Tag: Marvel Studios

Posted on in Film News, News

Charlie Cox Denies ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Rumor Due To Pandemic Travel Restrictions & Filming Irish Crime Series ‘Kin’

A recent fan-theory claimed that Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock appears in the new Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, however, IMAX versions of the trailer have debunked this and showed the man people believed was Murdock was really just the Damage Control gentleman, who had appeared with Peter Parker in that same room moments earlier.

While online rumors have pointed towards a Matt Murdock cameo in the Spider-Man sequel, someone is pouring cold water on that idea, Charlie Cox himself.

Speaking with the Irish Examiner, Charlie Cox says he’s not only not showing up in the film, but he’s had to break the news to friends and even crew members on the Irish set of his latest AMC+ series Kin. Pointing out that while he was supposedly in Atlanta shooting Spider-Man: No Way Home, he was actually shooting his new crime series in Ireland and adding travel restrictions that were in place at the time would have made that a logistical problem.

“There was a fan on the Kin crew. I came to work one day, and the rumor had come out that I was filming in Atlanta, and he asked me like it was a sensible question, and I was like, ‘I’ve been here every day with you, on set’ but I think he was so hopeful that he still was like, ‘Is it true?’; I had to say to him, ‘How would it be true?”

“Even if I had a few days off, we’re in the middle of a pandemic. I’m not allowed to fly anywhere. What are you talking about?’ Did he think Captain America came to get me?”

If you remember following adamant denials from Tom Holland, former Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield denied rumors he would be appearing in the film as well.

We’ve seen that even with these public denials, it hasn’t done much to detour either fans or outlets from keeping faith that Cox’s Matt Murdock will show up, confirmed or not.

Other segments of Marvel fans have been pointing out that Tatiana Maslany could have easily played the role of Parker’s lawyer in the film given that she is playing Jennifer Walters in She-Hulk, a superhero defense attorney that we know is confirmed for the MCU as she just wrapped her series in Atlanta (same location where Spider-Man: No Way Home was filmed).

Also, it is worth noting if Doctor Strange’s spell did work erasing everyone’s memory of him as Spider-Man before the Multiverse stuff…why exactly would Peter Parker need a lawyer?

I guess we’ll find out for sure this winter when the film drops.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is still marked down for a December 17 release date.

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME – For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the high-stakes of being a Super Hero. When he asks for help from Doctor Strange the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.

SOURCE: IRISH EXAMINER

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Secret Invasion’ Has Apparently Started Filming & ‘Hawkeye’ Heads To Toronto For Brief Reshoots

We recently confirmed Marvel Studios’ big crossover event series Secret Invasion’s crew would include production designer Frank Walsh (Lost In Space) and cinematographer Sylvaine Dufaux (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Future Man).

There is word from Film London that production has indeed started this month on Secret Invasion.

The impressive cast consists of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Ben Mendelsohn as Skrull Leader Talos, Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite, Hot Fuzz, The Crown), four-time Emmy nominee Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Solo: A Star Wars Story), Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night In Miami, Peaky Blinders) said to be playing a villain, and most recent addition to the Marvel series is character actor Christopher McDonald (Hacks, Happy Gilmore).

The show’s head writer is Kyle Bradstreet with directors Thomas Bezhucha (Let Him Go) and Ali Selim (The Looming Tower) shooting episodes.

Also, we have some updates concerning the reshoots for Hawkeye.

Hollywood North Buzz is relaying information from Production Weekly that claims that the Hawkeye series (working title Anchor Point) will be doing some brief reshoots in Toronto, where Jeremy Renner is filming his other series Mayor of Kingstown.

The Ronin can confirm this information along with adding our own that directors Rhys Thomas and new addition Tim Roche (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Silicon Valley) will be involved with the two days of filming that kick-off today. Roche has been an editor on WandaVision and Hawkeye, but has directing experience on sitcoms.

Bert and Bertie are also part of the show’s directing team.

Joining Renner includes actors such as Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Brian D’Arcy James, Vera Farmiga, Fra Fee, Tony Dalton, Zahn McClarnon, and newcomer Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez aka Echo (getting her own spinoff series).

The six-episode MCU series originally wrapped filming back in April with a crew that includes production designer Maya Shimoguchi (The Matrix Resurrections, War For The Planet of Apes), cinematographer Eric Steelberg (Ghostbusters: Afterlife) and Heidi Moneymaker (Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3) as the show’s stunt coordinator.

Hawkeye will debut on Disney+ starting November 24 and Secret Invasion should be ready in late 2022.

SOURCE: FILM LONDON & HOLLYWOOD NORTH BUZZ

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Shang-Chi’ Earns $90M+ At The Domestic Box Office Over The Long Weekend

Surpassing industry and studio box office projections, Marvel’s Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings is said to be looking at a four-day total of $90 million, according to Variety. This number could increase given we won’t have total numbers for Monday until later in the week and estimates can always go up and come down.

UPDATE: Deadline is reporting that the final weekend numbers are $94.4 million domestically for the four-day long weekend.

It’s three-day total of $75. 5 million not only did better than Black Widow, it also broke a Labor Day weekend record that had been previously held by Rob Zombie’s Halloween back in 2007, when the pic earned $30. 6 million. A weekend not really known for huge box office takes.

The film has already earned an impressive $146.2 million globally on a possible budget of $150 million, which should make Marvel and Disney quick to put a sequel into development very very soon (if it isn’t already).

While YouTubers are trying to convince themselves and their subscribers that the film is a flop, everyone else living in reality can see how successful the film is going to become given that it really doesn’t have much competition until October unless James Wan’s R-rated horror flick Malignant surprises everyone.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in Features

The Xian & Seven Capital Cities Of Heaven Could Play A Large Role In ‘Shang-Chi 2’

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BOTH SHANG-CHI & POST-CREDIT SCENES

After the recent box office performance of Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings and the stinger at the end of the film, it’s obvious that Marvel Studios will be moving forward with more films, possibly even a Disney+ series.

In the post-credit scene, Wong seems baffled by the Ten Rings and the objects’ origin alongside a possibility they’re now calling upon an outside force using a beacon.

One strong possibility might be The Xian or pantheon of Chinese gods in Marvel Comics.

They could be part of the expansive secret interdimensional inhabitance that Michelle Yeoh’s Auntie Nan was talking about when giving a rundown of Ta-Lo. Wenwu’s Ten Rings may have come from their dimension and might explain why there is a beacon calling to them, potentially because it’s a weapon of their making and Shang-Chi activating them in the village set it off.

One of the first instances of Ta-Lo in Marvel Comics was in the pages of Thor. There we are introduced to the Jade Emperor, aka, Yu Huang when the God of Thunder is traveling to the various pantheon of gods.

Basically, a group of powerful immortal beings that could easily either be friends or foes to Shang-Chi/Earth. There is a heap of characters that could be introduced some that jump out is Guan Yu The God of War, Yen-Lo Wang The God of Death, Zhurong The God of Fire, and Xi Wangmu The Goddess of Immortality.

Another interesting Xian character that might conflict with either Shang-Chi or Xialing could be the Demi-God Sun Wukong (The Monkey King). Best known from the iconic Journey To The West tale. In recent Marvel Comics, Sun Wukong is a crime lord that could easily cross paths with Shang-Chi on Earth with a magical staff, the Ruyi Jingu Bang, making him a formidable adversary.

The Immortal Weapons of Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, could also have a connection to The Xian and allow Marvel Studios to do a hard-reboot of Iron Fist/Danny Rand, K’un-Lun, and Shou-Lao The Undying after the lackluster Netflix series.

Iron Fist and K’un-Lun don’t really have to be that far apart from the new Shang-Chi franchise and could allow the new Avenger to have another MCU character that might have some insight into this secret world of gods and martial arts.

Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s love for the genre was highlighted in the first Shang-Chi film and it would be a fantastic excuse to reboot Danny Rand, unless they feel he’s too similar to the version of Shang-Chi they just gave us.

The Seven Capital Cities could expand the interdimensional realm of Ta-Lo beyond the village seen in the first film. The cities include K’un-Lun, K’un-Zi, Tiger Island, Peng Lai, Kingdom of Spiders, Z’Gambo, and Under City each having their own protector (maybe even their own dragon too?).

While not the traditional threat in Secret Wars, The Xian testing the might of heroes from various realms and The Multiverse seems like an interesting version the studio could with instead of simply rehashing the comic book incarnation.

Posted on in Film News, News

EXCLUSIVE: Marvel’s ‘Secret Invasion’ Series Enlists ‘Lost In Space’ Production Designer Frank Walsh

With The Marvels’ production in full swing at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever shooting in Atlanta, the next big project is about to kick-off soon with Secret Invasion. The big Skrull-centric series that will bring back Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos together since Captain Marvel and the button scene in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

There is a neat crew tidbit we can now share.

The Ronin can confirm that production designer Frank Walsh is working on Marvel’s big event crossover series.

Walsh has recently worked on shows such as Season 1 of Carnival Row, Season 2 of Lost In Space, and episodes of the comic book Netflix series Jupiter’s Legacy. As an art director, he’s worked on projects such as High-Rise, Inception, Game of Thrones, The Mummy, Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, and the infamous Luc Besson-produced sci-fi film Lockout (film was sued for plagiarism by John Carpenter).

We previously confirmed the show’s director of photography will be French-Canadian cinematographer Sylvaine Dufaux (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Future Man) and revealed that the series was expected to shoot sequences in Scotland with production gearing up to begin this month in the United Kingdom.

You can check out some of Dufaux’s work here which includes reshoots for Solo: A Star Wars Story.

The crossover event’s impressive cast also consists of Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite, Hot Fuzz, The Crown), four-time Emmy nominee Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Solo: A Star Wars Story), Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night In Miami, Peaky Blinders) said to be playing a villain, and most recent addition to the Marvel series is character actor Christopher McDonald (Hacks, Happy Gilmore).

There is an expectation due to the proximity to the filming of Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels and overlapping production schedules, we should see some cross-pollination between the two casts. Samuel L. Jackson has already confirmed on social media that he’s shot Nick Fury scenes for The Marvels.

The show’s head writer is Kyle Bradstreet with directors Thomas Bezhucha (Let Him Go) and Ali Selim (The Looming Tower) shooting episodes.

Secret Invasion is expected to release on Disney+ sometime in 2022.

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Blade’: Bassam Tariq Confirms He’s Signed On To Direct The Marvel Reboot

Not too long ago it was reported that director Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) was the frontrunner to helm Marvel Studios’ Blade reboot starring Mahershala Ali. The director has confirmed this, but also that he’s signed on.

During a chat with The Playlist Podcast, Tariq talked a little bit about screenwriter Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Hunters, Watchmen), praising her and working on Blade.

“Yes, I can confirm I am directing Blade, Marvel is letting me do it.”

“I didn’t think [‘Blade’] was going to happen, just to be very honest. I’m honored and it’s a privilege, but I’m here in service of Stacy Osei-Kuffour, who is the incredible writer that is writing the film…She’s just a phenomenal presence and a juggernaut in her own right. And for Mahershala [Ali]. For me, it’s really just working in their service. [Marvel] takes big swings, you know?…I can’t say anything about it, but I’m just so excited for what we’re doing.”

“Character is very important for me. I don’t think of genre, I think of character. It’s not so boxed in as people imagine it to be [working with Marvel Studios]. It’s quite exciting. And I think the reality is there is no ‘Blade’ canon, you know? If you ever read the comics, they’re always changing…Unfortunately, the [comic book series] never lasted that long.”

Eric Brooks aka Blade is a vampire hunter, that happens to be half-vampire himself and allows him to be immune sunlight/silver making him stronger than a majority of adversaries. The main antagonists for Blade are The Vampire Nation, the secretive group of shadowy figures that have a stranglehold on positions of power in human society and have sects all over the world.

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.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed that Loki production designer Kasra Farahani is considered for the production team. A release or cast have yet to be announced by Marvel, we’ll have to wait and see about that information.

SOURCE: THE PLAYLIST

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3’ Enlists ‘Hawkeye’ Stunt Coordinator Heidi Moneymaker

Production on James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 is said to be finally happening this November and will wrap in April, according to star Chris Pratt.

We’ve been waiting longer than usual for the sequel because Disney fired and then rehired the filmmaker over tasteless tweets. In the meantime, James Gunn was hired by Warner Bros. to write and direct The Suicide Squad, that released last month. Leading to extensive delays but prep is underway with it’s looming fall production start.

There are some crew updates we can now share.

The Ronin has been able to confirm that Stephane Ceretti is indeed working on Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3. Ceretti has worked on other MCU films such as Guardians of The Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man & The Wasp, and the upcoming Chloe Zhao pic Eternals.

We’re also hearing that Heidi Moneymaker will be the film’s stunt coordinator.

You might be familiar with Moneymaker as she was Scarlett Johansson’s longtime stunt double from Iron Man 2 to Black Widow. She was a stunt coordinator on the upcoming Hawkeye series (her sister Renae Moneymaker doubling for Hailee Steinfeld), fight coordinator on Disney’s live-action Mulan along with other other stunt work on Avatar 2, John Wick: Chapter 2, and Hobbs & Shaw.

UPDATE: James Gunn has confirmed our reporting on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1452330987669663756

Moneymaker confirmed her role as stunt coordinator on Hawkeye to Looper back in July.

“I was just the boss on this one. I did a couple of [pre-visualizations] before we had our full team, and when we didn’t have all of our doubles and stuff. So, I did a couple of pre-vises with my sis. And my sister was on the show as well, and some of the guys. But I didn’t actually do any on-camera. Too busy. It was a busy, busy show.”

Fellow Marvel Studios stuntwoman Monique Ganderton was the stunt coordinator on Avengers: Endgame, Loki, and She-Hulk. So, the studio promoting these stunt folks to coordinators isn’t that terribly strange.

The returning cast is assumed to include Chris Pratt as Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Dave Bautista as Drax, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket Raccoon, and Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot. 

Filming is all but confirmed to be taking place in Atlanta, Georgia and may shoot some sequences in the United Kingdom.

Production designer Beth Mickle (Drive, Only God Forgives) has been attached for the Guardians sequel for ages and ended up making The Suicide Squad with Gunn.

Previous cinematographers Ben Davis or Henry Branham (The Flash, The Suicide Squad) might be unavailable as they’re currently involved with other film projects. However, we could speculate that someone like Michael Bonvillain (Zombieland, Cloverfield) might be a good candidate to shoot the third movie, after recently being the director of photography on Gunn’s Peacemaker series at HBO Max.

Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 has a release date of May 5, 2023

Posted on in Features

‘Loki’ Production Designer Kasra Farahani Would Be Perfect For ‘Blade’

Marvel’s Blade reboot goes back to 2013 when The Hollywood Reporter revealed that a script (after the rights reverted from New Line Cinema) was being worked in-house at the studio as part of their writing program alongside Ms. Marvel (would later turn into Captain Marvel). Six years later and it was announced that two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Predators, Alita: Battle Angel, Luke Cage, True Detectives) would be starring in a brand new movie, In turn, officially rebooting the Blade franchise that was launched back in 1998 with Wesley Snipes.

This year it was revealed by trades that writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen, Hunters) is currently writing the film’s screenplay and Deadline first reported over the summer that Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) was the frontrunner to direct the reboot.

An excellent creative combination.

Eric Brooks aka Blade is a vampire hunter, that happens to be half-vampire himself and allows him to be immune sunlight/silver making him stronger than a majority of adversaries. The main antagonists for Blade are The Vampire Nation, the secretive group of shadowy figures that have a stranglehold on positions of power in human society and have sects all over the world.

With Marvel’s increased budgets, it allows this new incarnation of Blade became more of a globetrotting franchise and we could see vampires in various countries, we’ve seen Asian vampires teased in the original and it would be neat to see Blade in Japan, Hong Kong or….even they newly established island nation of Madripoor.

I would love to see Loki production designer Kasra Farahani work on Blade as he’s someone who I think could be the perfect person to help bring the world of the Vampire Nation to the modern MCU.

He brought such a cinematic value to Loki as it was cited that Faranhani was influenced by Mad Men and Ridley Scott’s benchmark sci-fi film Blade Runner. Kasra previously contributed concept art to Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, Star Trek into Darkness, and even the unmade BioShock movie (has Guillermo del Toro feel to it) for director Gore Verbinski.

It wouldn’t be the first time that someone from Disney+ series making the jump to the feature films as Loki cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw is officially working on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, giving that film a striking visual palate.

The Ronin has spotted that director Bassam Tariq (hasn’t officially closed his deal) is now following Farahani on Instagram, which could suggest there is a shot the production designer may indeed end up working on the Blade reboot, if Tariq signs on to direct.

You can check out of Kasra Farahani’s excellent work on the Loki series below.

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.

Posted on in Film News, News

‘The Marvels’ Director Nia DaCosta Originally Pitched A Movie Featuring Galactus & ‘X-Men’ Characters

Candyman director Nia DaCosta made headlines this weekend becoming the first the film to give a black female director a #1 hit at the domestic box office. She’s also currently shooting Captain Marvel 2/The Marvels in England.

While promoting Candyman with an interview with The Guardian, the filmmaker reveals she pitched Marvel Studios and producer Mary Livanos a very different project before agreeing to make the Captain Marvel sequel.

“I just nerded out. I was like, here are the movies I think you should do! Galactus, Storm and Scott Summers team-up movie! Blah blah blah! She just endured me going in super-deep. And she also gave me a lot of confidence that I would have the creative latitude to not just basically be a puppet on a string.”

This sounds like this was after the merger between Disney and 21st Century Fox, as she may have assumed they were rushing into using those former Fox characters. Interestingly enough, Jon Watts did end up land the directing gig for Fantastic Four and was announced for it back in December.

The Marvels (working title Goat Rodeo) as we’ve previously confirmed will mainly shoot at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England with a production team that has cinematographer Sean Bobbitt (Widows, Judas & The Black Messiah) and production designer Cara Brower (Candyman).

The cast consists of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, newcomer Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and Zawe Ashton is reportedly playing the film’s villain.

There is an expectation that cast members of the Secret Invasion event series will also cross-pollinate with the sequel.

Local South Korean outlets reported on Parasite actor Park Seo-Joon joining the film, but have yet to be supported by Hollywood trades or Marvel/Disney.

The Marvels will hit theaters on November 11, 2022.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Shang-Chi’: Michelle Yeoh Confirms ‘Police Story 3’ Co-Star Yuen Wah Has Role

Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings will feature some established martial artists such as Tony Leung as Wenwu, Michelle Yeoh as Ying Nan, and Andy Le as Death Dealer. There is another name to add to the list, legendary actor Yuen Wah likely best known from Kung Fu Hustle.

The Hong Kong actor got his start in a similar way to Jackie Chan, working on Bruce Lee movies. Those credits include Fist of Fury, Enter The Dragon, Way of The Dragon, and Game of Death.

There were signs the actor might be appearing in Shang-Chi. Director Destin Daniel Cretton had posted an image on Instagram with Yuen Wah earlier this month from 2020 in Australia, but didn’t say if he would be in the film or not.

Michelle Yeoh has confirmed that her Supercop aka Police Story 3 co-star is indeed in the film after posting a neat set photo with him in costume (see below).

Shang-Chi will hit theaters exclusively on September 3.

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: MICHELLE YEOH