People after San Diego Comic-Con 2019 started making theories on when Phase 4 would end that led to plenty of assumptions what would end up becoming Phase 5 projects, however, a brief comment from Kevin Feige is suggesting he’s not ready to say when Phase 4 is ending and when Phase 5 begins. Because of the pandemic Phase 4 will kick-off with WandaVision instead of Black Widow, which was originally set to be released in May 2020.
Murphy’s Multiverse asked Kevin Feige during a WandaVision press conference for clarification if the Marvel Studios president would reveal when in the release schedule we’ll see the end of Phase 4 and got a straight-up “no” in response.
We’ll just have to wait and see when they want to reveal that information publicly.
It’s worth mentioning that Phase 3 included 11 feature films starting with Captain America:Civil War and ended with Spider-Man: Far From Home. There is a good chance that Marvel might extend Phase 4 further than where they originally wanted.
I think the delays in release could also make things a little more complicated.
Something like James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy 3 might be something that could end Phase 4 if they want to push the slate into 2023-2024.
WandaVision begins airing on Disney+ starting January 15th.
Here’s a reminder of the current MCU movies that are set for release and is still subject to change.
Marvel Studios had a rather large presentation at last week’s Disney Investor Day event and Kevin Feige had a lot of information to share in such a short period. Below is a rundown of most of the new information and adjusted release dates.
What seemed like the biggest announcement made during the massive amount of information was that director Jon Watts has been selected by the studio to reboot The Fantastic Four for them. Watts having worked with Marvel Studios to reboot the Spider-Man franchise with Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and the untitled Spider-Man 3 (currently filming in Atlanta as The November Project).
When Fantastic Four will begin shooting is unknown as Jon will be busy with Spider-Man 3 until it’s release in 12 months and they failed to mention any screenwriters. This will mark the first Marvel film for Watts that won’t have Sony Pictures’ involvement and might suggest that he won’t be coming back for Spider-Man 4.
Fandom has collectively chosen to campaign for John Krasinski and Emily Blunt to play the roles of Mister Fantastic and The Invisible Woman, however, there hasn’t been any concrete casting news concerning the project as it only just got confirmed.
Feige had telegraphed back at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 that Fantastic Four was the priority former Fox property they were aiming to reboot ahead of the X-Men. There is a possibility that Dr. Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm could appear in other films first.
One of the more frustrating things concerning Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings is that they kept most of the cast unofficial for the entirety of the shoot but they’ve now announced a good chunk of the cast, while not all of them. The cast so far includes actors Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tony Leung as Wenwu aka The Mandarian, Awkwafina as Katy, Meng’er Zhang as Xialing, Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, Ronny Chieng as Jon Jon, Fala Chen as Jiang Li, and Florian Munteanu as villain William Young aka Razor Fist.
Shang-Chi along with Black Widow are still set to be released in theaters, not on Disney+, with the Destin Daniel Cretton martial arts action film set for July 9, 2021.
Director Sam Raimi has started filming Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness is officially shooting and will not only connect to WandaVision but also Jon Watts’ Spider-Man 3. While Kevin didn’t confirm it, there is a good chance that Tom Holland‘s Peter Parker and other characters carrying over to the Doctor Strange sequel.
However, he did confirm that that Xochitl Gomez will be playing America Chavez aka Miss America. The young newcomer joins Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as villain Baron Mordo.
It’s release date is set for March 25, 2022.
We finally know Christian Bale‘s character in Thor: Love & Thunder as he’ll play the film’s villain Gorr The God Butcher. A role we assume will be done with motion-capture given the design of his comic book counterpart.
Deadline recently reported that Jaimie Alexander will reprise the role of Lady Sif.
The rest of the cast consists of Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, and director Taika Waititi will return to the role of Korg.
Filming begins next month in Australia and it’s release date has been moved once more to May 6, 2022.
Captain Marvel 2 director Nia DaCosta was finally confirmed alongside the return of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers. New additions to the franchise are Ms. Marvel‘s Iman Vellani co-starring as Kamala Khan and WandaVision actress Teyonah Parris as the adult version of Monica Rambeau aka Spectrum.
There is a good chance that it will connect to Secret Invasion as it will also shoot in the United Kingdom.
The film’s date was bumped to November 11th, 2021.
Marvel revealed the title for Ant-Man 3 will be Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. Peyton Reed will be back as director with Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily, Michael Douglas, and Michelle Pfeiffer returning as part of the main cast. The title suggesting the film will be entering the Quantum Realm or have strange things come out it.
The big announcement concerning the film is that Kathryn Newton (Freaky) has been recast as Cassie Lang aka Stature with rising-star Jonathan Majors (Lovecraft Country) confirmed as villain Kang The Conqueror. It remains to be seen if the third installment will help introduce The Fantastic Four before their own solo film from Jon Watts given Kang’s connection to the former 20th Century Fox heroes.
A release date wasn’t mentioned but is expected something in 2022.
James Gunn is officially back for Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 with them aiming for a 2023 release date. They’re also developing a holiday special and Groot shorts for Disney+.
Kevin Feige didn’t give much in the way of details for Black Panther 2 but revealed they would not be recasting Chadwick Boseman‘s role of T’Challa. He stopped short from explaining what they are doing with the sequel and reaffirmed that writer/director Ryan Coogler is still working on the film.
While we suspect potential delays on the project, they announced the film is coming July 8th, 2022. The spot was previously held by Captain Marvel 2.
Marvel also announced another round of Disney+ shows.
The Nick Fury series was confirmed to be an adaption of Secret Invasion, which involved a bunch of humanity revealed as being replaced with Skrulls. In the comics, it was revealed that a bunch of Avengers were uncovered to be Skrulls too. As assumed, Samuel L. Jackson will reprise the Fury role with Ben Mendelsohn back as Skrull leader Talos.
The Fox portion of the Skrull rights via Fantastic Four are now in the hands of Marvel and could allow for Super-Skrulls to come into play becoming a big threat as they mimic superpowers of various Marvel Comics heroes.
It had been reported that Kyle Bradstreet would be developing the show.
There are signs the series will shoot in the United Kingdom around the same time as Captain Marvel 2, which could suggest a direct connection via S.W.O.R.D. and the Skrulls.
Olivia Wilde is reportedly directing a Spider-Woman film for Sony Pictures. It’s worth mentioning that Jessica Drew is an Agent of S.W.O.R.D. and is one of the characters in the comics revealed to be a Skrull (Veranke The Skrull Queen). Marvel’s participation on that film while assumed hasn’t been made official.
Don Cheadle will lead his own Disney+ series as War Machine titled Armor Wars.
If the series takes cues from the comic book series we could see the return of Sam Rockwell‘s Justin Hammer, another fan-favorite that is still kicking around in the MCU.
We could also see the addition of unused Iron Man villains such as the Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, and others.
An Ironheart series will star Dominique Thorne as whiz-kid Riri Williams, who creates her own advance armor. I wouldn’t be shocked if there happens to be a crossover with Armor Wars.
They revealed new trailers for their upcoming slate of Disney+ series including WandaVision (coming January 15,2021), The Falcon & The Winter Soldier (coming March 19, 2021), Loki (coming May 2021), and their animated series What If…? (coming summer 2021). The trailers give us the first look at X-Men location Madripoor in Falcon and the scale of the Loki series with teases of his return to Asgard.
Additional information concerning the upcoming shows includes that Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye will indeed be aiming for a 2021, something The Ronin reported on earlier this month. Kevin Feige providing an sizzle footage for the former which is impressive given it only recently started shooting in Atlanta.
With She-Hulk, Kevin confirmed that the cast will include Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, and the return of Tim Roth‘s Abomination. The latter addition could help support previous chatter that we might see William Hurt‘s Thunder Bolt Ross and Liv Tyler‘s Betty Ross in the series as well bring most of The Incredible Hulk cast back.
I’m sure there are more things to be announced in the future as they hinted to upcoming news concerning Mahershala Ali‘s Blade. Although, I’m sure fans were a little upset they left-out Ryan Reynolds‘ Deadpool 3 or an update on the X-Men reboot. There is now overwhelming evidence that The Young Avengers are coming at some point given that most have been cast already.
In a report from Deadline, Mike Fleming claims that Disney will make announcements at Investor Day 2020 on December 10th concerning new projects (theatrical films and television) from Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and Pixar.
Details aren’t mentioned or what those “new” projects will be.
Disney on December 10 will announce its upcoming slate. While the studio will solidify what Deadline revealed recently – that the Tom Hanks-starrer Pinocchio, Peter Pan and the Emma Stone-starrer Cruella will bypass movie theaters to become Disney+ releases, the studio will also announce new projects from Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar that will encompass TV as well as theatrical. It will be a gesture toward not abandoning the exhibitors.
Fans will be curious to hear if Disney will attempt a similar day-and-day model that was recently announced by WarnerMedia for their entire 2021 film slate, as delayed Marvel films such as Black Widow and Shang-Chi could be part of that hypothetical announcement seeing large theatrical films landing on Disney+.
Collider recently suggested that Disney might be considering merging Disney+ and mature content from Hulu into a single service, another big update from Disney that could be announced (if true) at Investor Day this week.
Kevin Feige would likely confirm castings concerning Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight and Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk. A Nick Fury series was announced to be in develop, which we assume will star Samuel L. Jackson and possibly include Skrulls/S.W.O.R.D. but that would need to be confirmed. They could also announce their plans for an MCU reboot of Fantastic Four on the film side or updates concerning things we know are happening officially like Ant-Man 3, Captain Marvel 2, Black Panther 2, Deadpool 3 and Blade.
Concerning Lucasfilm, we know that Star Wars shows such as Boba Fett, Cassian Andor, Kenobi, The Mandalorian (Season 3), and a series coming from Leslye Headland are in varying stages of prep/production. There are a couple of films in development from Taika Waititi and Rian Johnson as well.
They’re also about to begin shooting their Willow sequel series in Wales with director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) and we might finally get a concrete update on James Mangold’s Indiana Jones 5.
Hopefully, we get some new details on December 10th and we’re not hearing new information for projects already made known.
Another nifty quote from horror guru Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions during his interview with Inverse is his take on Marvel Studios finally tackling horror with their Blade reboot and the Doctor Strange sequel (originally announced as a scary film back at SDCC 2019), asking if Jason believes Marvel can make scary movies.
BLUM: “I’m of two minds. I would never bet against Marvel. They have a relatively good track record — that’s a joke, they have one of the best track records ever, right? I also think it’s a challenge to do horror at big budgets, but if anyone can do it, it’s Marvel.”
Inverse seems to be unaware that the scary/horror side of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness might be getting trimmed potentially due to the Multiverse aspect (likely making this more like an event film), something that was likely part of the reason director Scott Derrickson exited and was replaced with Spider-Man’s Sam Raimi.
However, it’s worth mentioning that Blade would most likely skew more in horror realm since the lead character is a vampire hunter and vampire hybrid himself. I think we’re all still curious how the action and violence will influence the film’s rating, given the original three movies are R-rated and given how the MPAA feels about blood/gore having tame vampires in your Blade film would certainly rub fans the wrong way.
When acquiring 21st Century Fox, former Disney CEO Bob Iger said they were open to the idea of keeping Deadpool R-rated which was seemingly echoed by studio heads Alan Horn and Kevin Feige. Blade is certainly a character that could be an experiment being produced by Marvel Studios then possibly released by 20th Century Studios under a Marvel Max or Marvel Knights banner, as not to confuse parents with the Disney side of the MCU.
It’s worth mentioning that Kevin Feige previously produced Blade Trinity (New Line Cinema) and Punisher: War Zone (Lionsgate) for Marvel, both R-rated films but the latter used the Marvel Knights banner.
There are certainly characters that should be set aside for their own mature films.
Marvel is reportedly now seeking black screenwriters to tackle Blade’s script which should tell you how in the development process they are at the moment. The project was first announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 with two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Alita: Battle Angel) playing Eric Brooks in the reboot. Ali revealed recently he met with the studio years ago after the release of the Netflix series Luke Cage to see if he could nab the Blade role.
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.
Deadline reports that Blade and Gotham actor Donal Logue has joined the cast of the Resident Evil reboot currently filming in the Toronto area.
Chad Rook and Lily Gao also are also new additions.
Previously announced cast members include Kaya Scodelario (Crawl) as Claire Redfield alongside Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ready Player One) as Jill Valentine, Robbie Amell (Upload) as Chris Redfield, Tom Hopper (The Umbrella Academy) as Albert Wesker, Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap) as Leon S. Kennedy, and Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Band of Brothers, Captain America: The First Avenger) as William Birkin.
Johannes Roberts will be directing and it’s been confirmed that it will be an origin story taking place at Raccoon City in 1998.
The film is a hard-reboot of the Resident Evil film franchise that originally focused on the original character Alice, created by director Paul W.S. Anderson for his string of feature films that barely resembled the Capcom video games.
There is a live-action Netflix series in the works as well.
There had been plenty of rumors of Marvel Television trying to make a new Blade series for streaming services despite a trade report from 2013 stating that Marvel Studios was developing an in-house script via their writers program. Mahershala Ali was announced as the new Eric Brooks aka Blade at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, however, it was clear that Marvel hadn’t hired a director or screenwriters at that point.
Marvel’s Kevin Feige confirmed that Mahershala approached them specifically about Blade as they really planning on making a film at the time.
While speaking on the podcast The Tight Rope (via The Direct), Ali revealed that he started asking Marvel about Blade coming back to the fall of 2016 after the Season 1 of Luke Cage premiered on Netflix. Adding that Marvel Television had indeed been considering making a Blade series before landing the part and alludes that Blade may remain “darker in tone”.
ALI: “So I did this Marvel show for Netflix called Luke Cage, right? And so in doing that show, the day it premiered I had turned to my agent and I had said ‘what are they doing with Blade?’. Because I kept hearing that they were trying to find a way to remake it and put it back together, and it was exciting for me to get to be in that Marvel space in TV, but for me my goal had always been film. But also being able to participate in television in very specific ways that had real meaning, but my larger goal was to be able to really navigate between film and television, and so I turned to my agent and I said you know, what’re they doing with Blade? And he goes I check on it, and so there was this long process of them speaking about, at least in the television division, really wanted to make it a TV show again, but not necessarily, trying to acquire the rights still, and some thing’s kinda going on, so it took a couple of years.”
“But it was really my participation in Luke Cage that sparked the idea, married with being so inspired by Wesley Snipes’ work, and what he had done, and how much had changed since his iteration of Blade, and how that had really sorta like ushered in this era of like this Marvel and DC sort of like comic book stuff, and so, for me, like I just felt like since they were having conversations about bringing it back into being, I just wanted to be considered for it because I had definitely a connection, at least in my mind to Wesley Snipes going way back to high school when people used to joke and say we looked alike, and all this stuff.”
“Wesley was someone who I recognized, and yet had an impact on my confidence, and in just me sort of just kinda like standing in my own truth and own strength in a certain way, so I always kind of followed his choices, and really was inspired by his work, and so many others, but Wesley in particular, and so I just brought it up as someone who wanted to, I really wanted to take on that role, and tackle that, and also I love that it’s darker, that’s all in terms of tone, he’s a little bit darker than some of the other ones, and so that element was attractive to me.”
There was a brief update from Deadline that Marvel Studios is currently seeking black writers to pen a Blade script but a director has yet to be named. While there had been fan speculation that Blade could be ready for release in late 2022, where it is in the development process would say that was never an option and would be very difficult to begin shooting before 2022 given how many projects Marvel Studios is busy with at the moment.
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.
Marvel Studios is reportedly finally seeking screenwriters to write their upcoming Blade reboot film starring two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali as Eric Brooks aka Blade, a Marvel Comics anti-hero that hunts/kills vampires and happens to be half-vampire himself.
The brief update comes from The Hollywood Reporter as Marvel is looking at black writers to tackle the horror superhero, although, no names were mentioned.
Current projects that studios are hoping to populate with Black behind-the-camera talent include Marvel’s Blade movie starring Mahershala Ali, which is looking for writers…
Before the epic casting announcement at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Marvel had an in-house draft back in 2013 that sprung-up from their writers program that was created to produce original scripts internally. The original version of the Guardians of The Galaxy script was penned by Nicole Perlman in the writers program ahead of the hiring of James Gunn. It’s unknown if they’ll even use that previous draft as a blueprint.
This news would confirm that Blade isn’t as far along in the development process as we previously thought.
Wesley Snipes previously played the role in three feature films from New Line Cinema and rapper Sticky Fingaz reprised the part for a short-lived television series for Spike TV. The rights eventually reverted back to Marvel and they had been sitting on them until Mahershala asked to play Blade when he met with Marvel. Blade is traditionally an R-rated character that was reworked for the big screen by Snipes, screenwriter David S. Goyer, and director Stephen Norrington.
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.
Marvel’s Kevin Feige has yet to confirm if they are aiming to make the new film for mature audiences or will go with a PG-13 route, given that they are dealing with vampires it would be difficult to have a large amount of blood, violence or gore.
Blade is currently without a director or a release date.
Yesterday, the Walt Disney Company announced a new initiative to get more content going for its streaming services such as Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu from its sports, television, and film divisions. The new division will be called The Media & Entertainment Distribution group led by Kareem Daniel.
It sounds like they’ll be dedicating a lot more resources and money than they have previously as means to compete with competitors like Netflix and Amazon. However, this announcement says nothing about them throwing their 2021 theatrical slate on Disney+ and never mention a thing about ending theatrical releases altogether only pushing to place more content on their streaming services.
We will get more details on these plans on December 10th.
During an interview with CNBC, Disney’s new CEO Bob Chapek was quick to point out that they aren’t looking to stop the theatrical experience and would be announcing further details.
Also, specifically downplayed COVID-19’s role in the decision.
CHAPEK: “I would not characterize it as a response to Covid. I would say Covid accelerated the rate at which we made this transition, but this transition was going to happen anyway. Because essentially what we want to do is separate out folks who make our wonderful content based on tremendous franchises from the decision making in terms of prioritization is on how it gets commercialized into the marketplace. And what we want to do is leave it to a group of folks you can really see objectively across all of the constituents we have and various considerations we’ve got and make the optimal decision for the company as opposed to having it predetermined that a movie is destined to theaters or that a TV show is destined for ABC. So what we really want to do is provide some level of objectivity and really make it a decision that benefits the overall company and its shareholders.”
When pressed on Disney’s commitment to the theatrical model Bob said the following that gives the impression they’re not giving up on the theatrical model just yet.
CHAPEK: “We’ve benefited from a tremendous relationship with theatrical exhibition for many many many years as dynamics change in the marketplace though we want to make sure that we are giving consumers who want to go to theaters to experience everything that a theatrical release can give them, we want to continue to give them that option but at the same time there are a lot of consumers that want to experience a movie in the safety, comfort, and convenience of their own home for whatever reasons they do.”
To me, it sounds like either they are going to pursue a shorter theatrical window or a mixed model of day-and-date which obviously the theater industry wouldn’t be terribly pleased about on either front.
Here is the official press release from the Walt Disney Company website that gets a little more into the weeds about what all this means.
In light of the tremendous success achieved to date in the Company’s direct-to-consumer business and to further accelerate its DTC strategy, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) today announced a strategic reorganization of its media and entertainment businesses. Under the new structure, Disney’s world-class creative engines will focus on developing and producing original content for the Company’s streaming services, as well as for legacy platforms, while distribution and commercialization activities will be centralized into a single, global Media and Entertainment Distribution organization. The new Media and Entertainment Distribution group will be responsible for all monetization of content—both distribution and ad sales—and will oversee operations of the Company’s streaming services. It will also have sole P&L accountability for Disney’s media and entertainment businesses.
The creation of content will be managed in three distinct groups—Studios, General Entertainment, and Sports—headed by current leaders Alan F. Horn and Alan Bergman, Peter Rice, and James Pitaro. The Media and Entertainment Distribution group will be headed by Kareem Daniel, formerly President, Consumer Products, Games and Publishing. All five leaders will report directly to Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. Disney Parks, Experiences and Products will continue to operate under its existing structure, led by Josh D’Amaro, Chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, who continues to report to Mr. Chapek. Rebecca Campbell will serve as Chairman, International Operations and Direct-to-Consumer. Bob Iger, in his role as Executive Chairman, will continue to direct the Company’s creative endeavors.
“Given the incredible success of Disney+ and our plans to accelerate our direct-to-consumer business, we are strategically positioning our Company to more effectively support our growth strategy and increase shareholder value,” Mr. Chapek said. “Managing content creation distinct from distribution will allow us to be more effective and nimble in making the content consumers want most, delivered in the way they prefer to consume it. Our creative teams will concentrate on what they do best—making world-class, franchise-based content—while our newly centralized global distribution team will focus on delivering and monetizing that content in the most optimal way across all platforms, including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and the coming Star international streaming service.”
Under the new structure, the Company’s three content groups will be responsible and accountable for producing and delivering content for theatrical, linear and streaming, with the primary focus being the Company’s streaming services:
STUDIOS: Messrs. Horn and Bergman will serve as Chairmen, Studios Content, which will focus on creating branded theatrical and episodic content based on the Company’s powerhouse franchises for theatrical exhibition, Disney+ and the Company’s other streaming services. The group will include the content engines of The Walt Disney Studios, including Disney live action and Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures.
GENERAL ENTERTAINMENT: Mr. Rice will serve as Chairman, General Entertainment Content, which will focus on creating general entertainment episodic and original long-form content for the Company’s streaming platforms and its cable and broadcast networks. The group will include the content engines of 20th Television, ABC Signature and Touchstone Television; ABC News; Disney Channels; Freeform; FX; and National Geographic.
SPORTS: Mr. Pitaro will serve as Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content, which will focus on ESPN’s live sports programming, as well as sports news and original and non-scripted sports-related content, for the cable channels, ESPN+, and ABC.
The Media and Entertainment Distribution group, led by Mr. Daniel, will be responsible for the P&L management and all distribution, operations, sales, advertising, data and technology functions worldwide for all of the Company’s content engines, and it will also manage operations of the Company’s streaming services and domestic television networks. The group will work in close collaboration with the content creation teams on programming and marketing.
It’ll be interesting to see if Disney+ will start mining IP from the 20th Century Studios side of things soon as Disney+ series and limited series focused on properties like Avatar and Planet of The Apes could be extremely successful. In the press release they suggest that they could end up making episodic projects based on 20th Century properties.
A live-action Flash Gordon series stands out as a property that Disney really could do justice with on Disney+ and be a counter of sorts to their Star Wars shows as it could be way more swashbuckling than the Lucasfilm property that was inspired by it. Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Thor: Love & Thunder, Jojo Rabbit) is attached to direct an animated Flash Gordon film and at one time 20th Century was developing a live-action feature as well from directors Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class, Stardust, Layer Cake) and Julius Avery (Overlord) involved at different points.
I wouldn’t even put it past Disney to reboot John Carter eventually given the Volume/StageCraft would allow them to make a series more cost effective that world like Flash Gordon is different enough from Star Wars it would be worth pursuing.
Of course, this could mean a major influx of more shows from Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar universes but might also see Hulu getting a bump of adult content as well with franchises like Alien (Noah Hawley pitched an Alien series to FX) and Predator just collecting dust while they could be helpful to get more eyeballs on Hulu. HBO Max had recently crowed about Ridley Scott’s sci-fi series Raised By Wolves being the most popular original on their service when announcing they were moving forward with a Season 2 order.
Matthew Vaughn has also been talking up the idea of a Kingsman spinoff series that could fit nicely at Hulu.
Disney certainly has a massive gap in the adult market and places like Canada don’t have access to Hulu and that really needs to change if they want to compete with Netflix/Amazon on an international level as those services offer content to both kids and adults alike. Cornering the kid market just won’t be enough for Disney if they want to grow their streaming presence.
I guess we’ll have to wait for December 10th to get more concrete answers about what all this actually means for content that is already in the can or is about to begin filming.
He has returned with hard evidence that Grass-Fed Productions LLC is indeed a Marvel Studios project and it will also shoot in the United Kingdom as well.
We can also verify this information is 100% correct.
Charles has been considering the project either being Mahershala Ali’s Blade or the unofficial Spider-Woman film. I say unofficial because the title hasn’t been revealed by Sony Pictures or that we’ll see Marvel Studios’ participation. But Charles makes some good arguments.
However, I’m inclined to lean towards Blade since there are plenty of reference to humans being cattle/livestock in multiple films and in Blade Trinity vampires were exploiting this on a larger visual scale with humans being bled at Blood Farms. Marvel Studios also announced Ali’s casting over a year ago at San Diego Comic-Con.
The blood farm concept was later recycled in the vampire flick Daybreakers.
Adding to the cattle/livestock connection to Blade, the opening sequence of the original film from 1998 takes place in a meatpacking warehouse where you see massive cuts of beef hanging alongside human victims for the vampires at the rave. A visual cue to establish the food chain hierarchy of the Vampire Nation and human society from the start of the film.
A little known fact is Kevin Feige has a producing credit on Blade Trinity.
If this is indeed Blade they likely have a screenwriter and director attached.
Then again, this project could be an unannounced/untitled Disney+ series.
‘Black Widow’ Director Cate Shortland Says They’re Passing Baton To Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova
Black Widow director Cate Shortland tells Empire in a newly published interview that instead of making the solo film an origin story for Scarlett’s Natasha Romanoff, they see is as passing the baton to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova.
SHORTLAND: “[Kevin Feige] realized that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction,” Shortland tells Empire. “And we didn’t know how great Florence Pugh would be. We knew she would be great, but we didn’t know how great. Scarlett is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I’m handing her the baton.’ So it’s going to propel another female storyline.”
“In Endgame, the fans were upset that Natasha did not have a funeral. Whereas Scarlett, when I spoke to her about it, said Natasha wouldn’t have wanted a funeral. She’s too private, and anyway, people don’t really know who she is. So what we did in this film was allow the ending to be the grief the individuals felt, rather than a big public outpouring. I think that’s a fitting ending for her.”
The film has been expected to be released on November 6th, after Disney gave the film Eternal‘s original spot in the spring. However, it’s unknown if the film will get pushed to February 12th given the rise in new cases of COVID-19 in the United States which could be a problem for the studio attempting to earn hundreds of millions of dollars at the global box office.
Also, a new trailer is expected to be on the way after it was classified in the United Kingdom.
‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ Actress Tessa Thompson Expects An Explosion of Diversity In Marvel’s Phase Four
In a recent interview for Variety, Thor franchise actress Tessa Thompson talked-up how Marvel’s Phase Four will be ramping-up representation in a big way.
THOMPSON: “I think in this next phase of Marvel, we’re really talking about what representation looks like in those spaces. Because the truth is these movies travel globally in such huge ways, and if you can represent people that are of color, if you can represent people with disabilities, if you can represent the LGBTQIA community inside of these films, it’s a pretty big deal.”
“There’s millions and millions of people, particularly young people, that show up to the cinema. And I think if you can show them something that looks like them, they feel valued. Particularly inside of these narratives of the comic books, that’s what it’s all about. It’s that our differences make us special.”
We know they’ll be making some strides soon with having Asian main leads in Eternals with Gemma Chan playing leading heroine Sersi and Shang-Chi with Simu Liu and Awkwafina.
Pakistani-American comedian/actor Kumail Nanjiani has a decently sized role in Eternals playing superhero Kingo and deaf actress Lauren Ridloff plays speedster Makkari in the film. We’ll also see openly gay parents played by Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos) and Haaz Sleiman.
One of their upcoming Disney+ series Ms. Marvel will feature a Pakistani-American Muslim teenager from New Jersey named Kamala Khan.
Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali was announced as the new actor to play a rebooted version of Blade in the MCU last summer and it remains to be seen if his version of the Daywalker in the Phase Five project will reflect his own Muslim faith.
Tessa’s own Valkyrie will be seeking her queen in Thor: Love & Thunder. Hopefully, Disney/Marvel will be more comfortable in the future to actually have non-hetero heroes leading their films, not just in supporting roles.
We’ll have to see what other doors they’ll be opening for characters/actors in the future, but as pointed out recently by Anthony Mackie the studio needs to do a better job of hiring a diverse group of people behind the camera as well.
‘Doctor Strange 2’ Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor Excited To Work With Director Sam Raimi
While promoting his new Netflix film The Old Guard, actor Chiwetel Ejiofor expressed his excitement to work with director Sam Raimi on the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel titled Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness.
Chiwetel will be reprising his role as villain Baron Karl Mordo.
Raimi, who directed the original Spider-Man trilogy for Sony Pictures had replaced Scott Derrickson on the Doctor Strange sequel after there were “creative differences”
EJIOFOR: “I love Sam Raimi, so I’m very excited that he’s making a film, the second Doctor Strange. He brings to anything he does, a wealth of imagination and passion. In this genre, he’s just one of the seminal figures. I remember seeing Darkman when I was a kid. It was beyond, it’s so amazing.”
“So I think he has an incredible mind and I think he’s really able to bring that mind into his storytelling in a really unique way, and it’s very suited to the world that’s been created by Doctor Strange, and I’m very excited to see what he does with that world.”
The cast also includes Benedict Cumberbatch as Strange, Elizabeth Olsen taking a co-starring role as Scarlet Witch, and we’ll also see the return of Benedict Wong as Wong.
There is an expectation that both Disney+ series Loki and WandaVision will help establish the events of the sequel along with introducing the Multiverse.
Filming had been originally expected to begin in the spring/summer at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England along with exterior locations in Norway and New York City.
There is a slim possibility that filming could begin in the fall on the Doctor Strange sequel, but it’s unlikely they’ve been able to finish the set construction phase of prep to shooting anytime soon. Suggesting they could push the production start into 2021 as I believe they will for Spider-Man 3 as well.
Chris Evans Already Misses Playing Captain America
During an interview with Backstage, Captain America and Avengers star Chris Evans mentioned that he already misses the role. However, don’t get too excited about the potential of him returning to the role anytime soon.
EVANS: “I absolutely loved my time with Marvel. I already miss it, but there’s no denying that it is very exciting to just have complete freedom to pursue whatever my creative appetite wants.”
We know Evans has been linked for a supporting lead role in the new Little Shop of Horrors incarnation from Warner Bros. and we’ll see Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson eventually take on the Captain America mantle in his Disney+ series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.
Director Gina Prince-Bythewood Hopeful She’ll Pivot Back To ‘Spider-Man’ Spinoff ‘Silver & Black’
The Old Guard director Gina Prince-Bythewood has revealed to GamesRadar+ that she would be open to returning to Sony’s Silver & Black at some point. The project is a Spider-Man spinoff that would have paired talented thief Felicia Hardy aka Black Cat and mercenary Silver Sablinova aka Silver Sable in their own movie.
Gina sounds open to the idea of returning to the project once Sony is ready to make it.
PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: “My honest answer is I don’t know. I really love those characters, I loved having them together. I thought, what we came up with was a really good, really organic way to have the two together. That world is changing so much because of the success of the Spider-Man films.”
“There’s a question of, ‘Can you really have these films with Spider-Man not in them? Should he at least have some sort of part in them?’ That’s always the question. I’ve taken two years off of that for [The Old Guard] so once this gets out into the world, I hope it’s a success, and then I’ll certainly go back and start talking with them again.”
In the wake of Gina leaving to make The Old Guard, Sony announced plans to split the project into two separate films. They haven’t updated since and Prince-Bythewood had suggested previously that a possible Disney+ series was being considered.
Sony has been hellbent on getting together as many Spider-Man spinoff films in development as possible after the massive success of Tom Hardy’s Venom at the box office back in 2018.
In 2021, we’ll see the release of both Morbius and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the latter project confirmed with its teaser trailer the film is directly connected to Spider-Man: Homecoming after featuring Michael Keaton’s Vulture in a scene. It remains to be seen how much involvement if any we’ll see from Marvel Studios concerning these spinoffs and if they’ll be allowed to call themselves part of the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe.
THE RONIN 