Tag: Rachel Weisz

Posted on in Film News

Kevin Feige Says Melina & Red Guardian’s Return “A Safe Bet” As ‘Black Widow’ Crosses $200M At Global Box Office

Black Widow has officially crossed $200 million internationally at the box office, after an impressive $80.3 million domestic opening last weekend. Sadly, the box office totals for Black Widow won’t include the $60 million Disney claims they earned or future earnings from Premier Access, which will likely deflate the total run once the dust settles. A risk Disney knew they would be facing with a hybrid release strategy.

However, the film is on the path to turn a decent profit and we’ll likely get plenty of sequels/spinoffs.

There does seem to be some hope that not only David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian might be making a comeback soon, but while speaking with the D23 Inside podcast (via The Direct), Marvel’s Kevin Feige suggested that Rachel Weisz’s Melina Vostokoff aka Iron Maiden could also be poised for a return as well.

“It is always the intention that when characters come in, and great great actors come in to the universe, if we have a great time with them, the audience did, that you always want to see them again. I think it’s a safe bet that we definitely want that to happen,” Feige told D23 Inside concerning the possibility of Melina and Alexei making their return to the MCU in the future.

We never actually saw Melina’s Iron Maiden incarnation, so that could be something fun to explore in the future.

Director Cate Shortland has teased a desire to return for Black Widow 2, there seems to be some inference that Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) will appear in both the Hawkeye series and potentially a Thunderbolts project, and finally David Harbour has teased early talks with Marvel about Red Guardian’s return being open to either a film or Disney+ series (Winter Guard project feels like the smart move).

We’re also assuming that Taskmaster will be back at some point too.

BLACK WIDOW – In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff 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. Directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige, the movie stars Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff. Florence Pugh stars as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff.

SOURCE: D23 INSIDE PODCAST

Posted on in Film News

‘Black Widow’: Disney CEO Bob Chapek Insists Marvel Movie Still Heading To Theaters

Despite consist demand from Marvel fans, it doesn’t look like Disney is going to be dumping Black Widow on their streaming platform Disney+ at this time. Disney CEO Bob Chapek reiterated the studio’s position from December where they reaffirmed the Scarlett Johansson spy flick would indeed be released in theaters as planned. This statement coming from Disney’s quarterly earnings call where many had expected to hear plans to finally release Widow on streaming as it’s coming up on being delayed for a full year soon.

Our good friend Nicholas Whitcomb aka Whos Nick was listening to the Q1 earnings call yesterday and was able to tweet this out about the comment made by Bob Chapek. However, things are fluid and another possible release date push is likely coming given the amount of studio films that have already exited the winter/spring.

Disney has had plenty of opportunities to pivot from their theatrical plans for Black Widow over the last year and didn’t seem to be terribly swayed by the HBO Max day-and-date announcement. It likely doesn’t help that Wonder Woman 1984 reportedly is going to lose Warner Bros. over a $100 million because of it’s dismal box office performance.

We’ll have to wait to see if they ultimately push the release to the fall or finally cave-in with a hybrid model releasing the film earlier.

It’s current release date is still set for May 7th.

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.

SOURCE: DISNEY

Posted on in Film News

‘Black Widow’: Disney Reportedly Still Not Interested In Dumping The Marvel Flick On Disney+

In the wake of WarnerMedia’s shocking announcement that 17 films in 2021 will be heading to HBO Max with a new day-and-date model, there had been continued fan speculation that Disney would announce something similar to that with their own 2021 lineup of films. However, multiple outlets have repeatedly suggested otherwise and another tidbit from the New York Times is claiming that despite what WarnerMedia is planning to do, Disney will not be throwing the Marvel Studios film Black Widow on the streaming service.

And some of Disney’s biggest movies will continue to receive exclusive runs in theaters before arriving on the company’s streaming services. For instance, contrary to widespread speculation, Black Widow, a much-anticipated Marvel spectacle, will remain on Disney’s theatrical release calendar for May 7, the people with knowledge of the presentation said.

This would likely mean that films such as Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings and Eternals will be spared from Disney+ dumps as well. We’ll ultimately know more later today thanks to the Disney Investor Day event which should shed some light on the roll-out of Marvel films in 2021 and beyond.

Fans have been feverishly trying to convince Disney to place Black Widow on Disney+ since the film’s original delays earlier in the year due to COVID-19, however, the company seems to be realistic after their experiment with Mulan on Premier Access (asking subscribers to pay $30 while the film is now free this month) turned out to be more of a let down.

It was recently confirmed that Florence Pugh will be reprising her Black Widow role of Yelena Belova in the Hawkeye series that is currently in production. The show will focus on Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton working alongside his new protege Kate Bishop played by Oscar nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit, Bumblebee).

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.

SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES