'Spider-Man 4': Marvel Studios Hires 'Shang-Chi' Director Destin Daniel Cretton To Shoot Sequel Early Next Year

‘Spider-Man 4’: Marvel Studios Hires ‘Shang-Chi’ Director Destin Daniel Cretton To Shoot Sequel Early Next Year

In a surprising reveal today, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures have selected director Destin Daniel Cretton to helm “Spider-Man 4,” the fourth installment of their Tom Holland-led string of MCU-set Spidey movies. This comes after Destin had previously made “Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings” and is still actively involved with its untitled sequel. An exciting update on the superhero pic that comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter and is backed up by other outlets like Deadline, ending over a year of speculation and rumors of who would take the reigns from Jon Watts.

Screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers are returning with an expectation that filming could begin as early next year. We shouldn’t be terribly shocked if Destin adds his own contributions to the script like he did with “Shang-Chi.”

Cretton had previously returned to the MCU with the upcoming Disney+ series “Wonder Man.”

Marvel Team-Up (1972) #141 | Comic Issues | Marvel

No official plot details have yet to be revealed for “Spider-Man 4,” but Marvel is in a very good position to do an event-level crossover with Charlie Cox‘s Matt Murdock (who briefly appeared in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” as a lawyer working on behalf of Peter Parker) as the series revival “Daredevil: Born Again” has Daredevil, Punisher, and The Kingpin inhabiting the same MCU space as Parker in New York City. Perhaps, allowing the studio to bring the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man back to his roots as a crime-fighter and tackling crooks like The Hand (aligned with Wilson Fisk) and the New York City mafia by way of The Maggia (Hammerhead, Tombstone, and other mobsters could finally get their big-screen live-action debuts).

A potential mob war plot wouldn’t be exactly a stretch or challenge for Destin, as he previously tackled The Ten Rings in “Shang-Chi,” a criminal syndicate led by Shang-Chi’s father, Wenwu, and is now being overseen by his sister.

Other street-level heroes operating in the same city include Luke Cage/Power Man, Danny Rand/Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones.

The filmmaker had been once attached to make “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” before the project was re-tooled into “Avengers: Doomsday” with Robert Downey Jr. set to star as a version of Victor von Doom and landed the Russo Brothers as Cretton’s replacements.

A release date hasn’t been mentioned, but there is a good shot that “Spider-Man 4” could be ready for the summer of 2026 if production starts up in the new year.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

‘John Wick 4’ Adds ‘Highlander’ & ‘Starship Troopers’ Actor Clancy Brown

John Wick 4 hasn’t stopped adding new cast members and the latest one is a doozy.

Deadline reports that veteran character actor Clancy Brown (The Punisher, Billions, SpongeBob SquarePants) has nabbed a role in the action sequel, who is likely best known for his roles in films such as Highlander, Shawshank Redemption, and Starship Troopers.

Director Chad Stahelski and Clancy Brown have a Highlander connection, as Stahelski is attached to direct a reboot of the fantasy action film for Lionsgate. Given that project is spending a portion of its production shooting in Paris, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before French action star Christopher Lambert is announced next.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ended with John Wick surviving the fall from the roof of The Continental hotel after Ian McShane’s Winston shot him. Winston’s motivations weren’t entirely clear as he didn’t seem shocked that Mr. Wick got away and could be giving The High Table a false sense of security. Wick eventually lands at the feet of Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King, who had his organization taken away from him by The High Table and convinces John to go to war with him against the mysterious group of criminal syndicate puppet masters. 

The newest additions to the cast consist of Japanese action star Hiroyuki Sanada as Watanabe, Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen playing Wick’s old pal, British martial artist Scott Adkins (The Expendables 2, Doctor Strange), Marko Zaror (Machete Kills, Alita: Battle Angel), Atomic Blonde’s Bill Skarsgard, Stowaway’s Shamier Anderson, and the film’s female lead played by Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama. 

Returning actors are Ian McShane as Winston, Lance Reddick as Charon and Laurence Fishburne back as the Bowery King. Meanwhile, we’re still in the dark about established characters played by Halle Berry, Asia Kate Dillion, John Leguizamo, Peter Stormare, Common, Jason Mantzoukas, Anjelica Huston, Said Taghmaoui, Yayan Ruhian, and Cecept Arif Rahman making an appearance in John Wick 4.

John Wick 4 will hit the big screen on May 27, 2022, and Lionsgate had confirmed plans to make John Wick: Chapter 5, but will no longer shoot back-to-back with the next installment. Franchise creator and architect, Derek Kolstad, stated that he won’t be involved in the next two films and suggested John Wick 5 could be the final pic.

SOURCE: DEADLINE