Tag: Kevin Feige

Posted on in Features

What We Know About The Next Wave of Live-Action ‘Star Wars’ Projects From Lucasfilm

As today is Star Wars day, May The 4th, I decided to rundown all the upcoming live-action projects in the works over at Lucasfilm and what we know about them.

THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT: Originally confused with the third season of The Mandalorian, the Boba Fett series will continue the adventures of Temuera Morrison’s Fett and Ming-Na Wen’s wonderful Fennec Shand. In a post-credit scene in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, the pair return to Tatooine and assassinate Bib Fortuna at Jabba’s Palace. It’s unknown officially if we’ll see Boba take a kingpin role within the criminal underworld or will be slightly more heroic.

A Boba Fett movie had been in the works with Simon Kinberg and Josh Trank, but the studio ultimately killed it and instead decided to make The Mandalorian allowing them to insert Boba Fett in the second season because of where the shows take place in the timeline.

At one time, Guillermo del Toro pitched a gangster project to Yahoo! during an interview featuring Jabba that was described as a Godfather saga in the Star Wars universe.

DEL TORO: “I would do the sort of Godfather saga that Jabba the Hutt had to go through to gain control. One, because it’s the character that looks the most like me, and I like him. I love the idea of a Hutt type of mafia, a very complex coup. I just love the character.”

It’s possible The Book of Boba Fett could end up being a revised version of that idea and we could see more of the criminal elements as The Mandalorian sort of abandoned low-level criminal threats when Grogu came into the picture and Imperial baddies became more the focus.

Producing will be Robert Rodriguez, Jon Favreau, and Dave Filoni. They secured Emmy-winning production designer Andrew Jones (The Mandalorian) with filming taking place in California giving them access to The Volume/StageCraft. We are hearing the producing team will also act as directors on the series as well with at least 7-episodes.

It’s seemingly set to debut on Disney+ in December.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBFO4ixM0SM

ANDOR: A prequel to Rogue One: A Story Wars Story, the project will focus on Diego Luna’s Rebellion spy character Cassian Andor. Production had been taking place in the United Kingdom with Toby Haynes (Sherlock, Doctor Who, Utopia, Black Mirror) taking on directing duties from Tony Gilroy after the pandemic made things difficult, who was also working on scripts. Gilroy famously was brought-on to write and direct extensive reshoots on Rogue One.

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. However, it sounds like K-2SO won’t be appearing in the first season according to actor Alan Tudyk giving the impression that we’ll be getting a Season 2 of Andor. This was a little puzzling as he was announced as being a cast member originally alongside Luna and would suggest that his role was scaled-back in rewrites.

It’s supposed to debut on Disney+ in 2022.

OBI-WAN KENOBI: Like Boba Fett, Lucasfilm had been trying to develop a Kenobi feature film that was abandoned for a 6-episode series on Disney+ instead. The Mandalorian’s Deborah Chow is directing with a crew such as cinematographer and production designer Todd Cherniawsky (Avatar, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Trek: Picard).

The story begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith where Kenobi faced his greatest defeat, the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker turned evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.

We’ll see at least four prequel actors return with Ewan McGregor as Ben Kenobi, Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Joel Edgerton as Uncle Owen, and Bonnie Piesse as Aunt Beru. The show’s new additions are Indira Varma (Game of Thrones), Kumail Nanjiani (Eternals), Sung Kang (F9, Tokyo Drift), O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Godzilla: King of The Monsters), Benny Safdie (Good Time), Rupert Friend, Moses Ingram, and Simone Kessell. 

While Obi-Wan is known as spending most of the time between Star Wars: Revenge of The Sith and Star Wars: A New Hope wondering Tatooine as a hermit, it sounds like the series will be a little more exciting than that and we’ll see other locations. Ewan McGregor has teased extensive training for lightsaber battles which would expose himself as a Jedi Knight if he did this publicly on Tatooine and also hinted Kenobi could be going off-world.

MCGREGOR: “There’s a hunger for this character to come back. The fans have been waiting long enough, you know? We start on Tatooine, and we go on a rollicking adventure.”

We’re expecting that a young Luke Skywalker will appear in the show given the era and that his Uncle/Aunt are confirmed.

The return of Darth Vader could mean we’ll see more action sequences with the baddie or Kenobi having to tangle with Inquisitors as it could explain the training McGregor has been undergoing, unless we’ll see flashbacks to battles during the Clone Wars. In Rogue One, one of the big highlights was seeing Darth Vader unleashed against a group of Rebels and the series could give Lucasfilm an excuse to shoot another action sequences with the Sith villain.

It’s not confirmed if Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn will show up in some capacity, but Liam has revealed he would be open to return for the Disney+ series. However, the rumor of Jar Jar Binks making a return was debunked by actor Ahmed Best on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/ahmedbest/status/1376553196269764618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

THE MANDALORIAN – SEASON 3: The finale of Season 2 ended with uncanny valley Luke Skywalker saving the group from the Dark Trooper droids and agreed to train Grogu. We also see Din Djarin beat Moff Gideon in a duel earning the Darksaber making him the new leader of Mandalore which should develop into some conflict with Bo-Katan.

Lead actor Pedro Pascal will be busy over the summer as he’ll be playing Joel in HBO’s series adaptation of the Naughty Dog video game The Last of Us, which will be filming in Calgary, Alberta, Canada making things a little complicated if he’ll be needed on set of The Mandalorian.

I wouldn’t be shocked if the show won’t return on Disney+ until late 2022 as The Book of Boba Fett seemingly took it’s production schedule last fall.

AHSOKA: A spinoff of The Mandalorian, as revealed in Ahsoka Tano’s episode the former Jedi is searching for Grand Admiral Thrawn. While there has been plenty of fan speculation that other characters from the animation side will appear in the show that has yet to be confirmed.

After making her long awaited live-action debut in The Mandalorian, Ahsoka Tano’s story, written by Dave Filoni, will continue in a limited series starring Rosario Dawson and executive produced by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau.

RANGERS OF THE NEW REPUBLIC: Like Ahsoka, the project takes place within the same timeline of The Mandalorian and will likely feature a handful of characters we’ve already been introduced to. Cara Dune would have been shoe-in before Lucasfilm fired Gina Carano, but we don’t know if they’ll recast the role or pivot to a new character instead.

Set within the timeline of The Mandalorian, this new live-action series from executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni will intersect with future stories and culminate into a climactic story event.

I have to imagine that Bill Burr’s sharpshooter Migs Mayfeld and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s Captain Carson Teva could be part of the show’s lineup. Paul’s CBC comedy series Kim’s Convenience recently ended allowing him to commit to other shows like Rangers of The New Republic.

THE ACOLYTE: The Disney+ series from Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland is said to be taking place during The High Republic, the new era of Star Wars that will be explored heavily in new publications of both novels and comic books.

The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take the audience into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.

LANDO: Referred to as an “event series” suggesting it will be a one-off like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Lando will be developed and written by Dear White People’s Justin Simien. Justin had recently been hired to direct Disney’s new Haunted Mansion movie based on the theme park ride and it’s unclear if they’ve signed-on Donald Glover to reprise the role as he’s got a bunch of projects in the works thanks to his deal with Amazon, including a Mr. & Mrs. Smith series with Solo: A Star Wars Story co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

ROGUE SQUADRON: In December, it was officially announced that the next big movie, Rogue Squadron, is set to be released on December 2023 and will be directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman, Monster). Jenkins will be the first female director to helm a Star Wars film.

The next Star Wars feature film will be Rogue Squadron — directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman franchise). The story will introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride, and move the saga into the future era of the galaxy.

The filmmaker clarified to IGN that Rogue Squadron wouldn’t be based on existing books or video games, calling it “original.”

JENKINS: “[In the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron movie] we’re doing something original with great influence from the games and the books. There’s a lot of things being acknowledged and understood about the greatness of all of those things, but yes, it’s an original story and I’m so psyched to do it.”

Other feature films in the works include one from director Taika Watiti (Thor: Love & Thunder, Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Rangrok) that seemingly lost co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917, Last Night In Soho) as her name was missing from Lucasfilm’s press release from December.

Rian Johnson continues to state in interviews that his original Star Wars trilogy is happening even though he recently signed-on to direct two Knives Out sequels for Netflix and is working with Natasha Lyonne on a new mystery series called Poker Face for Peacock.

Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige is also said to be producing his own feature with Michael Waldron (Rick & Morty, Loki, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness) writing it.

In 2020, it was revelaed by The Hollywood Reporter that J.D. Dillard (Devotion, Sleight) and Matt Owens (Luke Cage, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) would be co-writing a movie, but we haven’t any real updates on the project. Dillard is currently shooting the Korean War pic Devotion starring Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell. He was also in talks to direct a remake of The Fly.

Lastly, an unconfirmed report from BuzzFeed claimed that the studio tasked screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Altered Carbon, Shutter Island, Avatar, Ghost In The Shell, Alita: Battle Angel) to pen an adaptation of Knights of The Old Republic (a potential “trilogy”) and studio head Kathleen Kennedy confirmed to MTV News it’s an era they’ve been talking about exploring internally. I’m curious with the talk of video game remake in the works if they’ll attempt to expand upon The Old Republic in a similar manner as they are with The High Republic.

Posted on in Film News

‘Eternals’: Kevin Feige Reaffirms Gemma Chan’s Sersi Is The Film’s Main Character

After Chloe Zhao making waves over the weekend earning two Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director for her fantastic film Nomadland, we’re all waiting to see footage from her next feature film, Marvel’s Eternals.

It’s based on the characters created by King Jack Kirby that mixed elements of Greek/Roman mythology alongside notions of aliens seeding Earth via Swiss author Erich von Daniken’s novel Chariots of The Gods, work that heavily influenced Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus and the idea that humans are a science experiment of an alien race. In the case of Eternals, they are created by the the giant alien creatures known as the Celestials (first seen in Guardians of The Galaxy) alongside their antagonists The Deviants and early humans have the mutant gene hidden within them to later become the mutants we know from the X-Men.

While speaking with Variety, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige reiterates that while it’s a team project, the film’s main character is Gemma Chan’s Sersi, who is expected to become a full-fledged members of the Avengers just like the comic books.

FEIGE: “So for Sersi, for instance — and if there was a lead in this ensemble, it is Sersi, it is Gemma Chan — we looked at and read all sorts of women for that part. And ended up really believing that Gemma was best for it. And thankfully, she’s proven that to be the case in the final movie.”

While it was originally announced that Sersi would be the main character of the film in early casting reports, that was when trade outlets were under the impression that Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie was going to be landing that role. Instead, Angelina is playing the equally interesting heroine Thena and Marvel hired Captain Marvel’s Gemma Chan for her second MCU role. This new one is likely going allow her to stick around for much longer than she previously would have and allows the Marvel franchise to add another talented Asian lead.

The rest of the cast includes Kit Harington as Dane Whitman aka Black Knight, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Kumail Nanjani as Kingo, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, and Don Lee as Gilgamesh.  

Sequels to Eternals are extremely likely could see the team go head-to-head with folks like Hercules/The Olympians and Hyperion/Squadron Supreme. I think it all depends if Marvel Studios is able to convince Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao to return for multiple films after co-writing the script and directing the first installment, set to be released on November 5th, 2021. However, Zhao has been tapped by Universal for a new Dracula film and could be one of the projects that could whisk her away from the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a couple of years.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in Film News

Marvel’s Kevin Feige Seemingly Shoots Down Rumor Chris Evans Is Returning To MCU

During a chat with Entertainment Weekly to promote the upcoming Disney+ series The Falcon & The Winer Soldier, Marvel’s Kevin Feige finally responded to the Deadline rumor that Chris Evans was in talks to return to the MCU for undisclosed projects.

Kevin seems to refer to Evans’ own debunking on Twitter when he said “news to me.”

FEIGE: “I rarely answer no to anything anymore because things are always surprising me with what happens, but that rumor, I think, was dispelled rather quickly by the man himself.”

https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/1349835808497229824

He could have easily side-stepped the question or given a non-answer but seemed to double-down on Evans’ tweet. There has been some speculation that we could see the death of Steve Rogers in Falcon, however, that has yet be confirmed. It’s worth pointing out that we don’t really see a lot of Wyatt Russell’s U.S. Agent and gives me the impression that he might last that long in the show.

SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Posted on in Television News

‘WandaVision’: Kevin Feige Admits Adding Evan Peters As Quicksilver Is “Just Another Way That Certain People Were Messing Around With Wanda”

SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION AHEAD

The appearance of Evan Peters as Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver in WandaVision confused Wanda and fans which seemingly was the point according to Marvel’s Kevin Feige. He mentioned today at TCA (via GameSpot) that placing Peters in the series was part of “certain people” messing with Wanda.

FEIGE: “That’s one of the fun things about developing these things are blue skying it in a room. It’s my favorite part of the process. It’s always the very very beginning, when we’re figuring out what something could be and at the very very end, when we’re finally we’re finding it and then putting it out into the world. So there were all all sorts of discussions, but I believe it, we ended up going with what you saw relatively relatively early on in the development process. And just another way that certain people were messing around with Wanda.”

From this statement from Feige about adding the actor, we can now assume that the choice to add Peters wasn’t a way for Marvel Studios to reinsert his version of Quicksilver or bring the Singerverse to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A theory that has been pushed by fans since the actor’s addition to the series and his subsequent reveal as Pietro.

Showrunner Jac Schaeffer previously mentioned that they really had to convince Kevin about adding Evan on the show.

We’ll likely get more answers with the final two episodes.

SOURCE: GAMESPOT & FANDOM

Posted on in Film News

Former ‘Daredevil’ Actor Ben Affleck Praises Marvel’s Kevin Feige Calling Him “The Greatest Producer”

Before Ben Affleck wore the cowl in Batman v Superman and Justice League, he starred in a Marvel project with 20th Century Fox’s Daredevil feature film which predated the fan-beloved Netflix series starring Charlie Cox. That 2003 film saw Ben Affleck co-star with Jon Favreau, the director of Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Jon became one of the architects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and still plays the role of Happy Hogan in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy.

As a filmmaker and producer, Ben most certainly was watching the success of Marvel Studios, which has led to some praise to Kevin Feige in a new interview. While chatting on The Hollywood Reporter’s podcast Awards Chatter, Affleck gushed about how successful Feige has been.

AFFLECK: “Fucking Kevin Feige is absolutely, you have to say, the greatest producer, most successful producer who ever lived. He’s the only guy in the world who, if he told me, ‘I know what the audience wants! This is what we’re doing!’ I would believe him 100%.”

“That fucker knows his audience like no producer (ever), he’s a genius. Kevin is like a ringmaster at the circus; he knows exactly how much to wink at the audience, exactly when to pull at the heartstrings, exactly when to do the effects, how many jokes, what the sensibility, what the tone is. Because people didn’t know to run away from the pajamas or embrace it or make it serious.”

Affleck is reportedly set to direct a film Disney with an adaptation Keeper of The Lost Cities and his pal Matt Damon has seemingly joined the cast of Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder.

I’m sure fans would enjoy to see Ben Affleck join the MCU in some capacity.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

Kevin Feige Suggests Marvel Still Interested In Making A ‘Nova’ Project At Some Point

There have been online rumors circulating for over a year that Marvel Studios is interested in making a Nova project, however, Kevin Feige and Disney has yet to make this official.

This growing fan desire led Comic Book to ask Kevin Feige about a Nova project while appearing on their new podcast Phase Zero (spotted by The Disinsider). The Marvel Studios president didn’t confirm the development rumors but certainly gives the impression they’ll eventually tackle the cosmic superhero.

FEIGE: “Timing is relative, right? I think I’d been talking about Doctor Strange eight years before that movie came out. So, ‘immediate potential’ is relative. But clearly, we are not shying away from the cosmic end of storytelling right in the sweet spot of the Nova Corps and Nova himself.”

He also doesn’t clarify if they would attempt to make a series or full feature film. The studio certainly has it’s hands full these days and Feige hasn’t been ready to announce when Phase 4 will even end.

The Nova Corps were first introduced in James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy and seemingly had been destroyed by Thanos in the events leading up to Avengers: Infinity War as they had been protecting an infinity stone on Xandar.

Marvel has a handful of cosmic projects on the horizon including Eternals, Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel 2, Thor: Love & Thunder, Fantastic Four, Secret Invasion, and Guardians of The Galaxy 3.

SOURCE: COMIC BOOK/PHASE ZERO

Posted on in Television News

Kevin Feige Reveals Marvel’s ‘Moon Knight’ Series Will Be 6-Episodes

It looks like we finally know how long Marvel’s Moon Knight series will be. 

Moon Knight, aka Marc Spector, 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. 

While speaking with Kevin Feige about various runtimes of the upcoming Disney+ shows, the Marvel Studios president mentions to Collider that Moon Knight will land six episodes but run a bit longer than something like She-Hulk, which is going to have 30-minute episodes. 

He also added that the upcoming Moon Knight will fall into the six, 40-50 minute episode category.

A similar episode run and length as 2021 shows such as Loki and The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. 

Star Wars and X-Men alumni Oscar Isaac had finally been confirmed for the main role of Marc Spector aka Moon Knight. The American actor had also recently attached himself to Sony’s Metal Gear Solid film based on the iconic action video game series playing Solid Snake. 

The directing team consists of Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Diab along with the indie duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. 

Production on Moon Knight is said to begin this March in Budapest, Hungary under the working title Good Faith, a location that was used for their feature film Black Widow. Other filming locations had once included London and the United States. 

How Marc Spector will fit into the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe is a little less known than some of the other characters given his supernatural and vigilante ways. Various characters getting their own solo series on Disney+ have a clearer path for crossovers, however, there has been speculation it could have some connection to Mahershala Ali‘s new Blade reboot but that yet to be confirmed in any substantial way.

We have been hearing that Disney+ hoped to have the series ready to begin airing sometime in the spring/summer of 2022. 

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Film News

‘X-Men’: Kevin Feige Says Discussions Are Currently Ongoing Internally At Marvel About Franchise Reboot

While it was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, that Marvel Studios‘ X-Men reboot would be at least five years away the promise of Deadpool 3 seemingly would see mutants introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe beforehand.

The rights reverted directly back to Marvel after the merger between Disney and 21st Century Fox led to those Marvel Comics characters attached to both X-Men and Fantastic Four headed into the hands of Kevin Feige. You might remember one of Kevin’s first big Hollywood gig was working for X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner on the original films at 20th Century Fox.

It looks like X-Men internal discussions are already happening at the studio as revealed by Kevin while speaking with Screen Rant. A good sign as they’ve already announced that Spider-Man 3‘s Jon Watts will direct Fantastic Four and likely already have an idea what they’re going to do there.

FEIGE: “You know how much I love the X-Men. I already said that’s where I started. I can’t tell you anything before we actually announced it, but rest assured, the discussions have been long and ongoing internally.”

Feige also recently reaffirmed to Collider that Deadpool 3 will indeed keep it’s R-rating (echoing previous statements made by Disney’s Bob Iger and Alan Horn) and finally confirmed the sequel would be taking place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While fans have been trying to convince themselves that Marvel will keep the Singerverse version of the franchise for future movies, the headache of those film’s connection to director Bryan Singer, who is during the era of #MeToo a PR nightmare, would be the worse idea imaginable for Disney. Removing that baggage completely with a fresh hard reboot is the best way to go considering those Fox movies weren’t terribly faithful to the comics and characters to begin with.

We have good example of this thanks to Marvel’s Spider-Man reboot bringing in Tom Holland as their MCU version for Captain America: Civil War and other films.

It’ll be interesting who they ultimately hire to direct and write this franchise reboot for them. I’ve been extremely curious what that lineup will ultimately look like because for every era of X-Men, the mutant lineup looks completely different and there is an overwhelming characters to choose from.

Fans have all been pushing for their own ideas who should be recast in various roles for the reboot but it seems like the most important casting will be finding the right actor to fill Hugh Jackman‘s boots as Wolverine given he’s their biggest crossover character from the X-Men franchise. I wouldn’t be shocked if we saw his debut before the main X-Men film.

SOURCE: SCREEN RANT

Posted on in Film News

‘Deadpool 3’: Kevin Feige Yet Again Confirms Movie Will Be Rated R & Set In The MCU – Not Filming In 2021

While speaking with Collider, Marvel’s Kevin Feige has reaffirmed previous details about Deadpool 3 that the film is rated R and will be indeed be set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the latter seemed to be slightly up-in-the-air given the maturity of the franchise.

FEIGE: “It will be rated R and we are working on a script right now, and Ryan’s overseeing a script right now… It will not be [filming] this year. Ryan is a very busy, very successful actor. We’ve got a number of things we’ve already announced that we now have to make, but it’s exciting for it to have begun. Again, a very different type of character in the MCU, and Ryan is a force of nature, which is just awesome to see him bring that character to life.”

We officially know that The Molyneux Sisters from Bob’s Burgers are currently writing the film alongside Reynolds overseeing that work. Oddly enough, previous screenwriters and producers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese were absent from trade articles concerning the new script suggesting they might not be involved creatively.

Deadpool 3 would likely mark the first mutant film for the studio and be released before the main X-Men reboot. What I think fans are still curious about is if the previous two films will be treated as canon moving forward and if they’ll bring back folks like Josh Brolin as Cable.

It’s still slightly unclear when they plan on shooting it, who will direct it, and what branch of Disney will ultimately end up distributing.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Film News

Kevin Feige Not Sure ‘Black Widow’ Will Ultimately Become Disney+ Exclusive & Phase 4 Films Weren’t Affected By Pandemic

Ever since movies started going to streaming, Marvel fans have assumed that Black Widow would be thrown onto Disney+ like recent films such as Mulan (Premiere Access) and Soul (free with subscription), with Disney debunking that theory over and over. Most recently at the Disney Investor Day presentation, Marvel’s Kevin Feige reaffirmed that Black Widow would be released in theaters on May 7th as of mid-December.

Deadline has asked about the chance of Black Widow heading to Disney+ instead of hitting it’s May 7th theatrical release. His response seems to be both vague and politically neutral as it does appear to be that the distribution of the movie is truly out of his hands and really up to Disney at this point.

FEIGE: “If I had a crystal ball, I’d look into it and tell you. I don’t. All I can tell you is that for the past three years since Bob Iger brought me into his office and talked about a streaming platform that would become Disney+ and asked us to start working on programs for it. Our long lead plan was to have the MCU and the storytelling woven between weekly episodic big swings on Disney+ and into the feature big swings in theaters. It’s my great hope that that continues. Don’t ask me week by week what is going to happen in this world, I have no idea and don’t want to guess. Everything we’ve done at Marvel Studios has been based in ‘Ok, if everything goes perfectly, here’s what we’d like to do.’ And until this past year, things have gone remarkably well. And it’s my hope that the world gets back on track and we all get back into theaters, and that people will see and experience week by week for the low monthly fee of Disney+ of what we’re bringing there, and then be excited to get together with people again in real life and sit with strangers and share an experience on the big screen.”

We’ll have to see what Disney ultimately decides to do as they’d lose hundreds of millions of dollars if they simply put the film on the service for free such as Warner Bros. putting Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max and Mulan may have scared Disney to use Premiere Access again for such a costly film as it was restricted to Disney+ subscribers later revealed as not the success people had first thought.

The pandemic is getting increasingly worse in the United States and United Kingdom, despite the slow distribution of multiple COVID-19 vaccines. Theaters being a viable option in May or over the summer is increasingly looking less likely, but what Disney does with their massive Marvel movies remains to be seen.

BLACK WIDOW – In Marvel Studios’ action-packed spy thriller Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.

According to Feige while speaking with The New York Times, the pandemic may have delayed some of the release of the shows by a weeks. Their film lineup apparently hasn’t been affected in any significant way.

FEIGE: “If the run we had in 2018 and 2019 had gotten disrupted this way, in the buildup to Endgame, it would have been a bigger headache,” he said. “With these projects, it worked well,” he went on, adding that the debut dates for the TV shows were shifted only “by a matter of weeks.”

SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES & DEADLINE