Tag: Disney+

Posted on in Television News

Lucasfilm Pumping The Breaks On Their ‘Rangers of The New Republic’ Series?

Back in December, Lucasfilm’s Kathy Kennedy announced that a new Star Wars series, titled Rangers of The New Republic, would be part of a lineup of new shows for Disney+ adding that it would take place within the timeline of The Mandalorian with Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni set to executive produce. We had heard that Favreau was going to be the showrunner on the project but it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be in front of cameras anytime soon.

A small tidbit briefly mentioned in a new Variety write-up highlighting Dave Filoni’s new title as Executive Creative Director (as listed on the Lucasfilm website), suggests that the series currently isn’t in “active development.” This could mean the duo aren’t actively writing or planning-out the newly announced show which isn’t shocking with three other big Star Wars projects on their plate currently.

It’s worth mentioning they didn’t say the project isn’t happening or has been cancelled.

There had been some theories that after Gina Carano was fired by the studio back in February that the show might be in peril as it was said to focus on Carano’s Cara Dune (unconfirmed by Lucasfilm), the second season of The Mandalorian did seemingly attempt to prime audiences for this new series. However, Lucasfilm doesn’t strike me as the sentimental type of company after replacing a handful of directors instead of cancelling projects entirely and would end an entire show over a single actor.

Then again, they temporarily killed films that would center on Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett only to give them Disney+ shows instead.

This doesn’t mean Rangers of The New Republic can’t be retooled later or isn’t going to be made entirely, but likely since The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Season 3 of the The Mandalorian are going to be priorities for Favreau and Filoni, there is a good chance that they’re just a little busy at the moment with three other shows to make time for this fourth project. Personally, I believe they could push forward with a recast/new character alongside adding Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s Captain Carson Teva and Bill Burr’s Migs Mayfeld to the lineup. Until Lucasfilm says they’re not making it we should assume it’s happening at a later date.

The Book of Boba Fett is the next big Star Wars series to debut on Disney+ in December with Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi currently shooting.

Posted on in Television News

Comedic Actor Jon Bass May Have Joined Marvel’s ‘She-Hulk’ Series

The Ronin is hearing that Miracle Workers and Baywatch actor Jon Bass may have landed an undisclosed role in Marvel’s She-Hulk series, which is currently filming in Atlanta, Georgia. Bass is likely best known for his comedic roles but it’s unclear how large the part could be given that Maslany’s Jennifer Walters is a defense lawyer and is expected to be interacting with multiple characters on the show.

Interestingly enough, Jon’s TBS anthology comedy series Miracle Workers shoots in Atlanta, Georgia and you can see a promotional video the show did for Made In Georgia below. One of the show’s writers happens to be Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania screenwriter Jeff Loveness, which is potentially noteworthy as well.

Jennifer is the cousin of Avengers member Dr. Bruce Banner aka Hulk and after a blood transfusion from Bruce is granted her own Hulk powers becoming She-Hulk. The series officially will see the return of Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky aka Abomination, Mark Ruffalo back as Banner, Renee Elise Goldsberry as Amelia, and Ginger Gonzaga.

The 10-episode series will be directed by Kat Coiro and Anu Valia with Emmy-winner Jessica Gao (Rick & Morty) set as head writer.

She-Hulk’s crew consists of production designer Elena Albanese (Lovecraft Country), costume designer Ann Foley (Godzilla Vs. Kong, Altered Carbon), and stunt coordinator Monique Ganderton (Loki, Avengers: Endgame).

Marvel Studios hasn’t announced when She-Hulk will debut but given the visual effects involved likely won’t drop until later in 2022.

Posted on in Television News

‘Loki’: Jonathan Majors Expected To Indeed Appear In The Disney+ Series

Back in December, Senior Entertainment Reporter Brandon Katz of the Observer dropped a juicy rumor on the Post Cred Podcast that Jonathan Majors (Da 5 Bloods, Lovecraft Country), who had been recently cast as Kang The Conqueror in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, was going to be showing-up first in Tom Hiddleston’s Loki series in June.

Well, The Ronin has recently come across similar information independently of Katz/Observer, which would bolster his original claim that we’ll see Jonathan’s MCU introduction in the Disney+ show before the release of Ant-Man 3. However, the size or scope of the appearance has yet to be determined but given the character’s connection to the Time Variance Agency, it could have plot importance to future MCU projects beyond the Ant-Man sequel set to shoot this summer at Pinewood Studios UK.

KC Walsh from Geeks Worldwide also backed up Brandon’s claim back in December.

Last month, Katz outlined in a piece for the Observer how Kang could be introduced in Loki.

The visually-striking show is said to help establish some of the ground rules of The Multiverse, which will be explored again in future releases such as Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness and possibly even more. I personally hope that Marvel Studios doesn’t overuse the Multiverse too much as the sci-fi narrative tool could become a storytelling crutch similar to time-travel.

It’s head writer is Michael Waldron (Doctor Strange 2, Rick & Morty) with Kate Herron (Sex Education) directing the episodes as production took place in Atlanta, Georgia.

Loki will debut June 9 on Disney+ with subsequent episodes dropping regularly on Wednesdays.

LOKI – Picking up immediately after Loki steals the Tesseract (again), he finds himself called before the Time Variance Authority, a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space, forced to answer for his crimes against the timeline and given a choice: face deletion from reality or assist in catching an even greater threat.

Posted on in Television News

RUMOR: ‘Moon Knight’ Might Shoot Scenes In Jordan

Marvel’s Moon Knight is filming in Budapest, Hungary with a spotting of Ethan Hawke but we’re hearing that won’t be the only filming location. We’ve been able to previously confirm that a portion will be shot in the London era and there seems to be a third location for the new Disney+ series.

While The Ronin can’t confirm this at the moment, there is talk that Marvel is looking to shoot scenes or exterior landscapes in Jordan. The gorgeous country has been previously used on Oscar Isaac films Dune and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. This might seem like a difficult thing to pull-off during the pandemic, however, Ms. Marvel recently shot some stuff in Thailand and The Falcon & The Winter Soldier returned to Prague to finish-up filming too. On the film side, San Francisco was recently a filming location for Shang-Chi and is going to be used again for Ant-Man & Wasp: Quantumania.

Moon Knight, aka Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac), a mercenary who has numerous alter egos — cabbie Jake Lockley and millionaire playboy Steven Grant — in order to better fight the criminal underworld. But later he was established as being a conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Most recently, the character was a consultant who dresses in all-white and goes by the name Mr. Knight. 

There have already been some exciting teases of the show’s action sequences with some lovely training sequences with Oscar Isaac kicking some ass. Marvel isn’t messing around as we were able to confirm that they hired No Time To Die stunt coordinator Olivier Schneider, signaling that they might be aiming for some high-quality action.

The directing team consists of Mohamed Diab, Justin Benson, and Aaron Moorhead with Jeremy Slater and Beau DeMayo writing on the show.

Kevin Feige previously told Collider that Moon Knight will be getting 6-episodes and is expected to debut on Disney+ in 2022.

Posted on in Television News

Marvel’s ‘She-Hulk’ Adds ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Stunt Coordinator & ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ Costume Designer

The Ronin can confirm that Canadian stunt coordinator Monique Ganderton is indeed currently working on Marvel’s She-Hulk series that is actively shooting in Atlanta with Emmy-winner Tatiana Malsany (Orphan Black) starring as Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk. Monique isn’t new to the world of Marvel Studios with credits such as Loki, Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Infinity War, and Thor: Ragnarok.

In the comics, Jennifer Walters is a defense lawyer, who is given Hulk powers after she needs a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner. It’ll be interesting to see how she’ll get her powers in the MCU incarnation and how closely they’ll be sticking to comic book lore as this will be the first time we’re getting a live-action She-Hulk.

UPDATE: Monique Ganderton has now confirmed her involvement on She-Hulk on her Instagram bio backing up our confirmation from May.

It’s assumed that Ganderton will be doing the motion-capture/stunt work for She-Hulk given that she already filled a similar role for the Avengers villain Proxima Midnight (voiced by Carrie Coons) and seemingly played a motion-capture character for the Loki series as well.

We can also confirm that Godzilla Vs. Kong costume designer Ann Foley is officially working on the Marvel show as well. Ann’s credits include Netflix’s Altered Carbon, ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Sony’s Masters of The Universe remake (seemingly stuck in limbo).

The 10-episode series will be directed by Kat Coiro and Anu Valia.

Joining Tatiana in the Disney+ show will be Mark Ruffalo officially returning to play Jennifer’s cousin Bruce Banner aka Hulk, Tim Roth is finally back as Incredible Hulk villain Emil Blonsky aka Abomination, Renee Elise Goldsberry as Amelia, and Ginger Gonzaga.

Recently, we were able to confirm that Lovecraft Country production designer is Elena Albanese hard at work on the Disney+ series too.

Considering that Jennifer has a strong comic book connection to the Fantastic Four, I’m curious if the series will plant the seeds to her involvement with Marvel’s reboot directed by Jon Watts as She-Hulk at one time had become a member of the team. Watts is currently busy finishing-up Spider-Man: No Way Home due in theaters on December 17.

Given the extensive visual effects involved with bringing She-Hulk, Hulk, and Abomination to life it’s expected that She-Hulk won’t debut until later in 2022.

Posted on in Television News

Marvel Hires Thomas Bezucha & Ali Selim To Direct Skrull Series ‘Secret Invasion’

Marvel Studio is assembling a very solid cast for their Secret Invasion series that will be led by Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos with new additions such as Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite, Hot Fuzz, The Crown), four-time Emmy nominee Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Solo: A Star Wars Story), and Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night In Miami, Peaky Blinders) said to be playing a villain.

We finally know who will be directing as The Hollywood Reporter reveals that the studio has chosen Thomas Bezhucha (Let Him Go) and Ali Selim (The Looming Tower) to direct the event show that is going to explore a version of the Skrull invasion plot from the comic books. Multiple heroes are revealed to be the shape-shifting aliens as they were slowly replaced to allow the Skrulls to secure positions of power all over Earth.

Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels will feature three generations of female superheroes and could have ties to the series.

Filming is said to begin this fall in the United Kingdom with a 2022 debut being eyed.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

Disney Announces ‘Shang-Chi’ Sticking To Theatrical Window – Won’t Be Heading to Premier Access

Marvel Studios and Disney decided to release Black Widow on July 9 as a hybrid release on Disney+ with Premier Access and in theaters as well. There had been some question if Disney would adopt the hybrid release for other big feature films and it looks like we got some sort of answer, for the moment.

Today, it was announced by Disney during their Q2 earnings call (via Nicholas Whitcomb) that they’ll be sticking to a 45 day theatrical window for upcoming films Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings and Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy. Disney could ultimately change their minds but it looks like the two films will avoid Premier Access entirely.

SHANG-CHI & THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS – Marvel Studios’ “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, who must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization.

Joining Simu Liu in the Marvel cast includes Tony Leung as Wenwu, Awkwafina as Shang-Chi’s friend Katy, and Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, as well as Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, and Ronny Chieng. Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and produced by Kevin Feige and Jonathan Schwartz, with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Charles Newirth serving as executive producers. David Callaham & Destin Daniel Cretton & Andrew Lanham wrote the screenplay for the film, and experience it in theaters on September 3, 2021.

SOURCE: DISNEY

Posted on in Film News

Disney’s ‘Jungle Cruise’ Officially Heading To Disney+’s Premier Access On July 30

It was announced today by Dwayne Johnson on Instagram that his big Disney film Jungle Cruise will be heading to Disney+’s Premier Access and theaters on July 30. This comes after they announced a hybrid release for Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow on July 9, that film had originally planned to be released in May 2020 before the pandemic kept delaying it’s theatrical release.

Jungle Cruise is hoping to be the next Pirates of The Caribbean, becoming a franchise based on a Disney theme park ride but we’ll have to see if they’ll able to be successful on a global level with this hybrid model. This move will likely lead to more hybrid summer releases as while vaccinations are increasing in the United States, the domestic box office won’t fully recovery until herd immunity is reached. Vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaxxer narratives might make that difficult to happen by July, despite President Biden’s July 4 goal. Variants of the COVID-19 virus could also cause further headaches to the industry.

While Godzilla Vs. Kong’s box office success had shown audiences would be willing to come out to theaters for an event film, studios are still being cautious and offering home viewing options.

JUNGLE CRUISE – Inspired by the famous Disneyland theme park ride, Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE is an adventure-filled, Amazon-jungle expedition starring Dwayne Johnson as the charismatic riverboat captain and Emily Blunt as a determined explorer on a research mission. Also starring in the film are Edgar Ramirez, Jack Whitehall, with Jesse Plemons, and Paul Giamatti. Jaume Collet-Serra is the director and John Davis, John Fox, Dwayne Johnson, Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia and Beau Flynn are the producers, with Doug Merrifield serving as executive producer.

SOURCE: DWAYNE JOHNSON

Posted on in Television News

Jon Favreau Confirmed To Showrun ‘Rangers of The New Republic’

The Ronin can now confirm that executive producer Jon Favreau is going to be the showrunner on the Star Wars series Rangers of The New Republic. While both Jon and Dave Filoni were originally announced in December as creators and executive producers on The Mandalorian spinoff, a showrunner wasn’t named. I’ve learned that the bulk of the work is going to land on Favreau’s shoulders which isn’t terribly surprising as he was previously the showrunner on last two seasons of The Mandalorian.

Rangers of The New Republic as revealed by Kathy Kennedy takes place in the same timeline of The Mandalorian and will likely include some characters we’ve already been introduced to. It’s possible that Gina Carano’s Cara Dune was wanted for a leading role in the show before she was fired by Lucasfilm.

There was a chance Jon and Dave could have outsourced the showrunner position given how many shows were announced back in December and Season 3 of The Mandalorian seemingly still hasn’t started production. Favreau is most likely going to continue his role as showrunner with Season 3.

It’s still unclear what the pecking order is with The Book of Boba Fett as Jon, Dave, and Robert Rodriguez are all executive producing but we should start learning more information about the series in the coming months. Rogue One’s Tony Gilroy took over as the showrunner on the Andor series and Army of The Dead’s Joby Harold is the showrunner on Obi-Wan Kenobi. Dave Filoni is assumed to be the showrunner of the Ahsoka series.

The Book of Boba Fett is the next series to air on Disney+ this December. Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi are currently filming in different countries. There are still plans to shoot Season 3 of The Mandalorian at some point but Pedro Pascal is going to be busy this summer shooting HBO’s The Last of Us in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Posted on in Television News

‘Andor’: The Shoretroopers From ‘Rogue One’ Returning & Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor Spotted In Set Photos

The Book of Boba Fett and Andor are the next installments of Lucasfilm’s live-action Star Wars projects that will be airing exclusively on Disney+, both are apparently still shooting as Obi-Wan Kenobi just started in California. Andor is said to be skewing more in the realm of a spy thriller and could end up getting multiple seasons similar to The Mandalorian allowing them to explore this fantastic Rogue One corner of the universe.

Some photos from the set of Andor In England have made their way online and confirm that the Shoretroopers, introduced in Rogue One: A Story Story, will be making their return on the show. that takes place five years before the events of Rogue One. The well-designed troopers had previously appeared briefly on Season 2 of The Mandalorian.

You check out some of those set photos making the rounds at Making Star Wars.

Joining Diego Luna will be Adria Arjona (Morbius), Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma, Stellan Skarsgard (Thor, Dune, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), Fiona Shaw, and Kyle Soller. Originally, Alan Tudyk was announced to reprise his role as the smart-mouthed droid K-2SO, but had recently revealed to Collider that he was unlikely going to be involved with Season 1 due to changes made by Tony Gilory when he joined the project and rewriting episodes. He also inadvertently teased Andor would be getting multiple seasons.

TUDYK: “They’re shooting it right now, I’m not in it. But, if it stays on the air, stories keep getting told, I’ll end up in there.I’m going to be in the show. It’s just that the story that Tony [Gilroy] is telling doesn’t involve K-2SO until later on… I can’t be too specific, but I can definitely say that I’m not going to be in the first season.”

Given the show’s setting is five years before Rogue One, this could allow them to cover multiple seasons exploring the Rebellion spy.

Toby Haynes (Sherlock, Doctor Who, Utopia, Black Mirror) will be directing with a writing team that includes Tony Gilroy (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Beau Willimon (House of Cards), and Stephen Schiff (The Americans).

Andor will debut on Disney+ sometime in 2022.

SOURCE: MAKING STAR WARS