osei-Kuffour, who is the incredible writer that is writing the film…She’s just a phenomenal presence and a juggernaut in her own right. And for Mahershala [Ali]. For me, it’s really just working in their service. [Marvel] takes big swings, you know?…I can’t say anything about it, but I’m just so excited for what we’re doing.”

“Character is very important for me. I don’t think of genre, I think of character. It’s not so boxed in as people imagine it to be [working with Marvel Studios]. It’s quite exciting. And I think the reality is there is no ‘Blade’ canon, you know? If you ever read the comics, they’re always changing…Unfortunately, the [comic book series] never lasted that long.”

Eric Brooks aka Blade is a vampire hunter, that happens to be half-vampire himself and allows him to be immune sunlight/silver making him stronger than a majority of adversaries. The main antagonists for Blade are The Vampire Nation, the secretive group of shadowy figures that have a stranglehold on positions of power in human society and have sects all over the world.

BLADE – A half-mortal, half-immortal is out to avenge his mother’s death and rid the world of vampires. The modern-day technologically advanced vampires he is going after are in search of his special blood type needed to summon an evil god who plays a key role in their plan to execute the human race.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed that Loki production designer Kasra Farahani is considered for the production team. A release or cast have yet to be announced by Marvel, we’ll have to wait and see about that information.

SOURCE: THE PLAYLIST

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Tony Revolori Reunites With Director Wes Anderson For New Film Currently Shooting In Spain

Despite already being in production on his new film in Spain, director Wes Anderson has added another familiar face to the untitled project.

Deadline reports that actor Tony Revolori (Dope) has secured a role making this the third time he’s worked Anderson after previous projects such as The Grand Budapest Hotel and The French Dispatch.

Revolori is likely best known as Flash in the Jon Watts-directed Spider-Man films and recently nabbed a part in Lucasfilm’s Willow sequel series that will air on Disney+ sometime next year.

The new movie already has an impressive cast that consists of Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story, Jojo Rabbit, Isle of Dogs), Jason Schartzman (Fargo, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Rushmore), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Drive, Trumbo, Argylle, Isle of Dogs), Jeffrey Wright (The French Dispatch, Westworld, The Batman), Hope Davis (Your Honor, American Splender), Liev Schreiber (Spotlight, Isle of Dogs), Rupert Friend (Death of Stalin, Obi-Wan Kenobi), Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), Bill Murray (Rushmore, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The French Dispatch, Isle of Dogs, The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom), Tilda Swinton (Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch), Adrien Brody (The Darjeeling Limited, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch) and Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan, Road To Perdition) in a cameo.

Plot details have been kept under wraps and might be a while before we know what it’s exactly about or who the cast will be playing. I’m sure fans will be interested to know if Wes is attempting something more in the way of genre filmmaking (western or sci-fi) or still continue in the realm of quirky character-driven comedy.

It’s assumed that Anderson will make a distribution deal with Searchlight Pictures.

The French Dispatch brings to life a collection of stories from the final issue of an American magazine published in a fictional 20th-century French city. It stars Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3’ Enlists ‘Hawkeye’ Stunt Coordinator Heidi Moneymaker

Production on James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 is said to be finally happening this November and will wrap in April, according to star Chris Pratt.

We’ve been waiting longer than usual for the sequel because Disney fired and then rehired the filmmaker over tasteless tweets. In the meantime, James Gunn was hired by Warner Bros. to write and direct The Suicide Squad, that released last month. Leading to extensive delays but prep is underway with it’s looming fall production start.

There are some crew updates we can now share.

The Ronin has been able to confirm that Stephane Ceretti is indeed working on Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3. Ceretti has worked on other MCU films such as Guardians of The Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man & The Wasp, and the upcoming Chloe Zhao pic Eternals.

We’re also hearing that Heidi Moneymaker will be the film’s stunt coordinator.

You might be familiar with Moneymaker as she was Scarlett Johansson’s longtime stunt double from Iron Man 2 to Black Widow. She was a stunt coordinator on the upcoming Hawkeye series (her sister Renae Moneymaker doubling for Hailee Steinfeld), fight coordinator on Disney’s live-action Mulan along with other other stunt work on Avatar 2, John Wick: Chapter 2, and Hobbs & Shaw.

UPDATE: James Gunn has confirmed our reporting on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1452330987669663756

Moneymaker confirmed her role as stunt coordinator on Hawkeye to Looper back in July.

“I was just the boss on this one. I did a couple of [pre-visualizations] before we had our full team, and when we didn’t have all of our doubles and stuff. So, I did a couple of pre-vises with my sis. And my sister was on the show as well, and some of the guys. But I didn’t actually do any on-camera. Too busy. It was a busy, busy show.”

Fellow Marvel Studios stuntwoman Monique Ganderton was the stunt coordinator on Avengers: Endgame, Loki, and She-Hulk. So, the studio promoting these stunt folks to coordinators isn’t that terribly strange.

The returning cast is assumed to include Chris Pratt as Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Dave Bautista as Drax, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket Raccoon, and Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot. 

Filming is all but confirmed to be taking place in Atlanta, Georgia and may shoot some sequences in the United Kingdom.

Production designer Beth Mickle (Drive, Only God Forgives) has been attached for the Guardians sequel for ages and ended up making The Suicide Squad with Gunn.

Previous cinematographers Ben Davis or Henry Branham (The Flash, The Suicide Squad) might be unavailable as they’re currently involved with other film projects. However, we could speculate that someone like Michael Bonvillain (Zombieland, Cloverfield) might be a good candidate to shoot the third movie, after recently being the director of photography on Gunn’s Peacemaker series at HBO Max.

Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 has a release date of May 5, 2023

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New Movie ‘The Return Of The Rocketeer’ Heading To Disney+ With David Oyelowo Circling Lead Role

Disney is finally reviving The Rocketeer with a brand new film for Disney+ written by Ed Ricourt, that might see David Oyelowo potentially star as the titular hero. The Return of The Rocketeer will be produced by David and Jessica Oyelowo under their Yoruba Saxon banner.

The Return of the Rocketeer will have an all-new creative directive with Ricourt’s story focusing on a retired Tuskegee airman who takes up the mantle of the Rocketeer.

At one point, it was said the project would focus on a female black protagonist, so much for that.

The original Rocketeer came out in 1991, during a brief era of period-set comic book films trying to capitalize on the success of Tim Burton’s Batman. Other big-budget studios films from that era include Dick Tracy, The Shadow, and The Phantom.

Considering new technology such as Lucasfilm’s StageCraft/The Volume used on The Mandalorian, it could make for a fantastical new adventure film and potentially lead to multiple installments, given I assume their aim will to be serialize the character.

This action role doesn’t sound terribly foreign to David Oyelowo after playing a Tuskegee airman in the George Lucas-produced WWII film Red Tails.

RED TAILS – During World War II, the Civil Aeronautics Authority selects 13 black cadets to become part of an experimental program at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The program aims at training “colored personnel” to become fighter pilots for the Army. However, discrimination, lack of institutional support and the racist belief that these men lacked the intelligence and aptitude for the job dog their every step. Despite this, the Tuskegee Airmen, as they become known, more than prove their worth.

THE ROCKETEER – Cliff Secord (Bill Campbell) is a cocky stunt pilot in love with a beautiful actress, Jenny Blake (Jennifer Connelly). When he discovers a jet pack hidden in a biplane, Cliff straps on the rocket, dons a flashy helmet and becomes the high-flying hero known as The Rocketeer. But when Nazis want to use the rocket as a weapon, Cliff must use his alter ego to both protect Jenny from an evil actor (Timothy Dalton) and save the day in this period adventure based on the comic books by Dave Stevens.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Expendables’: Next Installment Recruits Megan Fox, 50 Cent & Tony Jaa

The Expendable franchise sort of hit a wall with The Expendables 3, when Lionsgate/Millennium Media saw dollar signs by pivoting from a mature R-rating to a kid-friendly PG-13. However, this wasn’t the big money-maker the studio had hoped and it ended up becoming the least successful installment. I guess children weren’t terribly interested in seeing disgraced actor Mel Gibson and Sly Stallone going at in action film.

Seven years later and they are finally moving forward with another film, however, aren’t calling it Expendables 4.

The Hollywood Reporter confirms that the untitled pic will see franchise stars Sly Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture return. The new recruits will include Megan Fox (Rogue, Transformers, Jennifer’s Body), 50 Cent (Escape Plan, Den of Thieves), and Thai martial artist Ton Jaa (Fast & Furious 7).

Previously, the film had been talked-up as a solo project for Statham’s character Lee Christmas and wouldn’t have as much of Stallone’s Barney Ross in the film as fans might expect. Stallone had recently referred to the project as a “spinoff” with the working title Christmas Story.

Sources say in this outing Statham will be the one with the biggest gun. Fox is the female lead.

Scott Waugh (Need For Speed) will direct from a script penned by Spenser Cohen with revisions by Max Adams and John Joseph Connolly.

As previously mentioned by Stallone, production is aiming to begin in October.

Stallone is coming off James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad and Statham was recently seen in Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man and David Leitch’s Hobbs & Shaw.

We should expect a release date in 2022.

THE EXPENDABLES 3 – Years ago, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) co-founded the Expendables with Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson). After Stonebanks became an arms dealer, Ross was forced to kill him — or so he thought. Now, Stonebanks is back and he’s on a mission to end the Expendables. Ross decides that the way to fight old blood is with new blood, so he assembles a team of younger, faster, more tech-savvy recruits. The battle to topple Stonebanks becomes a clash of old-school methods vs. high-tech expertise.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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‘The Marvels’ Director Nia DaCosta Originally Pitched A Movie Featuring Galactus & ‘X-Men’ Characters

Candyman director Nia DaCosta made headlines this weekend becoming the first the film to give a black female director a #1 hit at the domestic box office. She’s also currently shooting Captain Marvel 2/The Marvels in England.

While promoting Candyman with an interview with The Guardian, the filmmaker reveals she pitched Marvel Studios and producer Mary Livanos a very different project before agreeing to make the Captain Marvel sequel.

“I just nerded out. I was like, here are the movies I think you should do! Galactus, Storm and Scott Summers team-up movie! Blah blah blah! She just endured me going in super-deep. And she also gave me a lot of confidence that I would have the creative latitude to not just basically be a puppet on a string.”

This sounds like this was after the merger between Disney and 21st Century Fox, as she may have assumed they were rushing into using those former Fox characters. Interestingly enough, Jon Watts did end up land the directing gig for Fantastic Four and was announced for it back in December.

The Marvels (working title Goat Rodeo) as we’ve previously confirmed will mainly shoot at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England with a production team that has cinematographer Sean Bobbitt (Widows, Judas & The Black Messiah) and production designer Cara Brower (Candyman).

The cast consists of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, newcomer Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and Zawe Ashton is reportedly playing the film’s villain.

There is an expectation that cast members of the Secret Invasion event series will also cross-pollinate with the sequel.

Local South Korean outlets reported on Parasite actor Park Seo-Joon joining the film, but have yet to be supported by Hollywood trades or Marvel/Disney.

The Marvels will hit theaters on November 11, 2022.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN