Last night saw Chloe Zhao make history as the first female director of Asian descent to earn Best Director, making her the second female director alongside Kathryn Bigelow (Hurt Locker) and third Asian filmmaker to win the award. The two previous Asian filmmakers to win Best Director were Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain and Lie of Pi) and Bong Joon-ho (Parasite). Zhao also saw her film Nomadland earn Best Picture landing her a second Oscar and Frances McDormand winning Best Actress.
Best Supporting Actress winner Youn Yuh-jung (Minari) became the first Korean actor to earn the award and second Asian actress alongside Miyoshi Umeki (Sayonara).
The rest of the winners of the 93rd Academy Awards are listed below.
BEST PICTURE
Nomadland
BEST DIRECTOR
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
BEST ACTOR
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
BEST ACTRESS
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Emerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman”
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller, “The Father”
While the massive MonsterVerse flick Godzilla Vs. Kong hasn’t crossed $100 million domestically, this weekend saw the Legendary event pic hit $406.5 million at the global box office, according to numbers via Box Office Mojo.
Some outlets have stated that $160-200 million budgeted project needed to reach $400+ million to turn a profit. That creative math that still puzzles me as similar budgeted movies in the past had to earn a lot more money to cover costs. Ultimately, Godzilla Vs. Kong will unlikely surpass the box office of other films in the MonsterVerse such as Kong: Skull Island ($566.6 million) or the first Godzilla ($524.9 million).
Normally, Legendary has upcoming MonsterVerse installments in the works when the movies are released and tease those projects, but at this time we don’t know if we’ll be getting more movies. There was a cryptic video thanking fans posted by Legendary that felt more like a goodbye message than “we have more movies coming.”
At one time, there had been chatter of a Mothra movie and the end of Godzilla Vs. Kong leaves the door open for a Kong sequel taking place in Hollow Earth. We’ll have to wait for Legendary to announce plans for future MonsterVerse movies or that they’re winding things down.
Marvel Studios is reportedly already developing Captain America 4 with writers Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson. Spellman is the showrunner of Falcon & The Winter Soldier and Musson is a staff writer on the Disney+ show.
It’s all but confirmed that the series will continue the adventures of Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson as the new Captain America. However, a director hasn’t been named but there is a good shot they’ll ask Kari Skogland after tackling Falcon & Winter Soldier and alongside Spellman being a key part of the show’s success.
Villains aren’t named but there is a good shot that Marvel could end up using The Serpent Society, a group of multiple villains that have been the thorn in the side of Captain America. You might remember that Captain America 3 briefly had the faux title of Captain America: Serpent Society before the Civil War angle was confirmed with the reveal of the late Chadwick Boseman playing T’Challa aka Black Panther in the sequel.
The Serpent Society could end up being an overarching group of baddies for Sam’s era of the franchise potentially alongside other unused Captain America villains that can be mined for future movies led by Anthony Mackie. It’s unclear if Bucky Barnes, Sharon Carter, Baron Zemo, Val, and John Walker will be part of the character lineup for the fourth installment.
I’m slightly curious if The Thunderbolts will have a connection as well.
Taika Waititi is assembling an impressive cast for Marvel’s fourth Thor movie which already sees Natalie Portman as Jane Foster aka Lady Thor, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Christian Bale as Gorr The God Butcher, Tessa Thompson as King Valkyrie of New Asgard, Matt Damon as fake Loki, Melissa McCarthy as fake Hela, Sam Neill as fake Odin, Luke Hemsworth as fake Thor, Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Dave Bautista as Drax The Destroyer, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Taika as the lovable Korg, and Sean Gunn as Kraglin.
One late-stage addition was Oscar-winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator, The Nice Guys, Man of Steel) landing a secret role in the Marvel flick and the actor has now revealed who he’s playing on the Melbourne show Joy Breakfast with The Murphys. Crowe announced that he is playing the Marvel Comics version of Greek God, Zeus. The father of Marvel superhero Hercules, a character part of The Olympians (a cosmic take on Greek mythology) and future member of The Avengers.
Having Zeus in the mix could allow Hercules to eventually move his way into the MCU alongside the villainous Ares (member of The Dark Avengers). It was bound to happen as they’ve scaled-back the Asgardians after the destruction of Asgard and with the introduction of the Eternals in their own movie, it was only a matter of time before the cosmic version of the Olympians (connected to the Eternals) would make their debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
There is a strong chance that Crowe’s Zeus could be killed-off by Bale’s God Butcher, given the nickname we’ll likely see some gods get dusted before he clashes with Thor and Lady Thor. Russell and Christian previously worked together on the western remake 3:10 To Yuma from James Mangold (The Wolverine, Ford v. Ferrari, Logan), so a reunion might actually be quite fun to watch. What isn’t known is if we’ll see other Olympians appear in Thor: Love & Thunder or somewhere else down the line.
I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if Marvel announced a Hercules: Prince of Power series for Disney+ at some point as the character would certainly warrant his own series similar to Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and Ironheart giving the superhero a chance to be explored in a episodic format.
It’s kind of neat that we’ll potentially have Black Knight, Sersi, and Hercules all mingling in the MCU in the very near future at the same time, as the trio were part of an incarnation of the Avengers lineup. Suggesting the studio isn’t just building-up towards Young Avengers and The Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers but other splinter teams of the Avengers.
I’m sure fans already have their fan-cast for Herc, but comedian and podcaster Jon Gabrus has been campaigning for a while now to play the superhero. Interestingly enough, Russell’s The Nice Guys co-star Ryan Gosling (former Micky Mouse Club actor) had actually played a different version of the demi-god in Young Hercules, a prequel series to the Sam Raimi-produced series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys from the 1990s.
The sequel was penned by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.
Production is still taking place in Sydney and it’s possible we could be getting more casting surprises in the coming weeks/months.
Thor: Love & Thunder will open in theaters on May 6, 2022.
Following announcements that Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen would be joining Harrison Ford in James Mangold’s untitled Indiana Jones 5, another cast member had been added according to a report from The Wrap.
They’ve revealed that German character actor Thomas Krestschmann has taken a role. Thomas is likely known for his roles in Peter Jackson’s King Kong, Blade II, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Westworld, Wanted, Downfall, and Valkyrie.
Indiana Jones 5 is set for release on July 29,2022.
It doesn’t look Guillermo del Toro will get to make his Haunted Mansion movie after all.
A new report from Deadline reveals that Disney has selected Dear White People director Justin Simien to tackle their remake based on their popular horror-themed park attraction that got a feature film in 2003 starring Eddie Murphy.
This new film is said to be a different take on ghoulish source material and has Ghostbusters: Answer The Call screenwriter Katie Dippold penning the script. The pairing of Dippold and Simien would suggest it could have a comedic leaning.
The Ronin can independently confirm that British character actor Peter Ferdinado will be reuniting with director Guy Ritchie for his upcoming spy flick formerly, titled Five Eyes. Peter previously worked with Guy on King Arthur: Legend of The Sword. His other film credits includes Ghost In The Shell, High-Rise, Hyena, 300: Rise of An Empire, Snow White & The Huntsman, and A Field In England.
The feature follows MI6 guns-and-steel agent (Statham) who is recruited by a global intelligence agency to track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology that threatens to disrupt the world order. Reluctantly paired with CIA high-tech expert, Fortune sets off on a globe-trotting mission where he will have to use all of his charm, ingenuity and stealth to track down and infiltrate billionaire arms broker.
He joins a cast led by Jason Statham alongside others such as Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elewes, Bugzy Malone (The Gentlemen), Hugh Grant, and Max Beesley.
Guy Ritchie is a busy lad these days as his other Jason Statham film Wrath of Man is coming out next month, he’s finishing up Five Eyes, and is already developing a WWII film with Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
The Ronin has been able to independently confirm that American actress Paula Newsome will have a role in Marvel’s upcoming Spider-Man installment, Spider-Man: No Way Home. The size of her character’s role in the superhero flick is currently unknown at this time. Audiences will likely know Paula best from the HBO series Barry led by Bill Hader and plays Detective Janice Moss.
UPDATE: It looks like Paula is not only teasing her involvement in the sequel on Twitter but that she could be playing MJ’s mother.
Filming on Spider-Man: No Way Home (The November Project) has been mostly talking place in Atlanta, Georgia with Jon Watts directing before making his jump to helm Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot.
The returning cast is set to include Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Tony Revolori, Marisa Tomei, Hannibal Buress, Jon Favreau, Angourie Rice, and J.K. Simmons.
Benedict Cumberbatch is appearing as Doctor Strange as Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness has/about to complete principal photography in the United Kingdom. There has been some speculation about how Strange connects to No Way Home and if we’ll potentially see Peter Parker in The Multiverse of Madness.
Spider-Man: Far From Home ended on a massive cliffhanger as J. Jonah Jameson revealed Peter’s secret identity to the world and pushed the narrative that Spider-Man killed Quentin Beck aka Mysterio.
Spider-Man 2 actor Alfred Molina recently confirmed to Variety that he would be playing Doctor Octopus (first reported by GWW) in the MCU flick, but that he would be reprising the Sam Raimi incarnation to boot. However, Jamie Foxx had stated on social media that his version of Electro wouldn’t be blue giving the impression it would be a different incarnation from The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Tom Holland has denied in press interviews that former Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are in the movie, but that hasn’t detoured fans getting excited about seeing multiple generations of Peter Parker in the third MCU installment. The British actor has also stated that Spider-Man 3 fulfills his contract and likely means a new deal will have to be made for him to continue the Spider-Man role.
Sony has given Spider-Man: No Way Home a release date of December 17, 2021.
Paramount Pictures is attempting a remake of the Dungeons & Dragons movie, based on the beloved table-top fantasy game that recently got a resurgence with a new generation thanks to Netflix’s Stranger Things and it growing popularity again in the gaming community.
The fantasy project originally had Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War, The Lego Batman Movie) attached to direct before Paramount pivoted to Game Night filmmakers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. The duo, who previously wrote Spider-Man: Homecoming will tackle the script as well.
There is a new casting update as Deadline reports that they’ve just added young actress Chloe Coleman to their Dungeons & Dragons remake. Chloe is best known for co-starring with Dave Bautista in the comedy My Spy and will be seen the Karen Gillan action flick Gunpowder Milkshake later this year. She also has a role in James Cameron’s Avatar 2.
It’s growing cast includes Chris Pine (Star Trek, Wonder Woman), Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar, F9, Alita: Battle Angel), Rege-Jean Page (Bridgerton, The Gray Man), Justice Smith (Detective Pikachu, Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom), Sophia Lillis (It), and Hugh Grant (The Gentlemen, Five Eyes) is reportedly playing a villain.
Filming under the working title Chainmail will take place this year in Belfast, Northern Ireland and France with a production team that includes cinematographer Barry Peterson (Game Night) and production designer Raymond Chan (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier).
They’ve officially moved the fantasy adventure film from May 27, 2022 to March 3, 2023.
Sony Pictures recently signed a lucrative deal with Netflix for post-theatrical release Pay 1 window, but that doesn’t end there. Variety states that Disney and Sony have made a new streaming deal for their Marvel properties that will see their films jumping to Disney+ after their post-theatrical run at Netflix. The deal kick-ins in with 2022 releases likely starting with Jared Leto’s Morbius and subsequent Marvel releases from Sony up until 2026.
Disney will also get access to other Sony content.
The wide-ranging deal, which runs through Sony’s 2026 theatrical slate, also calls for Sony titles to run across Disney’s array of streaming and linear platforms, making it unprecedented in scope as it covers Disney Plus, Hulu, FX Networks, ABC, Disney Channels and Freeform. It also includes a significant number of library titles that will be spread among various outlets.
There are heap of Spider-Man spinoffs in the works at Sony with Tom Hardy’s Venom 3 (quietly announced with the Sony/Netflix deal), J.C. Chandor’s Kraven The Hunter, Olivia Wilde’s Spider-Woman, Madame Web, Jackpot, Nightwatch, and Sinister Six (if they end-up resurrecting it). The sequel to Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is likely part of the deal and the other animated Marvel projects in the works at Sony Animation Studios.
In September, it was reported that Amazon and Sony were in negotiations to bring their Marvel television projects such as Silk to the streaming giant that is already home to The Boys and Invincible.
It seems like a win-win for Sony Pictures as the studio didn’t have a streaming service and now has two homes allowing them to make revenue post-theatrical without having to launch a new service during a crowded market, which has been an extremely costly venture for other studios.
THE RONIN 