After some really bad information circulating last year that Marvel/Disney wouldn’t be making Deadpool 3 (at all) or keep it’s R-rating, it was announced that Marvel Studios had indeed hired sibling screenwriters Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin tasked to pen a script. They are also dead-set on keeping the third installment for mature audiences, which was something both Marvel and Disney brass has been stating publicly for years.
There has been some hints the film would be continuation of the franchise but it’s still unknown if anyone outside of Ryan Reynolds will be reprising their roles such as Josh Brolin’s Cable or Zazie Beetz’s Domino are currently in limbo concerning the sequel. The three actors had been expected to team-up again for an X-Force movie that was going to be written and directed by Drew Goddard. Of course, these plans were being put together well before the merger with Disney killed a bulk of the Marvel projects in development at Fox such as Gambit, X-23 aka Laura, and the Doctor Doom film.
Zazie Beetz was recently promoting her upcoming Amazon animated series Invincible (also extremely mature) when asked by Collider about her status on Deadpool 3 and if she has spoken to Marvel Studios/Disney about reprising the Domino role. She hasn’t talked to anyone about Domino but is interested in returning and even mentioned a desire to make a Domino movie.
BEETZ: “No, I haven’t [heard about Domino’s return]. I would love to revive the role. That was always in the world of what was potentially going to happen. I haven’t had any specific conversations around it. But I’m interested. Not only would I love to revive the role, I would love to figure out a way to make a Domino movie or something like that. We’ll see what happens, but I haven’t had any personal conversations.”
While a solo Domino movie might be a hard sell given how busy the Marvel feature film schedule tends to be, I could totally see the mutant character getting her own series either on Disney+ or Star (their new mature arm on Disney+) to help expand the Deadpool/X-Men universe.
We don’t really know the direction or plot of the third film outside of the brief comment on Twitter from Ryan suggesting they originally wanted to make a road trip film with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. However, at that point Hugh had retired the X-Men character after Logan and would explain why their focus pivoted to X-Force after the release of Deadpool 2. It’s possible they’ve scrapped all that stuff and are doing something completely different as they’ve replaced former screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.
Deadpool 3 doesn’t have release or production dates as a director has yet to be chosen, but there is a really good chance depending on Ryan’s busy schedule that Marvel Studios could begin shooting the sequel sometime in 2022 for a release in 2023-2024.
Deadline reports that Doctor Strange actor Benedict Cumberbatch is set to star in a new WWII drama, titled War Magician, that focuses on Jasper Makelyne who used illusions/magic to defeat the Nazis. The StudioCanal film will be directed by Colin Trevorrow best known for Jurassic World and the upcoming sequel Jurassic World: Dominion. The script was adapted from the David Fisher book by screenwriter E. Nicholas Mariani. Previous drafts were penned by Richard Cordiner and Gary Whitta.
Based on the wild story of Jasper Maskelyne, a British illusionist who used magic to defeat Erwin Rommel in World War II. Trevorrow’s take features an international “magic gang” from Africa, Europe and the Middle East who conspired with Maskelyne and a female military intelligence officer to defeat the Nazis.
It sounds similar to the American counterpart project Ghost Army that had Ben Affleck (Argo, The Town) attached to direct. That film is based on the real-life group that had American military overseas during WWII creating fake tanks and mock forces to fool the Germans thinking that the allies were advancing in greater numbers. It’s not magic but there is still an illusion element to trick the enemy.
Benedict Cumberbatch has worked on plenty of war films in the past including Sam Mendes’ 1917, Steven Spielberg’s War Horse, the WWII drama The Intimidation Game, and the Cold-War era drama Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The actor has been recently shooting Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness.
It’s unclear when War Magician will begin shooting.
Netflix’s most expensive original film has officially started production according to a Twitter post made by The Gray Man’s directors, The Russo Brothers. The film’s budget is said to be well over $200 million dollars and is expected to be a large-scale spy film, given the money involved we’re assuming there should be some over-the-top action sequences.
Production was reportedly taking place in Long Beach, California and it will reunite them with Captain America/Avengers star Chris Evans.
To those who lurk in the shadows, he’s known as the Gray Man. He is a legend in the covert realm, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible and then fading away. And he always hits his target. Always. But there are forces more lethal than Gentry in the world. Forces like money. And power. And there are men who hold these as the only currency worth fighting for. And in their eyes, Gentry has just outlived his usefulness. But Court Gentry is going to prove that, for him, there’s no gray area between killing for a living and killing to stay alive…
It’s cast includes Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans Ana De Armas, Wagner Moura, Jessica Henwick, Dhanush, Rege-Jean Page, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfre Woodard, and Julia Butters.
Their post confirms the cinematographer will be Stephen F. Windon, the director of photography for The Fast & The Furious films going back to Tokyo Drift. Stephen also worked on Star Trek Beyond, Sonic The Hedgehog, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
Director Jeff Fowler has announced via Twitter that production on the Sonic The Hedgehog 2 has begun today in Vancouver. Jeff posted a logo for the sequel that is teasing the inclusion of Sonic’s sidekick Tails.
The original film was one of the few movies to earn over $300 million last year (due to the pandemic) as it’s global box office cume was $319.7 million on a budget of $85 million.
Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey are returning to the roles of Sonic and Dr. Robotnik.
Sonic 2 has a release date of April 8th, 2022.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG – The world needed a hero — it got a hedgehog. Powered with incredible speed, Sonic embraces his new home on Earth — until he accidentally knocks out the power grid, sparking the attention of uncool evil genius Dr. Robotnik. Now, it’s supervillain vs. supersonic in an all-out race across the globe to stop Robotnik from using Sonic’s unique power to achieve world domination.
A new Xbox ad to help promote the upcoming series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier sees he return of D.C. Pierson’s tech-guy character Aaron last seen from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Aaron revealing at the end of the ad that his gamer-tag is NoobMaster69, a player that was bothering Thor and Korg in scenes from Avengers: Endgame.
You can see the ad below.
It’s certainly interesting to see an ad where you have two actors in-character.
The Falcon & The Winter Soldier debuts this Friday on Disney+.
This morning the Oscar nominations were announced with films such as Nomadland and Minari earning six nominations each. Check out the full list of nominees below thanks to the Oscars website and the live announcement via YouTube.
The ceremony will air April 25th exclusively on ABC.
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
NOMINEES
RIZ AHMED
Sound of Metal
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
ANTHONY HOPKINS
The Father
GARY OLDMAN
Mank
STEVEN YEUN
Minari
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
NOMINEES
SACHA BARON COHEN
The Trial of the Chicago 7
DANIEL KALUUYA
Judas and the Black Messiah
LESLIE ODOM, JR.
One Night in Miami…
PAUL RACI
Sound of Metal
LAKEITH STANFIELD
Judas and the Black Messiah
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
NOMINEES
VIOLA DAVIS
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
ANDRA DAY
The United States vs. Billie Holiday
VANESSA KIRBY
Pieces of a Woman
FRANCES MCDORMAND
Nomadland
CAREY MULLIGAN
Promising Young Woman
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
NOMINEES
MARIA BAKALOVA
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
GLENN CLOSE
Hillbilly Elegy
OLIVIA COLMAN
The Father
AMANDA SEYFRIED
Mank
YUH-JUNG YOUN
Minari
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
NOMINEES
ONWARD
Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae
OVER THE MOON
Glen Keane, Gennie Rim and Peilin Chou
A SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE: FARMAGEDDON
Richard Phelan, Will Becher and Paul Kewley
SOUL
Pete Docter and Dana Murray
WOLFWALKERS
Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young and Stéphan Roelants
CINEMATOGRAPHY
NOMINEES
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Sean Bobbitt
MANK
Erik Messerschmidt
NEWS OF THE WORLD
Dariusz Wolski
NOMADLAND
Joshua James Richards
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
Phedon Papamichael
COSTUME DESIGN
NOMINEES
EMMA
Alexandra Byrne
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Ann Roth
MANK
Trish Summerville
MULAN
Bina Daigeler
PINOCCHIO
Massimo Cantini Parrini
DIRECTING
NOMINEES
ANOTHER ROUND
Thomas Vinterberg
MANK
David Fincher
MINARI
Lee Isaac Chung
NOMADLAND
Chloé Zhao
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
Emerald Fennell
DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
NOMINEES
COLLECTIVE
Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana
CRIP CAMP
Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht and Sara Bolder
THE MOLE AGENT
Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez
MY OCTOPUS TEACHER
Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster
TIME
Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino and Kellen Quinn
DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
NOMINEES
COLETTE
Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard
A CONCERTO IS A CONVERSATION
Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
DO NOT SPLIT
Anders Hammer and Charlotte Cook
HUNGER WARD
Skye Fitzgerald and Michael Scheuerman
A LOVE SONG FOR LATASHA
Sophia Nahli Allison and Janice Duncan
FILM EDITING
NOMINEES
THE FATHER
Yorgos Lamprinos
NOMADLAND
Chloé Zhao
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
Frédéric Thoraval
SOUND OF METAL
Mikkel E. G. Nielsen
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
Alan Baumgarten
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
NOMINEES
ANOTHER ROUND
Denmark
BETTER DAYS
Hong Kong
COLLECTIVE
Romania
THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN
Tunisia
QUO VADIS, AIDA?
Bosnia and Herzegovina
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
NOMINEES
EMMA
Marese Langan, Laura Allen and Claudia Stolze
HILLBILLY ELEGY
Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle and Patricia Dehaney
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson
MANK
Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri and Colleen LaBaff
PINOCCHIO
Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli and Francesco Pegoretti
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
NOMINEES
DA 5 BLOODS
Terence Blanchard
MANK
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
MINARI
Emile Mosseri
NEWS OF THE WORLD
James Newton Howard
SOUL
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
NOMINEES
FIGHT FOR YOU
from Judas and the Black Messiah; Music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; Lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas
HEAR MY VOICE
from The Trial of the Chicago 7; Music by Daniel Pemberton; Lyric by Daniel Pemberton and Celeste Waite
HUSAVIK
from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga; Music and Lyric by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson
IO SÌ (SEEN)
from The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se); Music by Diane Warren; Lyric by Diane Warren and Laura Pausini
SPEAK NOW
from One Night in Miami…; Music and Lyric by Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sam Ashworth
BEST PICTURE
NOMINEES
THE FATHER
David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi and Philippe Carcassonne, Producers
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler, Producers
MANK
Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski, Producers
MINARI
Christina Oh, Producer
NOMADLAND
Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao, Producers
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell and Josey McNamara, Producers
SOUND OF METAL
Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche, Producers
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
Marc Platt and Stuart Besser, Producers
PRODUCTION DESIGN
NOMINEES
THE FATHER
Production Design: Peter Francis; Set Decoration: Cathy Featherstone
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Production Design: Mark Ricker; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton
MANK
Production Design: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decoration: Jan Pascale
NEWS OF THE WORLD
Production Design: David Crank; Set Decoration: Elizabeth Keenan
TENET
Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas
SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
NOMINEES
BURROW
Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat
GENIUS LOCI
Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS I LOVE YOU
Will McCormack and Michael Govier
OPERA
Erick Oh
YES-PEOPLE
Gísli Darri Halldórsson and Arnar Gunnarsson
SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
NOMINEES
FEELING THROUGH
Doug Roland and Susan Ruzenski
THE LETTER ROOM
Elvira Lind and Sofia Sondervan
THE PRESENT
Farah Nabulsi
TWO DISTANT STRANGERS
Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe
WHITE EYE
Tomer Shushan and Shira Hochman
SOUND
NOMINEES
GREYHOUND
Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman
MANK
Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin
NEWS OF THE WORLD
Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett
SOUL
Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker
SOUND OF METAL
Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh
VISUAL EFFECTS
NOMINEES
LOVE AND MONSTERS
Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt and Brian Cox
THE MIDNIGHT SKY
Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon and David Watkins
MULAN
Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury and Steve Ingram
THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN
Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones and Santiago Colomo Martinez
TENET
Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
NOMINEES
BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM: DELIVERY OF PRODIGIOUS BRIBE TO AMERICAN REGIME FOR MAKE BENEFIT ONCE GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Peter Baynham & Erica Rivinoja & Dan Mazer & Jena Friedman & Lee Kern; Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Nina Pedrad
THE FATHER
Screenplay by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller
NOMADLAND
Written for the screen by Chloé Zhao
ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI…
Screenplay by Kemp Powers
THE WHITE TIGER
Written for the screen by Ramin Bahrani
WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
NOMINEES
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Screenplay by Will Berson & Shaka King; Story by Will Berson & Shaka King and Kenny Lucas & Keith Lucas
MINARI
Written by Lee Isaac Chung
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
Written by Emerald Fennell
SOUND OF METAL
Screenplay by Darius Marder & Abraham Marder; Story by Darius Marder & Derek Cianfrance
Director and co-writer Matt Reeves has taken to Twitter to give a big update on the production of The Batman, as he’s declared Saturday is the last day of principal photography. The film is part one of a new Batman trilogy from Reeves with Robert Pattinson in the role of Bruce Wayne and according to DC Films takes place in Earth 2.
Filming on the DC Comics reboot hasn’t been as smooth as the studio would have liked as they originally had to halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then had to pause again after resuming due to Robert Pattinson testing positive.
The Flash is the next big film to shoot on the Warner Bros. stages in Watford, England. Funny enough, that superhero flick is expected to include two Batman actors with both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck set to appear.
The Batman’s teaser trailer from the summer seemed to make a huge impression given the limited footage they had to work with and has become one of the most anticipated films from the studio after some initial hesitation from fans with the casting news of Robert Pattinson playing Batman for the foreseeable future.
Warner Bros. has given The Batman a release date of March 4th, 2022.
THE BATMAN – From Warner Bros. Pictures comes “The Batman,” with director Matt Reeves (the “Planet of the Apes” films) at the helm and with Robert Pattinson (“Tenet,” “The Lighthouse,” “Good Time”) starring as Gotham City’s vigilante detective, Batman, and billionaire Bruce Wayne.
Also in the star-studded ensemble as Gotham’s famous and infamous cast of characters are Zoë Kravitz (“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”) as Selina Kyle; Paul Dano (“Love & Mercy,” “12 Years a Slave”) as Edward Nashton; Jeffrey Wright (the “Hunger Games” films) as the GCPD’s James Gordon; John Turturro (the “Transformers” films) as Carmine Falcone; Peter Sarsgaard (“The Magnificent Seven,” “Black Mass”) as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson; Barry Keoghan (“Dunkirk”) as Officer Stanley Merkel; Jayme Lawson (“Farewell Amor”) as mayoral candidate Bella Reál; with Andy Serkis (the “Planet of the Apes” films, “Black Panther”) as Alfred; and Colin Farrell (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “Dumbo”) as Oswald Cobblepot.
Deadline is reporting that estimates from China’s box office has given Avatar enough money from the re-release to have surpassed Avengers: Endgame, giving the James Cameron sci-fi movie the box office title again making it the highest grossing film. That’s until Disney re-releases Avengers: Endgame and the record flips back to Marvel Studios at some point.
The China reissue of the 2009 3D sci-fi phenomenon had taken an estimated RMB 58M ($8.9M) through 5PM local time on Saturday after re-releasing on Friday in the market. This closes and surpasses what was a $7.82M gap between the two films prior to China’s resissue. Disney/Marvel’s Endgame previously snapped up the top global crown from Avatar in July 2019. The current (and fluid) Avatar global total is an estimated $2,798,579,794 versus Endgame‘s $2,797,501,328.
It’ll be interesting to see if the domestic or global box office will ever fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic as many don’t believe we’ll see blockbuster movies surpassing $1-2 billion grosses any time soon. While certain international markets might be able to go back to “normal” sooner than places that were harder hit by the virus such as the United States.
The re-release comes at an important time as James Cameron is prepping to release four Avatar sequels and making sure Chinese audiences remember the franchise will be a key element of those films making top-dollar when they’re eventually released starting with Avatar 2 in December 2022. I’m extremely curious to see if Jim can replicate the success of the original film four more times.
Filming on the multiple sequels has been taking place in California for the motion-capture portion and the live-action scenes being shot at Stone Street Studios in Wellington, New Zealand. Hopefully, we’ll end up getting a teaser trailer for Avatar 2 before the end of the year from Disney/20th Century Studios.
Director Joe Cornish has revealed to Entertainment Weekly during a SXSW interview that he’s recently spoken with Attack The Block actor John Boyega about sequel ideas. You might remember that Joe’s sci-fi comedy helped give international exposure to Boyega before he was ultimately cast as Finn by J.J. Abrams for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
CORNISH: “We’re working on it at the moment. John Boyega was round at my place a few weeks ago and we sat in the garden — socially distanced — talking about story ideas until it was so dark we couldn’t see each other. So, yeah, we’re working on that.”
John’s Attack The Block co-star Jodie Whittaker also got her own sci-fi franchise gig as well becoming the 13th Doctor on the BBC’s Doctor Who series.
It’s unknown if we’ll actually get Attack The Block 2, but it would be exciting to see what could happen if Joe Cornish was given a much larger budget for a sequel since the original had some decent production value for only costing $13 million to make. However, while the film has earned a bit of a cult follow on streaming and home video, it flopped at the box office only earning $6 million (less than half it’s budget).
Given it’s troubles at the box office, I wouldn’t be shocked if a sequel ended up at a streaming service such as Netflix or Amazon.
ATTACK THE BLOCK – Attack the Block follows an unlucky young woman and a gang of tough inner city kids who make an unlikely alliance to try to defend their turf against an invasion of savage alien creatures, turning a South London apartment complex into an intergalactic war-zone.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Warner Bros. has cast Spanish actress Maribel Verdu (Pan’s Labyrinth) has taken the role of Barry Allen’s mother. The DC Comics movie is a feature version of the Flashpoint storyline, where Barry goes back in time using his powers and saves the life of his mother only for the consequences of changing the timeline leading to extremely bleak alternative future. A superhero version of The Butterfly Effect.
It director Andy Muschietti is directing from a script penned by Christina Hodson (Batgirl, Birds of Prey) with a cast that includes Ezra Miller as Barry Allen aka The Flash, Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne aka Batman, Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne aka Batman, Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, and Sasha Calle as Supergirl.
Watchmen actor Billy Crudup plays Barry’s father.
Filming will be taking place in Watford, England and has a release date of November 4th, 2022.
THE RONIN 