While we’re going to have to be patient for Marvel’s hard reboot of the “X-Men” franchise, we do have a couple of mutant-focused projects on the horizon. This July will see Wade Wilson return to the big screen in “Deadpool & Wolverine” an R-rated Multiverse romp that is already planting seeds for “Avengers: Secret Wars” (Although, to what extent is clearly unknown). But before that, Marvel is resurrecting an old favorite with the Fox Kids animated series via a continuation called “X-Men ’97” which will debut March 20 on Disney+. Alongside that date confirmation, they’ve released a first-look teaser trailer (See Below) giving us a minor glimpse at the animation style and look of the revival.
The trailer connects the new show to the old one as it had Magneto overseeing Xavier’s school and the new de facto head of the X-Men. Magneto, of course, is well known to many as one of the main antagonists of the franchise but has a conflictive streak that doesn’t make him “all that bad.” Will he be a great mentor to the team or revert to his dastardly plans? I guess we’ll have to watch and find out for ourselves.
It’s unclear despite being a series coming from Marvel Studios and the newly formed Marvel Animation, if the animated show is going to have any impact on how they conduct their upcoming “X-Men” reboot and we’re unsure if it’ll have any genuine influence other than the character/costume designs (The iconic Jim Lee/Chris Claremont era being one of the most popular versions of this Marvel team). They could always jump to a live-action incarnation here, but given that a heap of storylines already used up was either skipped over entirely or mangled during the Singerverse years at 20th Century Fox, it would feel odd to brush over those events given that Marvel can now start with a clean slate.
Marvel Animation is also behind “Marvel Zombies” and the upcoming Spidey show “Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man.” Although, I’m still a little surprised they didn’t attempt a revival of the 1990s animated “Spider-Man” series alongside “X-Men ’97.” Perhaps, it was simply too much of a headache or a cameo for “X-Men ’97” is in the cards?
The teaser trailer features an article from The Daily Bugle questioning if Spidey is a mutant himself (There were crossovers between the two Fox Kids shows in the 1990s, so that version of Spider-Man exists in “X-Men ’97”). Also, it mentions Eddie Brock, aka, Venom in that paper as well. A crossover cameo wouldn’t be all that shocking since “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” had Parker running into X-Men remembers in a couple of episodes. This paper could suggest that Brock and Peter will be showing up to the Hellfire Gala, as the Hellfire Club are expected to be villains in the new show.
Also, to chime in on the question that the paper asks: “Is Spider-Man A Mutant?” In comic book lore, Peter Parker and Bruce Banner are considered mutates, not mutants. That simply means their DNA/genetics have been mutated but through technology and not by birth. So, technically, their children like Banner’s son Skaar would be mutants because their mutations would have been passed down genetically. Namor is actually considered Marvel’s “first mutant” and we’ll see if that angle is ever explored in the future. The mutant gene is likely going to play a HUGE role in the MCU moving forward and oddly enough is connected to the Celestials, last seen in “The Eternals.”
Anyways, you can watch that brand-new trailer with our first real look at the show’s animation below.
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Marvel Studios has made it official by announcing the three main leads of their “Fantastic Four” reboot from director Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”) and seemingly have also confirmed a 1960s-setting (1963?) alongside their robotic companion H.E.R.B.I.E. (Something I’ve been teasing on social media for years).
The lineup so far is Pedro Pascal as Dr. Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm (The Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm (The Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm (“The Thing”). Journalist Jeff Sneider was the first to report the subsequent names of the cast with industry insider Daniel Richtman being the first to mention that Pascal was in talks to play Richards.
Marvel made the announcement via their social media accounts and even posted a fun promo poster revealing that aforementioned 60s-setting. “Fantastic Four” is set to be released on July 25, 2025, and will begin shooting at the Pinewood Studios stages in the United Kingdom in the not-too-distant future.
We’re still waiting for the reveal of a villain and who will play them. Rumors have suggested that we could end up seeing a new incarnation of Doctor Doom, but that has yet to be made official by Marvel.
Check out that awesome teaser poster artwork below.
Happy Valentine’s Day from Marvel’s First Family! Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn are The Fantastic Four.
One of the more disappointing aspects of recent Marvel Studios projects was the deaths of Cobie Smulders‘ Maria Hill and Ben Mendelsohn‘s Talos (strained leader of The Skrulls on Earth) in the critical disaster “Secret Invasion.” The uneven Disney+ series seemingly ended Mendelsohn’s MCU run and is now giving hints about who he’d like to play if given a second Marvel role in the future.
While speaking with GQ Magazine (via The Playlist) the Aussie actor revealed he’d really like a shot at playing Victor Von Doom, aka, Doctor Doom if allowed to nab a secondary part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A traditional “Fantastic Four” villain that also rules over the fictional country of Latveria and has become a rogue more on the level of a major Marvel supervillain such as Loki or Thanos.
“I would almost give my eyes and teeth to play Doctor Doom,” said Mendelsohn as his dream Marvel role. “I think Doctor Doom is the great unread Marvel character that could and should be done. But it is what it is. I got to work with Spielberg, and I got to work with Terrence Malick, and I got to work with Ridley Scott. It’s been incredible. I didn’t think this ship was coming.”
There is also an expectation that Doom could end up potentially playing a pivotal role in future MCU installments even beyond “Avengers: Secret Wars” and would be a villain role that could give an actor multiple chances to return, not unlike Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. Mendelsohn isn’t a stranger to villain roles having played baddies in Christopher Nolan‘s “The Dark Knight Rises” and Krennic in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” one of the more memorable villains from the modern era of “Star Wars.”
It wouldn’t be unheard of for Mendelsohn to play another character in the MCU as we’ve seen actors such as Gemma Chan and Benedict Cumberbatch come to mind who have played both MCU heroes and villains. Doom wearing a mask as part of his operatic costume could also obscure his face for most if not all of his screen time and make it even easier for Mendelsohn to not be recognized as appearing in “Captain Marvel” and “Secret Invasion” previously.
When it comes to “Fantastic Four” we really only have one actor set for the MCU reboot as fellow “Star Wars” alumn Pedro Pascal is all but confirmed to play Dr. Reed Richards, aka, Mister Fantastic. It doesn’t hurt that Pascal and Mendelsohn recently worked together on the film “Freaky Tales,” helmed by “Captain Marvel” directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. We’re still waiting on some trade reports or announcements from Marvel Studios to give an idea of who will actually round out the cast of director Matt Shakman‘s reboot of Marvel’s first family after endless rumors/speculation on who else will join the film.
Mark Ruffalo seems to be game to keep playing the Banner/Hulk role for years to come, and this is sort of highlighted in a recent chat he had during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2024, where the “Avengers” actor revealed that there are zero plans for another solo “Hulk” film (Despite ongoing rumors) but we could end up seeing those events play out over multiple other films in the MCU.
“We’ll never give you a standalone ‘Hulk’…I don’t mean to burst anyone’s bubble but that’s not happening. So, we’ll do it over four movies, how’s that sound?” Ruffalo told the crowd when the subject of a solo ‘Hulk’ film came up without specifically naming what those movies could be and where he’d potentially appear.
This would indicate two things. Talk of a new solo “Hulk” movie is likely bogus (Maybe those elements will be used elsewhere) and rumblings of Marvel Studios getting back full control of both Hulk/Namor from Universal Pictures aren’t likely accurate either. Ruffalo is well-known for spilling the beans including the ending of “Avengers: Infinity War” during press for the film ahead of its release to the public. However, he’s been the one mainly championing a solo film in press interviews because he never was able to get one himself since “The Incredible Hulk” was before he was hired for the gig. If there was a shot of it happening he’d be telegraphing there is more of a chance than “it’s never happening.”
Some fans and outlets have sort of misconstrued Ruffalo’s comments here about “Captain America: Brave New World,” while he said he’s excited about the film after the interviewer brings it up, he never actually says he’s appearing in it. Hardly the smoking gun some folks are making it out to be. I mean, it could make some sense to fans given three big “Incredible Hulk” characters are confirmed to be in the film (Thunderbolt Ross, Betty Ross, and The Leader). Yet, hearing the original quote from Ruffalo he’s simply not saying he’s showing up just that he can talk about that film without getting in trouble.
It’s not like Marvel hasn’t been sneaky in the past as “Thor: Ragnarok” added a heap of elements but not all from “The Planet Hulk” comics without having to be directly part of a solo adventure and it’s a way to avoid Universal entirely. In theory, other Hulk events like “World War Hulk” could be applied to other upcoming films rather than a solo project.
Hell, even the recent Disney+ series “She-Hulk” was able to introduce both Banner’s cousin Jennifer Walters and his son Skaar.
We have to assume that it’s a gimmie that Bruce Banner will appear in both “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” and “Avengers: Secret Wars.” It remains to be seen what other projects he’ll be part of given there might be opportunities for a cheeky cameo in “Deadpool & Wolverine” (Given Ruffalo’s connection to Shawn Levy/Ryan Reynolds via “The Adam Project” and he’d finally go toe-to-toe with Hugh Jackman‘s Wolverine) and could end up appearing in “some capacity” in upcoming things such as “Thunderbolts,” “Armor Wars,” “Shang-Chi 2,” or that hypothetical “Thor 5.” Until it’s official it’s worth having a little patience and not jumping to conclusions.
You can watch that exchange with Ruffalo for yourselves below.
SOURCE: SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL2024VIA YOUTUBE
Yesterday, was the big Super Bowl game which obviously means expensive/overproduced ads and studios trying to get as many eyeballs on their upcoming films as possible. That seemed to be the perfect opportunity for Marvel Studios to first reveal footage from their big/only blockbuster film releasing this July, “Deadpool 3.” Now officially titled “Deadpool & Wolverine” (Something we long suspected would be picked to help promote Wade’s iconic X-Men co-star) and the teaser trailer released last night confirms that the Multiverse pic will indeed see the involvement of the Time Variance Authority from “Loki,” although, we haven’t spotted any established characters from the show, yet.
Director Shawn Levy and star/producer Ryan Reynolds are seemingly keeping to the R-rated action-focused superhero roots alongside the cheeky meta humor, something a lot of naysayers including the character’s co-creator Rob Liefeld had been completely skeptical about once Disney/Marvel got their hands on the franchise post-merger. It’s hard to say now that this doesn’t look like more of the same just with a MUCH bigger production budget compared to those last two installments alongside leaning heavily into the Multiverse of it all.
In the trailer, we see that Matthew Macfadyen‘s character (A TVA agent or simple bureaucrat) is attempting to recruit Wade for some sort of reason and will seemingly bring him into the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although, from the looks of things we’re mostly getting Fox/Singerverse characters such as the return of actor Aaron Stanford as Pyro (Who hasn’t appeared in the franchise since “X3: The Last Stand” and could signal more Singerverse actors coming back) and a potential nod to Patrick Stewart‘s second return as Professor X after a previous appearance in “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness” as part of The Illuminati on Earth-838.
Longtime Wolverine fans will likely notice the club/casino scene where Wade is about to approach a variant of Wolverine at a card table, who looks to be in his Madripoor persona Patch. The identifying factor is that Logan is wearing Patch’s signature white suit jacket and I’m also willing to bet an eye patch too. Nothing says that scene is set in Madripoor, but it’s long been a hangout of Wolverine and Marvel has already established the cutthroat location in “The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.”
Of course, it’s been long confirmed that Hugh Jackman will be back as Wolverine and we got a little tease of that interaction towards the end of the teaser. However, it’s still unclear how many Foxverse cameos we’ll ultimately get as Jennifer Garner’s Elektra and The Hand have been teased recently in promo materials that have made their way online. While Marvel/Disney haven’t announced Garner’s participation, if Taylor Swift is actually in there too, and will likely want to keep other appearances secret for as long as they can. The one thing on their side is an avalanche of real and fake online rumors about the film making it harder to actually pin down what is real and what is bogus concerning the film. At least we have validations of some of those rumors, unclear if the other trailers/spots will be spoiling other surprises before its July 26, 2024, release date.
Anyways, if you haven’t already watched the “Deadpool & Wolverine” teaser a hundred times already you can view it below.
Take the following with a pinch of salt, but some images that showed up recently on Reddit claim to reveal Red Hulk will indeed show up in Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World.” The unverified image seems to include what is most likely a crew wrap gift jacket (A common practice that cast/crew are gifted a memento for their time working on the production) with a giant monstrous red hand grabbing the iconic hero’s shield and could confirm the character is in the fourth installment. The anti-hero Hulk persona is best known as connected to Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in both comics and the animated series “Agents of S.M.A.S.H.,” who is now played by Harrison Ford after taking over the role from the late William Hurt.
Red Hulk showing up in these upcoming movies isn’t some new revelation, surprise, or even considered a spoiler as Thunderbolt Ross, expected to be President Ross in both “Captain America 4” and “Thunderbolts,” nearly transformed into the red hulking brute in “Captain America: Civil War” as The Russo Brothers have mentioned that was an unused idea that was kicking around back when Hurt was still in the role. So, in theory, it was only a matter of time before Red Hulk would be showing up (An official set photo seen above teased Ross’ tattered clothing from a transformation) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe because that’s how these things work now. Ross is only one of many “Incredible Hulk” characters making their return such as Dr. Samuel Sterns and his daughter Betty, so having a Hulk underpinning story element is far from shocking. Ford stepped into the Thunderbolt Ross part, and there had been a longstanding expectation that they were bringing Ross back to ultimately make his jump to Red Hulk, a version of the Hulk where Ross has more control of his powers similar to Smart/Professor Hulk and Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk. Basically, giving Ross what he’s been ultimately pursuing with a military application of Dr. Bruce Banner’s power-set.
Also, it should be clear that if the Red Hulk nod is indeed part of a crew wrap gift Marvel Studios would have known this would have made its way online and likely wouldn’t be much of a spoiler as it’ll be all over promotional materials. Even if this would be earlier than they likely would have wanted. It’s worth mentioning there has been chatter that “Brave New World” is expected to be undergoing extensive reshoots, and all this could change depending on those new scenes being rewritten by Matthew Orton (“Moon Knight,” “Operation Finale”).
From a narrative standpoint, in the comics, there had been a bit of an arms race with various villains including The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson) and HYDRA (Serpent Society potentially replacing them as Madame Hydra’s other villainess persona Viper was part of that group) trying to weaponize the Hulk’s powers. The two baddies getting their hands on the Hulk tech is something I’ve been bringing up for years as a potential angle for their involvement in the film.
Then again, Thunderbolt Ross isn’t the only Red Hulk persona as his daughter Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) also obtains Hulk abilities and Betty ends up using the name Red She-Hulk, getting her own run of comics at Marvel.
Julius Onah directs with a cast that includes Anthony Mackie, Ford, Carl Lumbly, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Rosa Salazar, wrestler Seth Rollins, Xosha Roquemore, Liv Tyler back as Betty Ross, and the aforementioned Tim Blake Nelson reprising his role as Gamma-boosted super-villain The Leader. The new sequel will see Mackie’s Sam Wilson taking on the cinematic Captain America mantle from Steve Rogers after the events of “The Falcon & The Winter Soldier” and the U.S. government’s failed attempt to replace him with Wyatt Russell‘s U.S. Agent. “Captain America: Brave New World” has a release date of February 14, 2025, and would mean that a trailer isn’t likely coming anytime soon with “Deadpool 3” being their main film project coming out in 2024.
Last month, the internet was buzzing when Daniel Richtman revealed that Pedro Pascal (“The Mandalorian,” “The Last of Us”) was in talks to take on the role of Dr. Reed Richards in Marvel’s reboot of the “Fantastic Four” with trades backing up that claim. However, we’re still waiting on Marvel Studios to comment on that front but in the meantime, there seems to be a confirmation of sorts coming from the major actors’ union as SAG-AFTRA (via our longtime pal PJ Campbell) has revealed the actor is indeed part of the cast without naming his specific role.
The union’s website has a profile of the actor and revealed that he’s not only wrapped “Gladiator 2” (A sign of the recency of the posting) but he’s also expected to be shooting “Fantastic Four” soon. However, since the spotting, the line about “Fantastic Four” has been removed from the site (likely at the request of Marvel/Disney), but you can see the unaltered version of the paragraph below.
Matt Shakman, who helmed the popular DIsney+ series “WandaVision,” is set to direct with a script that has undergone a multitude of rewrites and polishes.
While there have been promises of the full cast being announced, it’s been weeks since that and we’re likely just going to have to be patient for trades/Marvel to reveal who is playing the other three members. “Fantastic Four” has a tentative release date of May 2, 2025, but that date could easily move up or get pushed back considering how often Disney changes their tentpole lineup.
SAG-AFTRA seemingly confirms that Pedro Pascal has signed on to star in Marvel’s Fantastic Four. pic.twitter.com/q0cnOoOOrA
With the production of Marvel’s “Deadpool 3” wrapping this week, it means that the studio can continue pursuing the other steam of projects that have been delayed such as “Blade,” “Fantastic Four,” “Thunderbolts,” and some reshoots for “Captain America: Brave New World.” You might remember that actor Steven Yeun (“Nope,” “Burning”) had been set to play the character Sentry in “Thunderbolts” until some scheduling issues led him to exit, and a casting search began to replace him.
There is finally a solid update that was first pointed out by insider Daniel Richtman on Twitter that Lewis Pullman (“Salem’s Lot”), who played the fighter pilot Bob in “Top: Gun Maverick,” has been offered Sentry. That reporting is now being backed up by The Hollywood Reporter calling Pullman a “top choice” to replace Yeun. Pullman can be seen starring alongside Captain Marvel actress Brie Larson in the Apple TV+ series, “Lessons In Chemistry” and the upcoming Stephen King vampire film “Salem’s Lot.”
UPDATE: Deadline reports that not only has Lewis Pullman landed the Sentry part in the upcoming Marvel Studios’ feature film ahead of production but has also seen the exit of recent Emmy-winner Ayo Edebiri withAussie actor Geraldine Viswanathan (“Miracle Workers”) taking over that supporting role.Viswanathan recently co-starred with “She-Hulk” actor Jon Bass (Hulk King) in the comedic time-jumping anthology series “Miracle Workers.”
This won’t be the first cast member from “Top Gun: Maverick” to land a part in the MCU as Danny Ramirez plays Joaquin Torres, aka, Falcon in “The Falcon & The Winter Soldier” and reprises the part in “Captain America: Brave New World.”
Jake Schreier (“Beef”) will direct an impressive lineup of returning MCU characters such as Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), U.S Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). Julia Louis-Dreyfus will also reprise her role as CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine with Emmy-winner Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”) taking a supporting role as well.
“Thunderbolts” is set to begin shooting soon in Atlanta with an adjusted release date of July 25, 2025.
In 2023, studios across the board had a good amount of their blockbusters tank or have underwhelming results at the global box office. At this point, the phrase “franchise fatigue” is maybe the more accurate term we should start using here over “superhero fatigue.” Mainly, because it’s not just comic book movies that are struggling to make an impact at the box office, earn as much as the last installment, or turn a profit. In this piece, we’re going to spotlight many of these box office hiccups from last year.
Disney saw a massive ding to their 2023 slate with “Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny,” with a $300 million budget and the fifth installment of the “Indiana Jones” franchise, which didn’t click with audiences in the way that Lucasfilm/Disney had hoped earning a less than stellar $383.9 million. Speaking of Lucasfilm, a studio built on the juggernaut “Star Wars” franchise hasn’t shot a feature film since 2019 with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” Their pause on the feature division comes after “Solo: A Star Wars Story” had a weak box office take that scared Lucasfilm from pursuing other spinoff films and pivoted to focusing on their streaming series division at Disney+ instead. There have been endless promises of new films by Lucasfilm from filmmakers such as Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Taika Waititi, Dave Filoni, James Mangold, Shawn Levy, and a mystery trilogy from Rian Johnson. However, we’ll believe all these “Star Wars” movies are happening when the trailers drop considering how many films were turned into series or never happened at all like “Star Wars: Rogue Squadron” that had a release date of December 22,2023 and then the Patty Jenkins-directed pic just vanished.
It’s not just Disney and Warner Bros. undergoing a stress test other studios saw some of their popular franchises taking dings in 2023. Paramount’s “Transformers: Rise of The Beasts” had a somewhat difficult time attracting audiences to the point that it made even less than 2018’s “Bumblebee” with $438.9 million and $166.5 million less than “Transformers: The Last Knight.” Another big stumble for Paramount was “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” and one nobody really saw coming after “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” earned Paramount a whopping $791.6 million back in 2018. The most recent outing led by Tom Cruise only managed to make $395.4 million over the summer which is nearly half of what “Fallout” did. The studio is now abandoning the “Dead Reckoning Part Two” title for “Mission: Impossible 8” entirely.
While I think folks at Lionsgate are happy that their “Hunger Games” prequel has made $322.6 million, yet, that would still be a drop of $338.8 million from “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.” The fourth installment of “The Expendables” distributed by Lionsgate ended up putting up some of the worst numbers with an embarrassing $21.2 million compared to the last pic’s $214.6 million. “Expendables 4” wasn’t the only disappointing Jason Statham film either as Ben Wheatley’s “Meg 2: The Trench” dropped down by $134.3 million.
Universal has many plans for expanding its Universal Monsters franchise with various features tackling different horror characters. However, in 2023 the studio struggled to get folks to watch either of their high-profile Dracula films with both the comedy “Renfield” ($26.4 million global earnings vs $65 million budget) and the grittier “The Last Voyage of The Demeter” ($21.7 million global earnings vs $45 million budget) which took decades to make it to the big screen failed to scare up an audience outside of the Halloween season. Some of the few horror films that struggled.
Meanwhile, on the superhero front, there were indeed signs of audience apathy. Both “The Marvels” ($46.1 million domestic opening weekend) and “Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom” ($27.7 million domestic opening weekend) were follow-ups to billion-dollar successes that failed to make a big splash by not covering their production/marketing costs.
Of course, the headaches that Marvel Studios experienced in 2023 are obvious with “The Marvels” dipping a massive $925.8 million compared to “Captain Marvel” and “Ant-Man 3” saw a significant drop of $146.6 million in contrast to “Ant-Man & The Wasp.” Although, it wasn’t all bad for the MCU since “Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3” topped the superhero releases at $845.5 million with a minor slip of $18.2 million.
The final installment of the DCEU, “Aquaman & The Last Kingdom,” had a soft opening weekend as mentioned above, and has only mustered $258.2 million which is another colossal hiccup. A difference of $893.8 million when put up against the original. Ultimately, the “Shazam!” sequel ended up with one of the worst turnouts for major superhero blockbusters. At $133.8 million (Made a fraction of what the original did when it earned $367.7 million in 2019) and given its hefty budget of $300 million, “The Flash” was another catastrophe for WB at $270.6 million. With the DCU set for a big reboot in July 2025, starting with “Superman: Legacy,” there are some expectations that the reset could help with the studio’s rebranding post-Snyderverse. Then again, “Blue Beetle” (Not technically a sequel/follow-up) was retroactively added to the DCU by DC Studios around its release despite a weak $129.2 million at the box office.
Then again, it’s not all bad since there were a handful of upticks in 2023, and some of these include “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” hitting $690.5 million, a big jump from the Oscar-winning first installment’s global box office of $384.2 million from 2018. “Creed III” saw a $61 million boost which sounds good for the prospect of a fourth film. When it comes to more mature franchises, “John Wick: Chapter 4” also handed Lionsgate their best numbers over four feature films at $440.1 million. “Saw X” and “Scream VI” did well compared to their last installments too.
Every movie is as different as the reasons for them not becoming massive earners.
We can’t really expect studios to pump the breaks completely on the superhero movies given that it’s still a lucrative venture. There is an overload of sequels on the horizon at Marvel with “Deadpool 3,” “Captain America: Brave New World,” and director Destin Daniel Cretton exiting “Avengers 5” to focus on “Shangi-Chi 2.” “Deadpool 3,” an R-rated sequel, is expected to be the only MCU feature film released this year and gives the studios a bit of a cooling-off period.
While these pics haven’t been given official release dates or announced by Marvel themselves, there is an expectation that we’ll be getting “Spider-Man 4,” “Doctor Strange 3,” “Thor 5,” “Captain America 5,” and possibly “Eternals 2.” There are also a bunch of reboots on the way with things like “Fantastic Four,” “Blade,” “X-Men,” James Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy” shooting in 2024, and a new Batman film with “The Brave & The Bold.”
Sony’s adjacent Marvel films in 2024 include “Madame Web,” “Kraven The Hunter,” and the final solo outing for Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock in “Venom 3.” We don’t know how much appetite audiences have for these movies without Tom Holland’s involvement and a disaster like “Morbius” harkening back to the era of the 2000s when studios were rushing half-cooked superhero films into theaters to meet the demand.
A bunch of non-comic book blockbusters or follow-up installments coming later this year include “Dune: Part Two,” “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” “Gladiator 2,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “Kung Fu Panda 4,” “Inside Out 2,” “Kingdom of The Planet of The Apes,” “Alien: Romulus,” “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” “Mufasa: The King King,” “Sonic The Hedgehog 3,” “The Lord of The Rings: The War of The Rohirrim,” ‘Smile 2,” “Saw XI,” “Transformers One,” “Beetlejuice 2,” “Wolf Man,” “A Quiet Place: Day One,” “Despicable Me 4,” “Bad Boys 4,” “Ballerina,” “The Strangers: Chapter 1,” and Radio Silence’s Universal Monsters film. Hopefully, these do a lot better with audiences.
Solutions? Well, spending $200-300 million a pop for these films is simply going to be unsustainable, and trying to market every blockbuster as an event continues to be difficult for studios when their slate is mostly these kinds of films in an oversaturated market. Studios would likely benefit from seeking out filmmakers who can deliver genre films at lower costs and potentially scaling back the overreliance on VFX. An adjusted expectation for these movies could be closer to a cume of $300-500 million and studios would be smart to think about going back to budgets closer to/under $80-100 million. The bigger the movie the pricier reshoots and overhauls will be to fix hiccups in the editing/post process which has contributed to a lot of these bloated budgets making it tougher for studios to recoup their overall costs.
Some other factors include that COVID is still ongoing with people avoiding crowded theaters/malls and a lot of audiences don’t have to wait long for releases to drop on streaming services they’re already subscribing to. The latter seems a lot more damaging because the shortened theatrical windows mean studios have to deal with not only folks waiting out to get movies for “free” on streaming via subs and diminishes the importance of the theatrical experience. Warner Bros. during the early days of the pandemic attempted to do day-and-date releases which was detrimental to their film division it led AT&T’s John Stankey to bail on the company by handing over the reins to David Zaslav/Discovery (His tax write-off scheme leading to the erasure of films and shows is equally imbecilic).
A good example of this was Disney, who dumped three straight Pixar films “Soul,” “Luca,” and “Turning Red” on Disney+ and seemingly did large brand damage as they’re trying to fix in retrospect by releasing them all in theaters in 2024 (See teaser trailer above). This comes ahead of the release of “Inside Out 2” in June, a follow-up to a $858.8 million hit, that may aim to curb some of the weak box office that “Toy Story” semi-spinoff “Lightyear” saw in 2022.
It’s worth mentioning that things like “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” and “Super Mario Bros.” surprised us all with their massive earnings as when these movies were first announced they weren’t slamdunks to the point we were expecting them to be the Top 3 films of 2023. Their theatrical windows gave those pics plenty of time to accumulate a bunch of cash. Also, doesn’t hurt that both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” (Still playing at my local theater in December) came from visionary filmmakers, Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan respectively. Selecting creatives that can contribute to the script or elevate the material to make something appealing to an audience when a lot of genre projects can blend together or seem generic might help. Nolan and Denis Villeneuve have been extremely vocal on the importance of theatrical windows.
We shouldn’t be all doom-and-gloom about the situation. I’m mostly optimistic since there were plenty of good box office stories in 2023 and studios aren’t suddenly going to stop making these movies. Yet, potentially trimming the volume of releases, not trying to manufacture event status for all films, and using their abundant resources more carefully should be a good start. Marvel/Disney have already signaled they’re looking to pivot and make constructive changes. We’ll see if other studios make similar adjustments with their own franchises that are seeing dwindling interest.
Here is a rundown of franchise releases in 2023 to give you an idea of how lopsided the box office of 2023 actually was:
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 ($845.5 million)
FAST X ($704.8 million)
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE ($690.5 million)
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE ($567.5 million)
ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA ($476 million)
TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS ($438.9 million)
THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES ($322.6 million)
For months now Disney and Marvel Studios have been walking on eggshells by attempting not to comment or spotlight the legal woes of actor Jonathan Majors, who just yesterday was convicted of reckless assault in the third degree and guilty of harassment. This is from a two-week trial in NYC that stemmed from a March altercation between the Marvel actor and his ex-partner, Grace Jabbari. Sentencing for Majors will take place on February 6, 2024, and will shed light on what kind of consequences he’ll be seeing for his actions.
Within hours of the verdict being announced trades like The Hollywood Reporter learned that the studio had finally decided to drop Majors from his contract and sever their ties with him for future MCU projects. Majors had been playing multiple variants of the Multiverse Saga villain, Kang The Conqueror, and was expected to become a rather key aspect of both “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” as well. The quickness of the announcement was more than likely prepared months in advance and the studio had just been waiting for the trial’s outcome to make the firing public.
Kang had been mostly confined to variant appearances on two seasons of the Disney+ series “Loki” and played the main villain of “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania,” the latter project not exactly supported by either critics or audiences. Recently there have been some creative hiccups on the next project said to feature Kang as Jeff Loveness (“Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania”) reportedly exited as the screenwriter on “Avengers 5” with fellow “Rick & Morty” writer Michael Waldron (“Loki,” “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness”) stepping in to do rewrites on the script after being previously assigned to “Secret Wars” too. This coming around the same time as director Destin Daniel Cretton also left the “Avengers” pic to focus on his “Wonder Man” series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Watchmen,” “Aquaman 2”) and a gestating sequel to “Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings” led by Simu Liu (“Barbie”).
It’s clear “Avengers 5” is getting an overall but what that will look like isn’t being revealed officially and we’re still going to have to wait for more concrete details on how much they’re actually changing.
What remains unclear is what Marvel is expected to do about the character of Kang and if they’ll simply recast, given the Multiverse villain has many variants (“Loki” has established that variants can both look like the original character or completely different) allowing for a brand new actor to be placed in the Kang role without much narrative headaches. General audiences likely didn’t get too attached to Majors as Kang after the underwhelming reactions to “Ant-Man 3.” Plenty of names have been thrown around online as potential wishlist replacements such as Oscar-winner Denzel Washington (“Gladiator 2,” “The Equalizer 3”), his son John David Washington (“Tenet,” “The Creator”), John Boyega (“They Cloned Tyrone,” “Star Wars”), Damson Idris (“Snowfall”), and many others. Using the villain’s other variant aliases like Rama-Tut or Immortus could also be a way to distance themselves from using the Kang name alongside retitling the next “Avengers” installment.
Pedro Pascal is expected to play the variant of Reed Richards in “Fantastic Four” after we saw John Krasinski play him as the Earth-838 incarnation in “Doctor Strange 2.” So, Marvel isn’t above recasting these parts and the Multiverse gives them a narrative excuse to do it. We saw a backlash against Marvel’s choice not to recast T’Challa for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” after the sudden death of star Chadwick Boseman due to a private battle with colon cancer, which might have been understandable from a grief perspective among the director, cast, and crew. What I don’t think fans want to see is the erasure of black characters becoming a trend within the MCU and finding another actor doesn’t seem like that much of an ask since the Multiverse angle gives the studio a lot of wiggle room.
LOKI establishes that VARIANTS can look exactly like him or nothing at all. Kang being another force within the Multiverse, could have a new variant that arrives because of the events of LOKI's season finale and looks completely different. pic.twitter.com/NgO2obk6Qh
“Loki” Season 2 also just wrapped up and the ending of the series downplayed the 616/Majors version of Kang allowing for them to pivot to a new variant/actor or simply find another villain altogether, given Loki‘s renewed popularity having him potentially meddling with the Multiverse with his new gig at the TVA might be another way to go here.
Some online have convinced themselves that Marvel is going to “pivot from Kang The Conqueror” entirely to focus on a character like “Fantastic Four” baddie Doctor Doom because he had been an antagonist in a more recent comic incarnation of “Secret Wars.” However, given that the “Fantastic Four” reboot hasn’t even been established it feels odd that the studio would be rushing Doom to shoehorn him into two “Avengers” installments before he’s been properly fleshed out in the “Fantastic Four” films. While many still look to the comics for what might end up happening in the MCU, the studio isn’t exactly known for making one-to-one adaptations of the source material they ultimately do their own thing. It’s worth noting that we still don’t have official confirmation that Doom is even showing up or being cast for the Matt Shakman-directed reboot, Doom’s involvement has only been speculation going back to when the project was first announced by the studio and previous rumors of his involvement in other MCU projects didn’t pan-out.
Before the merger, Noah Hawley (“Legion”) had been quietly developing a solo “Doctor Doom” film for 20th Century Fox but seemingly has moved on with the latest season of “Fargo” and production on his Earthbound “Alien” series at FX/Hulu set to resume in the new year.
There are villain surrogate options for Marvel besides Doom such as “X-Men” Multiverse villain Mojo, who on the Fox Kids animated series (being continued via “X-Men ’97” on Disney+) kidnaps the X-Men forcing the team of mutants to appear on his interdimensional TV station in Mojoverse/Mojo World as a massive boost to their ratings. A plot point that could be easily applied to the MCU version of Battleworld given that the “X-Men” are expected to be coming to the MCU after the events of “Deadpool 3” which is said to involve a Multiverse/TVA angle to it.
In my personal opinion, a group of Multiverse villains perfectly suited for these next two installments would be The Squadron Supreme. Not only do they originate directly from the Multiverse in the pages of “Avengers” comics but including them may remove the need for variant/cameo overloads as Marvel’s version of Justice League would be a compelling pack of antagonists for our heroes to go toe-to-toe with and wouldn’t need to be explored beyond the two event pics. Allowing for some slightly more self-contained threats that don’t need to be established over time in a dozen other projects.
Marvel has yet to announce a director for either “Avengers 5” or “Avengers: Secret Wars,” but the current assumption is that we could end up seeing whoever is hired for one to shoot both films. The next film is slated to be released on May 1, 2026, but we won’t hold our breath that it sticks to that date.
THE RONIN 