1995’s “Heat” is arguably one of the more mainstream commercial successes of Michael Mann‘s directing career and is still considered by many, like myself, as one of the greatest action films in cinema history and not just 1990s. Mann managed to elevate the material (A remake of his television movie “L.A. Takedown” that aired on NBC in 1989) with the help of high-profile actors like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro taking lead roles alongside others such as Val Kilmer. The pic pits two groups of extremely efficient Los Angeles professionals working both sides of the street. A slick twist on the classic cops and robbers genre with the LAPD major crimes unit closing in on a team of highly skilled heist-men after a job goes south in the opening of the film.
A novel co-written by Mann and Meg Gardiner covering the events before and after the original film in 1988/2000 was recently released with the aim of turning it into a follow-up feature film. While chatting recently with Variety to promote his current release, “Ferrari,” a biopic about the famed sports car and racing magnate Enzo Ferrari starring Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”), the filmmaker shared a minor update on the current status of “Heat 2.” Stating that while he was still ironing out the script, there are plans to shoot the prequel/sequel sometime in 2024.
Mann says he has plans for “Heat 2” to shoot in 2024, and has been putting the final touches on the script that he calls both a “prequel and sequel.”
A good sign that official casting news is on the horizon as most of the roles will have to be recast due to the timeline of the novel. Last April, Driver was reportedly up for a lead role and reunion but has yet to be made official.
Here is the book’s synopsis via publisher Harper Collins which will be the inspiration for the upcoming crime thriller:
One day after the end of ‘Heat,’ Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) is holed up in Koreatown, wounded, half delirious, and desperately trying to escape LA. Hunting him is LAPD detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino). Hours earlier, Hanna killed Shiherlis’s brother in arms Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) in a gunfight under the strobe lights at the foot of an LAX runway. Now Hanna’s determined to capture or kill Shiherlis, the last survivor of McCauley’s crew, before he ghosts out of the city.
In 1988, seven years earlier, McCauley, Shiherlis, and their highline crew are taking scores on the West Coast, the US-Mexican border, and now in Chicago. Driven, daring, they’re pulling in money and living vivid lives. And Chicago homicide detective Vincent Hanna—a man unreconciled with his history—is following his calling, the pursuit of armed and dangerous men into the dark and wild places, hunting an ultraviolent gang of home invaders.
Meanwhile, the fallout from McCauley’s scores and Hanna’s pursuit cause unexpected repercussions in a parallel narrative, driving through the years following Heat.
While there are plans to shoot “Heat 2” in 2024, we don’t have a production timetable for that, a release date, or a full cast of actors outside of Driver being in talks. So, as things are coming together nicely we’re not there just yet. We’re sure more updates are coming later in the year, stay tuned.
In 2023, studios across the board had a good amount of their blockbusters tank or have underwhelming results at the global box office. At this point, the phrase “franchise fatigue” is maybe the more accurate term we should start using here over “superhero fatigue.” Mainly, because it’s not just comic book movies that are struggling to make an impact at the box office, earn as much as the last installment, or turn a profit. In this piece, we’re going to spotlight many of these box office hiccups from last year.
Disney saw a massive ding to their 2023 slate with “Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny,” with a $300 million budget and the fifth installment of the “Indiana Jones” franchise, which didn’t click with audiences in the way that Lucasfilm/Disney had hoped earning a less than stellar $383.9 million. Speaking of Lucasfilm, a studio built on the juggernaut “Star Wars” franchise hasn’t shot a feature film since 2019 with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” Their pause on the feature division comes after “Solo: A Star Wars Story” had a weak box office take that scared Lucasfilm from pursuing other spinoff films and pivoted to focusing on their streaming series division at Disney+ instead. There have been endless promises of new films by Lucasfilm from filmmakers such as Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Taika Waititi, Dave Filoni, James Mangold, Shawn Levy, and a mystery trilogy from Rian Johnson. However, we’ll believe all these “Star Wars” movies are happening when the trailers drop considering how many films were turned into series or never happened at all like “Star Wars: Rogue Squadron” that had a release date of December 22,2023 and then the Patty Jenkins-directed pic just vanished.
It’s not just Disney and Warner Bros. undergoing a stress test other studios saw some of their popular franchises taking dings in 2023. Paramount’s “Transformers: Rise of The Beasts” had a somewhat difficult time attracting audiences to the point that it made even less than 2018’s “Bumblebee” with $438.9 million and $166.5 million less than “Transformers: The Last Knight.” Another big stumble for Paramount was “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” and one nobody really saw coming after “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” earned Paramount a whopping $791.6 million back in 2018. The most recent outing led by Tom Cruise only managed to make $395.4 million over the summer which is nearly half of what “Fallout” did. The studio is now abandoning the “Dead Reckoning Part Two” title for “Mission: Impossible 8” entirely.
While I think folks at Lionsgate are happy that their “Hunger Games” prequel has made $322.6 million, yet, that would still be a drop of $338.8 million from “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.” The fourth installment of “The Expendables” distributed by Lionsgate ended up putting up some of the worst numbers with an embarrassing $21.2 million compared to the last pic’s $214.6 million. “Expendables 4” wasn’t the only disappointing Jason Statham film either as Ben Wheatley’s “Meg 2: The Trench” dropped down by $134.3 million.
Universal has many plans for expanding its Universal Monsters franchise with various features tackling different horror characters. However, in 2023 the studio struggled to get folks to watch either of their high-profile Dracula films with both the comedy “Renfield” ($26.4 million global earnings vs $65 million budget) and the grittier “The Last Voyage of The Demeter” ($21.7 million global earnings vs $45 million budget) which took decades to make it to the big screen failed to scare up an audience outside of the Halloween season. Some of the few horror films that struggled.
Meanwhile, on the superhero front, there were indeed signs of audience apathy. Both “The Marvels” ($46.1 million domestic opening weekend) and “Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom” ($27.7 million domestic opening weekend) were follow-ups to billion-dollar successes that failed to make a big splash by not covering their production/marketing costs.
Of course, the headaches that Marvel Studios experienced in 2023 are obvious with “The Marvels” dipping a massive $925.8 million compared to “Captain Marvel” and “Ant-Man 3” saw a significant drop of $146.6 million in contrast to “Ant-Man & The Wasp.” Although, it wasn’t all bad for the MCU since “Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3” topped the superhero releases at $845.5 million with a minor slip of $18.2 million.
The final installment of the DCEU, “Aquaman & The Last Kingdom,” had a soft opening weekend as mentioned above, and has only mustered $258.2 million which is another colossal hiccup. A difference of $893.8 million when put up against the original. Ultimately, the “Shazam!” sequel ended up with one of the worst turnouts for major superhero blockbusters. At $133.8 million (Made a fraction of what the original did when it earned $367.7 million in 2019) and given its hefty budget of $300 million, “The Flash” was another catastrophe for WB at $270.6 million. With the DCU set for a big reboot in July 2025, starting with “Superman: Legacy,” there are some expectations that the reset could help with the studio’s rebranding post-Snyderverse. Then again, “Blue Beetle” (Not technically a sequel/follow-up) was retroactively added to the DCU by DC Studios around its release despite a weak $129.2 million at the box office.
Then again, it’s not all bad since there were a handful of upticks in 2023, and some of these include “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” hitting $690.5 million, a big jump from the Oscar-winning first installment’s global box office of $384.2 million from 2018. “Creed III” saw a $61 million boost which sounds good for the prospect of a fourth film. When it comes to more mature franchises, “John Wick: Chapter 4” also handed Lionsgate their best numbers over four feature films at $440.1 million. “Saw X” and “Scream VI” did well compared to their last installments too.
Every movie is as different as the reasons for them not becoming massive earners.
We can’t really expect studios to pump the breaks completely on the superhero movies given that it’s still a lucrative venture. There is an overload of sequels on the horizon at Marvel with “Deadpool 3,” “Captain America: Brave New World,” and director Destin Daniel Cretton exiting “Avengers 5” to focus on “Shangi-Chi 2.” “Deadpool 3,” an R-rated sequel, is expected to be the only MCU feature film released this year and gives the studios a bit of a cooling-off period.
While these pics haven’t been given official release dates or announced by Marvel themselves, there is an expectation that we’ll be getting “Spider-Man 4,” “Doctor Strange 3,” “Thor 5,” “Captain America 5,” and possibly “Eternals 2.” There are also a bunch of reboots on the way with things like “Fantastic Four,” “Blade,” “X-Men,” James Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy” shooting in 2024, and a new Batman film with “The Brave & The Bold.”
Sony’s adjacent Marvel films in 2024 include “Madame Web,” “Kraven The Hunter,” and the final solo outing for Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock in “Venom 3.” We don’t know how much appetite audiences have for these movies without Tom Holland’s involvement and a disaster like “Morbius” harkening back to the era of the 2000s when studios were rushing half-cooked superhero films into theaters to meet the demand.
A bunch of non-comic book blockbusters or follow-up installments coming later this year include “Dune: Part Two,” “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” “Gladiator 2,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “Kung Fu Panda 4,” “Inside Out 2,” “Kingdom of The Planet of The Apes,” “Alien: Romulus,” “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” “Mufasa: The King King,” “Sonic The Hedgehog 3,” “The Lord of The Rings: The War of The Rohirrim,” ‘Smile 2,” “Saw XI,” “Transformers One,” “Beetlejuice 2,” “Wolf Man,” “A Quiet Place: Day One,” “Despicable Me 4,” “Bad Boys 4,” “Ballerina,” “The Strangers: Chapter 1,” and Radio Silence’s Universal Monsters film. Hopefully, these do a lot better with audiences.
Solutions? Well, spending $200-300 million a pop for these films is simply going to be unsustainable, and trying to market every blockbuster as an event continues to be difficult for studios when their slate is mostly these kinds of films in an oversaturated market. Studios would likely benefit from seeking out filmmakers who can deliver genre films at lower costs and potentially scaling back the overreliance on VFX. An adjusted expectation for these movies could be closer to a cume of $300-500 million and studios would be smart to think about going back to budgets closer to/under $80-100 million. The bigger the movie the pricier reshoots and overhauls will be to fix hiccups in the editing/post process which has contributed to a lot of these bloated budgets making it tougher for studios to recoup their overall costs.
Some other factors include that COVID is still ongoing with people avoiding crowded theaters/malls and a lot of audiences don’t have to wait long for releases to drop on streaming services they’re already subscribing to. The latter seems a lot more damaging because the shortened theatrical windows mean studios have to deal with not only folks waiting out to get movies for “free” on streaming via subs and diminishes the importance of the theatrical experience. Warner Bros. during the early days of the pandemic attempted to do day-and-date releases which was detrimental to their film division it led AT&T’s John Stankey to bail on the company by handing over the reins to David Zaslav/Discovery (His tax write-off scheme leading to the erasure of films and shows is equally imbecilic).
A good example of this was Disney, who dumped three straight Pixar films “Soul,” “Luca,” and “Turning Red” on Disney+ and seemingly did large brand damage as they’re trying to fix in retrospect by releasing them all in theaters in 2024 (See teaser trailer above). This comes ahead of the release of “Inside Out 2” in June, a follow-up to a $858.8 million hit, that may aim to curb some of the weak box office that “Toy Story” semi-spinoff “Lightyear” saw in 2022.
It’s worth mentioning that things like “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” and “Super Mario Bros.” surprised us all with their massive earnings as when these movies were first announced they weren’t slamdunks to the point we were expecting them to be the Top 3 films of 2023. Their theatrical windows gave those pics plenty of time to accumulate a bunch of cash. Also, doesn’t hurt that both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” (Still playing at my local theater in December) came from visionary filmmakers, Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan respectively. Selecting creatives that can contribute to the script or elevate the material to make something appealing to an audience when a lot of genre projects can blend together or seem generic might help. Nolan and Denis Villeneuve have been extremely vocal on the importance of theatrical windows.
We shouldn’t be all doom-and-gloom about the situation. I’m mostly optimistic since there were plenty of good box office stories in 2023 and studios aren’t suddenly going to stop making these movies. Yet, potentially trimming the volume of releases, not trying to manufacture event status for all films, and using their abundant resources more carefully should be a good start. Marvel/Disney have already signaled they’re looking to pivot and make constructive changes. We’ll see if other studios make similar adjustments with their own franchises that are seeing dwindling interest.
Here is a rundown of franchise releases in 2023 to give you an idea of how lopsided the box office of 2023 actually was:
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 ($845.5 million)
FAST X ($704.8 million)
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE ($690.5 million)
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE ($567.5 million)
ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA ($476 million)
TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS ($438.9 million)
THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES ($322.6 million)
There was such promise when director Zack Snyder decided to rebuff the theatrical studio machine to take his film ideas to Netflix, a streamer known to throw around insane amounts of money on risky projects that tend to overspend on talent with bloated budgets. “Army of The Dead,” another zombie flick after his well-received “Dawn of The Dead” (penned by James Gunn) seemed to have modest success at Netflix with somewhat approval from both critics and audiences with a sequel, “Planet of The Dead,” expected to be Snyder’s next feature film.
Well, the recently debuted “Rebel Moon- Part One: A Child of Fire” dropped this month, and there are now some official viewership numbers released by the streaming service to give us an idea of how the movie is doing with Netflix subscribers. Netflix’s own first three-day viewership data has been released for “Rebel Moon – Part One” (via What’s On Netflix) and those numbers aren’t exactly that impressive. While it ended up with 23.9 million and might seem solid, What’s On Netflix added some context comparing “Rebel Moon” to other Netflix original films released in 2023 and the sci-fi pic doesn’t even crack the Top 8 films. Since the box office isn’t really a gauge for success with streaming feature films, the viewership data is really all we have to work with.
Here’s what the Top 10 movies looked like from What’s On Netflix’s list of 2023 films based on their first three days of performance and “Rebel Moon” is squarely in that ninth place spot:
MURDER MYSTERY 2 – 42.9M
THE MOTHER – 42.9M
EXTRACTION 2 – 42.8M
LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND – 41.7M
HEART OF STONE – 33.1M
YOU PEOPLE – 28.3M
THE KILLER – 27.9M
YOUR PLACE OR MINE – 27.7M
REBEL MOON – 23.9M
THE PALE BLUE EYE – 19.8M
The ambitious pic didn’t exactly win over critics but the lower-than-expected numbers might speak for themselves. Still, this is only part 1 of a two-parter, plus, there have been promises of a “more mature director’s cut” of the film in early 2024 (Whatever that means). If these early numbers are any indication, Netflix might be second-guessing any follow-ups given the cost vs return for the streaming giant. Perhaps, we won’t be seeing any more of these two-parter productions from Snyder anytime soon as the release model (two different edits) and splitting a single film into two might be part of the problem here, this isn’t exactly “Hunger Games” or “Dune.”
A trailer for “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver” was released over the holidays and is still expected to drop on April 19, 2024, as planned.
For months now Disney and Marvel Studios have been walking on eggshells by attempting not to comment or spotlight the legal woes of actor Jonathan Majors, who just yesterday was convicted of reckless assault in the third degree and guilty of harassment. This is from a two-week trial in NYC that stemmed from a March altercation between the Marvel actor and his ex-partner, Grace Jabbari. Sentencing for Majors will take place on February 6, 2024, and will shed light on what kind of consequences he’ll be seeing for his actions.
Within hours of the verdict being announced trades like The Hollywood Reporter learned that the studio had finally decided to drop Majors from his contract and sever their ties with him for future MCU projects. Majors had been playing multiple variants of the Multiverse Saga villain, Kang The Conqueror, and was expected to become a rather key aspect of both “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” as well. The quickness of the announcement was more than likely prepared months in advance and the studio had just been waiting for the trial’s outcome to make the firing public.
Kang had been mostly confined to variant appearances on two seasons of the Disney+ series “Loki” and played the main villain of “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania,” the latter project not exactly supported by either critics or audiences. Recently there have been some creative hiccups on the next project said to feature Kang as Jeff Loveness (“Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania”) reportedly exited as the screenwriter on “Avengers 5” with fellow “Rick & Morty” writer Michael Waldron (“Loki,” “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness”) stepping in to do rewrites on the script after being previously assigned to “Secret Wars” too. This coming around the same time as director Destin Daniel Cretton also left the “Avengers” pic to focus on his “Wonder Man” series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Watchmen,” “Aquaman 2”) and a gestating sequel to “Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings” led by Simu Liu (“Barbie”).
It’s clear “Avengers 5” is getting an overall but what that will look like isn’t being revealed officially and we’re still going to have to wait for more concrete details on how much they’re actually changing.
What remains unclear is what Marvel is expected to do about the character of Kang and if they’ll simply recast, given the Multiverse villain has many variants (“Loki” has established that variants can both look like the original character or completely different) allowing for a brand new actor to be placed in the Kang role without much narrative headaches. General audiences likely didn’t get too attached to Majors as Kang after the underwhelming reactions to “Ant-Man 3.” Plenty of names have been thrown around online as potential wishlist replacements such as Oscar-winner Denzel Washington (“Gladiator 2,” “The Equalizer 3”), his son John David Washington (“Tenet,” “The Creator”), John Boyega (“They Cloned Tyrone,” “Star Wars”), Damson Idris (“Snowfall”), and many others. Using the villain’s other variant aliases like Rama-Tut or Immortus could also be a way to distance themselves from using the Kang name alongside retitling the next “Avengers” installment.
Pedro Pascal is expected to play the variant of Reed Richards in “Fantastic Four” after we saw John Krasinski play him as the Earth-838 incarnation in “Doctor Strange 2.” So, Marvel isn’t above recasting these parts and the Multiverse gives them a narrative excuse to do it. We saw a backlash against Marvel’s choice not to recast T’Challa for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” after the sudden death of star Chadwick Boseman due to a private battle with colon cancer, which might have been understandable from a grief perspective among the director, cast, and crew. What I don’t think fans want to see is the erasure of black characters becoming a trend within the MCU and finding another actor doesn’t seem like that much of an ask since the Multiverse angle gives the studio a lot of wiggle room.
LOKI establishes that VARIANTS can look exactly like him or nothing at all. Kang being another force within the Multiverse, could have a new variant that arrives because of the events of LOKI's season finale and looks completely different. pic.twitter.com/NgO2obk6Qh
“Loki” Season 2 also just wrapped up and the ending of the series downplayed the 616/Majors version of Kang allowing for them to pivot to a new variant/actor or simply find another villain altogether, given Loki‘s renewed popularity having him potentially meddling with the Multiverse with his new gig at the TVA might be another way to go here.
Some online have convinced themselves that Marvel is going to “pivot from Kang The Conqueror” entirely to focus on a character like “Fantastic Four” baddie Doctor Doom because he had been an antagonist in a more recent comic incarnation of “Secret Wars.” However, given that the “Fantastic Four” reboot hasn’t even been established it feels odd that the studio would be rushing Doom to shoehorn him into two “Avengers” installments before he’s been properly fleshed out in the “Fantastic Four” films. While many still look to the comics for what might end up happening in the MCU, the studio isn’t exactly known for making one-to-one adaptations of the source material they ultimately do their own thing. It’s worth noting that we still don’t have official confirmation that Doom is even showing up or being cast for the Matt Shakman-directed reboot, Doom’s involvement has only been speculation going back to when the project was first announced by the studio and previous rumors of his involvement in other MCU projects didn’t pan-out.
Before the merger, Noah Hawley (“Legion”) had been quietly developing a solo “Doctor Doom” film for 20th Century Fox but seemingly has moved on with the latest season of “Fargo” and production on his Earthbound “Alien” series at FX/Hulu set to resume in the new year.
There are villain surrogate options for Marvel besides Doom such as “X-Men” Multiverse villain Mojo, who on the Fox Kids animated series (being continued via “X-Men ’97” on Disney+) kidnaps the X-Men forcing the team of mutants to appear on his interdimensional TV station in Mojoverse/Mojo World as a massive boost to their ratings. A plot point that could be easily applied to the MCU version of Battleworld given that the “X-Men” are expected to be coming to the MCU after the events of “Deadpool 3” which is said to involve a Multiverse/TVA angle to it.
In my personal opinion, a group of Multiverse villains perfectly suited for these next two installments would be The Squadron Supreme. Not only do they originate directly from the Multiverse in the pages of “Avengers” comics but including them may remove the need for variant/cameo overloads as Marvel’s version of Justice League would be a compelling pack of antagonists for our heroes to go toe-to-toe with and wouldn’t need to be explored beyond the two event pics. Allowing for some slightly more self-contained threats that don’t need to be established over time in a dozen other projects.
Marvel has yet to announce a director for either “Avengers 5” or “Avengers: Secret Wars,” but the current assumption is that we could end up seeing whoever is hired for one to shoot both films. The next film is slated to be released on May 1, 2026, but we won’t hold our breath that it sticks to that date.
As you might be already aware, director Zack Snyder (“Army of The Dead”) is returning to genre filmmaking with his latest installment at Netflix, “Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire” and it features British actor Charlie Hunnam (“Pacific Rim”) as part of the ensemble cast. Like his director, Hunnam has a slim connection to the world of DC Comics films as fans have long campaigned to get him to play the feature film version of Oliver Queen, aka, Green Arrow.
It sounds like the role was once on the table but the actor declined the part. While speaking with Comic Book he clarified that Snyder didn’t approach him to play the character, Hunnam admitted he wasn’t unaware of the character and couldn’t exactly remember who asked him to play Green Arrow.
“I did not share their enthusiasm,” Hannum said of how he declined the mystery project. “I don’t know who Green Arrow is and don’t want to offend anyone.”
This might go back to the era of David S. Goyer‘s unmade “Green Arrow: Escape FromSuper Max” pitch, a prison-set action pic with Green Arrow unmasked and jailed having to deal with a Super Max Prison filled with violent inmates and DC villains like The Joker and Lex Luthor alongside more obscure ones. It was penned by Goyer and Justin Marks. Eerily, the Ben Affleck solo “Batman” film was expected to take some cues from it with the setting taking place in Arkham Asylum and Wayne having to work with/fight various rogues.
As far as we know, there aren’t current plans for Green Arrow in the new DCU spearheaded by James Gunn and Peter Safran, the new heads of DC Studios. Things could change very quickly given that Gunn has been trying to flesh out his new cinematic universe rather quickly as the production of “Superman: Legacy” is about to begin soon in Atlanta.
Yesterday, it was reported by Deadline that Marvel’s fourth “Captain America” film, “Captain America: Brave New World,” would be undergoing further rewrites ahead of reshoots with the help of screenwriter Matthew Orton (“Operation Finale”), who had previously worked with Marvel Studios on “Moon Knight.”
Plot details are being kept under wraps but there is an expectation that an MCU version of the supervillain team The Serpent Society (previously used as a fake title for “Captain America: Civil War” and their involvement seemingly backed up in set photos) could be the antagonists of the action flick alongside Tim Blake Nelson’s The Leader. Harrison Ford had been recast as President “Thunderbolt” Ross after the death of William Hurt and could be either friend or foe to Sam Wilson.
Dalan Musson and Malcolm Spellman wrote the shooting version of the script with Julius Onah directing.
That additional filming is said to be taking place in the spring/summer of 2024 and will hit theaters on February 14, 2025. It’s important to point out that all MCU films have reshoots built into their budgets and nearly all projects undergo reshoots/pickups after they’ve wrapped principal photography.
More business-as-usual for the studio.
Also, while this isn’t a huge tidbit, “Thunderbolts” star Wyatt Russell (“The Falcon & The Winter Soldier”) while promoting his Apple TV+ series “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via ThePlaylist) revealed that neither Harrison Ford (President Thunderbolt Ross) nor Daniel Bruhl (Zemo) would be appearing in the film but hasn’t read the MCU film’s script to know for sure.
“Daniel is not going to be it, [but] he could play a part in it. I don’t know. I haven’t read a script yet, but as of now, I’m not sure. Harrison’s in ‘Captain America 4,’ I think. I don’t know, I haven’t read a script, so I don’t know who exactly who is in it. I know Florence is in it, I know Sebastian’s in it. I know David Harbour is going to be in it. David Harbour is another guy who’s, like, so good. I love everything he does.”
We could theorize the actor is likely basing his knowledge of who is in the film based on the official concept art that announced the film’s character lineup such as Russell’s U.S. Agent. Then again, it might help if Russell had read the script before answering the question. It’s worth pointing out that “Thunderbolts” filming and “Captain America: Brave New World” reshoots are expected to overlap with each other leaving room for Ross/Zemo to appear.
“Thunderbolts” like a bunch of recent Marvel films have been undergoing rewrites ahead of their production and it remains to be seen if either President Ross or Zemo ultimately show up in the pic. However, it is worth mentioning that Zemo was a founding member of the team in the comics and there had been some assumptions given President Ross’ (Red Hulk is a Thunderbolts member in more recent incarnations of the roster in the comics) connection to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine established in other films that he could be showing up.
It was recently confirmed by Robert Kirkman (“The Walking Dead,” “Invincible”) on a YouTube video that his actor pal Steven Yeun (“Nope”) is set in the role of Sentry and had a costume fitting. The rest of the film’s cast includes Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/White Wolf/Winter Soldier), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova/Black Widow, David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Valentina Allegra de Fontaine), and Olga Kurylenko (Taskmaster).
Filming on “Thunderbolts” is expected to begin in the new year once rewrites are completed and has a release date of July 25, 2025.
You can watch that full exchange on the Happy Sad Confused podcast below.
Another modern remake of “The Wolf Man” had been in development at Blumhouse/Universal after the studio’s plans for a cinematic universe centered on their iconic Universal Monsters had been in the works but there is a bit of shakeup on the project. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that both director Derek Cianfrance (“A Place Beyond The Pines”) and Ryan Gosling have exited “Wolf Man,” with replacements already found.
Actor Christopher Abbott (“Poor Things”) has been tapped to take over the lead role from Gosling and Aussie filmmaker Leigh Whannell (“Upgrade”) is back on the film after Cianfrance had been hired to take on directing duties. Whannell was behind Universal’s “Invisible Man,” a modern take on the H.G. Wells character with a domestic abuse spin that had a solid reception from both audiences and critics leading to the studio to assign the director for a remake of “The Wolf Man” next.
The script was penned by both Whannell and Corbett Tuck.
Abbott is no stranger to genre projects with a string of credits that include Brandon Cronenberg’s cyberpunk thriller “Possessor,” “Catch-22,” and most recently can be seen in the Frankenstein-inspired satire “Poor Things.”
Of course, the movie would focus on a man who is cursed with transforming into the Wolf Man during a full moon with deadly results. Oscar-winner Benedict Del Toro starred in the last incarnation helmed by Joe Johnston (“Captain America: The First Avenger”) which was released back in 2010 and used a mix of Rick Baker’s excellent practical makeup alongside wonky digital effects. “Wolf Man” already has a release date set for October 25, 2024, which means production is about to start soon.
Director Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Thor: Love & Thunder”) had recently bowed out of the running to tackle a hypothetical “Thor 5” while stating that franchise star Chris Hemsworth was “talking to” Marvel about the next installment. However, Marvel and Disney have yet to officially announce plans for “Thor 5.” As soon as it was clear that Waititi wasn’t returning, suddenly an online rumor pegged Gareth Edwards (“Rogue One,” “Godzilla,” “The Creator”) as a potential contender. Well, that might not actually be the case.
The filmmaker has seemingly debunked this rumbling while appearing on Bro Bible’s Post Credit Podcast (via ThePlaylist). He was aware of the rumor making the rounds on the internet while suggesting it wasn’t real but it still amused him and clarified he’s more interested in “pursuing original sci-fi” instead of any other franchise projects.
“I saw those rumors too. I saw it and I jokingly sent it to my girlfriend. I just texted her the link and said, ‘I didn’t want you to find out this way.’ I’ve never heard anything about it. It’s totally… the internet is an incredible place,” said Edwards.
He added, “I love those movies. I love Marvel, a lot of my friends work on Marvel films. I’m very excited about the future of cinema, personally. I feel like everything we did differently on ‘The Creator’ is probably the strongest part of the film. And I just want to push that even further, so having the freedom and being able to take risks, being allowed to fail. I think that’s all an important part of any creativity.”
Pouring more cold water on the potential of him jumping toward the MCU.
“I love all the other movies and franchises, I go to see them. I have most of them on my DVD/Blu-ray shelf. But I really want to keep pursuing original sci-fi. Was that a very politically correct answer? I never say never. In the right circumstances, absolutely.”
Edwards never made much sense given his infamous experience with Disney/Lucasfilm making “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (the studio brought in Tony Gilroy to rewrite/reshoot scenes) and focusing his energy these days on original ideas with “The Creator,” which could lead to more budget-conscious projects that allow him to have way more creative freedom than being a hired-gun on an existing franchise.
We still don’t even know if “Thor 5” is going to happen and will have to wait for Kevin Feige to share an update. Given that, even a hint of a sequel hasn’t come from Marvel. Then again, there are plenty of unused characters and Norse mythology for the studio to mine for a fifth installment such as the Midgard Serpent, The Einherjar (dead warriors waiting to fight in Ragnarok), the Light Elves in the realm of Alfheim, Ulik of the Rock Trolls, and Balder The Brave.
Hollywood is starting to learn how to properly adapt video game properties for both the small screen like with the acclaimed show “The Last of Us” on HBO/Max and for the big screen as the animated “Super Mario Bros.” movie was able to dominate the 2023 box office by earning over a billion dollars globally when other pics where struggling. Another hot property has been gobbled up and it was announced by video game guru Hideo Kojima of Kojima Productions that A24 Films would be developing a live-action film based on his original game, “Death Stranding.”
The thing about “Death Stranding” is that it already had known actors in key roles such as Norman Reedus (“The Walking Dead”) as protagonist Sam Porter Bridges, Mads Mikkelsen, Lea Seydoux, Troy Baker, Margaret Qualley, and Lindsay Wagner. It also featured the likenesses of fellow directors Guillermo del Toro and Nicholas Winding Refn. A second game is currently in development as well that could be source material for a potential sequel and has added American actress Elle Fanning to the cast.
It remains to be seen if established cast members will reprise those roles, but the likelihood would be good. Neither a director nor a screenwriter was named in the announcement.
Sam Bridges must brave a world utterly transformed by the Death Stranding. Carrying the disconnected remnants of our future in his hands, he embarks on a journey to reconnect the shattered world one step at a time.The film promises to delve into the mysteries surrounding the apocalyptic event called the ‘Death Stranding,’ which blurred the lines between life and death, and brought forth nightmarish creatures into a world on the brink of collapse.
This comes after Sony Pictures and producer Avi Arad have been trying to put together another film based on a popular Kojima video game with a live-action feature incarnation of “Metal Gear Solid” that had “Star Wars” actor Oscar Isaac attached to play Snake and Jordan Vogt-Roberts (“Kong: Skull Island”) set to direct from a scripted penned by Derek Connolly (“Kong: Skull Island,” “Legend of Zelda”). We’re still waiting for an official update on the status of “Metal Gear Solid” and if the military-action pic will be moving forward into production anytime soon.
A24 and DEATH STRANDING will be made into a live-action movie🎬📷🫶
“A24 was born into this world about 10 years ago, their presence is singular within the industry, they are like no other. The films they are delivering to the world are high in quality and very innovative. I… pic.twitter.com/4CiO8F1HUF
Filmmaker Justin Lin (“Star Trek Beyond”) has rebounded after exiting “Fast X” over creative issues and has secured two extremely high-profile leading actors for his upcoming heist thriller at Apple. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Lin has cast Oscar-winner Charlize Theron (“Atomic Blonde”) and former James Bond actor Daniel Craig (“No Time To Die”) as the leads of his new movie “Two For The Money.” Details on the film are scarce but the pic will see Theron and Craig play seasoned thieves while their relationship evolves over three big heists.
“Two For The Money” landed at Apple after a multiple studio bidding war and has a script penned by Dan Mazeau (“Damsel”) after working with Lin to co-write the script for “Fast X.”
Theron, of course, has worked with Lin previously on the “Fast & Furious” franchise directing her case Cipher in “F9: The Fast Saga.” The South African actress has some other action projects on the horizon including “The Old Guard 2,” a long-gestating sequel to “Atomic Blonde” at Netflix as well, and a potential return to the Furiosa role if a third pic connected to George Miller‘s “Mad Max: Fury Road” comes together as planned.
Craig is coming off his tenure playing the iconic British spy James Bond and is still expected to reunite with Rian Johnson for a third untitled Benoit Blanc film at Netflix after the success of “Knives Out,” and “Glass Onion.” His most recent role is playing Lee in Luca Guadagnino‘s adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novel, “Queer.”
It’s unclear when “Two For The Money” will go in front of cameras.
THE RONIN 