Coming off even more denials about appearing as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Andrew Garfield is now claiming that the images making the rounds of him on some sort of set is actually “photoshop.”
Garfield appeared on The Tonight Show, when host Jimmy Fallon confronted him about the image of him and he admitted he’s seen it but it’s not real.
“I heard about it and I did see it, and it’s a photoshop. [Audience groans] I’m trying to manage expectations.”
“It’s not possible to see a photo that you’re in!”
He’s not the only actor pouring cold water on an appearance in the Spider-Man sequel, Charlie Cox recently said that pandemic travel restrictions and shooting his AMC+ series Kin made it impossible for him to film scenes in Atlanta.
“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?”
I guess we’ll have to see if these denials are genuine or not this winter.
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.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse made huge waves in the animation community as the Sony Animation Studios project was not only different stylistically, but also a huge departure from other Spider-Man projects they’ve tackled in the past and earned them an Oscar for Best Animated Feature back in 2019.
Of course, a direct sequel and spinoffs have been subsequently announced and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse 2 is already being worked on. The follow-up film even has a script co-written by Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings screenwriter Dave Callaham.
One casting addition that was announced earlier today by The Hollywood Reporter is that comedic actress Issa Rae (Lovebirds) will voice the role of Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman in the sequel.
It’s expected that Oscar Isaac will reprise the role of Miguel O’Hara aka Spider-Man 2099 in Spider-Verse 2 after being teased at the end of the first film with technology that allows him to move between the Spider-Verse.
The Marvel Comics heroine has been the incarnation of of the superhero that everyone has assumed will be the lead in Olivia Wilde’s Spider-Woman film for Sony Pictures, but hasn’t been announced officially by the studio. Unlike other Sony characters, Jessica Drew didn’t first appear in the pages of Spider-Man comic books as she started as a Nick Fury/S.H.I.E.L.D. villain brainwashed by HYDRA, making her a shared character with Marvel Studios.
Jessica Drew has ties to the big Skrull event Secret Invasion that will be covered in a Disney+ series and was an agent of S.W.O.R.D., making her a strong contender to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe soon. It remains to be seen who will play the live-action incarnation of Jessica Drew and if Marvel Studios will even be involved with the Olivia Wilde project. While Oscar Isaac voices Spider-Man 2099 and Hailee Steinfeld voices Spider-Gwen they have their own hard-canon roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Moon Knight’s Marc Spector and Hawkeye’s Kate Bishop, respectively.
There is also a an all-female Spider-Verse spinoff project in the works that will likely have Rae’s Jessica Drew on the roster too.
The animation and live-action Spider-Man universes haven’t been directly tied to each other, yet.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse 2 will release on October 7, 2022.
Bitten by a radioactive spider in the subway, Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales suddenly develops mysterious powers that transform him into the one and only Spider-Man. When he meets Peter Parker, he soon realizes that there are many others who share his special, high-flying talents. Miles must now use his newfound skills to battle the evil Kingpin, a hulking madman who can open portals to other universes and pull different versions of Spider-Man into our world.
While we’re still waiting on official confirmation that we’ll be getting a live-action Spider-Verse movie with Spider-Man: No Way Home, Sony Pictures is moving forward with a sequel to the Miles Morales franchise that was launched with the Oscar-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
Sony Pictures Animation now has three directors working on the next installment as Variety reports that they’ve secured two more directors to help out Joaquim Dos Santos (Legend of Korra) with Kemp Powers (Soul, One Night In Miami) and the original film’s production designer Justin K. Thompson joining the team. Kemp is currently nominated for Best Animated Feature thanks to his excellent work on Pixar’s Soul.
It’s script is being penned by Shang-Chi’s Dave Callaham, Phil Lord, and Chris Miller.
The last film ended with Miguel O’Hara aka Spider-Man 2099 (voiced by Oscar Isaac) suggesting that we’ll see a technological device used to move between the Spider-Verse in the sequel and we’ll see Miguel have an important role. Producers have also teased that characters such as Takuya Yamashiro aka Japanese Spider-Man will be considered for the lineup alongside other potential candidates like Cindy Moon aka Silk.
Sony has given Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse 2 a release date of October 7, 2022.
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE – Bitten by a radioactive spider in the subway, Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales suddenly develops mysterious powers that transform him into the one and only Spider-Man. When he meets Peter Parker, he soon realizes that there are many others who share his special, high-flying talents. Miles must now use his newfound skills to battle the evil Kingpin, a hulking madman who can open portals to other universes and pull different versions of Spider-Man into our world.
Many people had been curious why Sony Pictures hadn’t started-up their own streaming service or attempted to sign a deal with an existing streaming player. That has all changed as there is news today via The Hollywood Reporter that Sony and Netflix have signed a lucrative deal giving the them the streaming rights to their feature films starting in 2022 after the theatrical/home video windows.
Sony has inked a multi-year, exclusive first pay window licensing deal in the U.S. that will allow Netflix first pay window rights to Sony Pictures titles following their theatrical and home entertainment windows, the studio announced Thursday. (The typical pay one window is 18 months.)
Over the course of the deal, Netflix has also committed to financing a number of titles from the studio’s motion picture group. These will encompass the films that Sony intends to make directly for streaming from inception or decides at a later point to license for streaming. The announcement notes that Sony’s theatrical output will “continue at its current volume.
Starting in 2022, Netflix will be the first US streaming home for Sony Pictures films following their theatrical releases. Get ready for UNCHARTED, MORBIUS, BULLET TRAIN & WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, plus future sequels to VENOM, JUMANJI, BAD BOYS & SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
The new deal also gives them access to Sony’s Spider-Man franchise which is going to continue to expand for the foreseeable future as they’ll have dibs on future Spider-Man (mentioned by THR) and Venom films. It will seemingly include upcoming spinoff movies such as Olivia Wilde’s Spider-Woman film, J.C. Chandor’s Kraven The Hunter, Madame Web, Jackpot, Black Cat, Silver Sable, and Nightwatch.
Upcoming releases part of this deal include Uncharted, Morbius, Bullet Train, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse 2, and other films released within the deal.
There was always a hint that Netflix was going to seek a studio partnership after Disney+ became their main competition and HBO Max started throwing the new releases from the Warner Bros. slate on the streaming service.
It’ll be curious if Netflix will attempt to develop exclusive series based on Sony franchises as well. In September, it was reported that a Silk live-action series was in the works with Amazon being considered with Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Amy Pascal producing. Cindy Moon aka Silk is a spinoff character from Sony’s stable of Spider-Man universe heroes.
Yesterday, Deadline reported that Channing Tatum is planning on reuniting with his 21 Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who are producing an untitled film for Universal Pictures that will be satirical thriller set in the Universal Monsters universe.
Tatum attached to take the lead role.
Sources tell Deadline that Universal Pictures, Lord Miller and Free Association are developing an untitled monster project, described as a modern-day, tongue-in-cheek thriller inspired by Universal’s classic monster legacy with Tatum set to star.
There are zero plot details but the idea/outline came from Channing’s producing partner Reid Carolin and a script penned by Wes Tooke.
On paper, the mystery project might not be too dissimilar to the mystery Universal Monsters project that Paul Feig is developing separately.
Tatum has been keeping a low profile lately after a starring role in Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky, taking a supporting role in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and upcoming cameo in Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy. At one point, he was producing and co-writing a solo Gambit film for 20th Century Fox before the merger with Disney essentially killed it.
The Invisible Man director Leigh Whannell is following up with another Universal Monsters project with a Wolfman film starring Ryan Gosling.
Deadline is reporting that Widows actor Brian Tyree Henry is the latest addition to the growing cast of Sony’s assassin action film Bullet Train from John Wick director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw). As the title would suggest the story takes place on a Tokyo bullet train populated with multiple assassins.
Brian Tyree Henry was recently revealed to be playing an openly gay character in Marvel’s Eternals and will also be seen in Godzilla Vs Kong next year.
He joins a cast that also consists of Oscar-winner Brad Pitt, Joey King (The Dark Knight Rises), Andrew Koji (Snake Eyes), and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Godzilla, The King’s Man).
We’ve seen a handful of the new castings for the Disney+ shows such as Canadian actresses Iman Vellani for Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel and Tatiana Maslany for Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk. However, both of those picks felt more in the realm of television castings from Marvel Studios and could be actors they can transform into international stars such as they did with Thor’s Chris Hemsworth and are expected to do with Shang-Chi’s Simu Liu.
If Marvel Studios ultimately hires Oscar Issac for Marc Spector (fingers-crossed he signs on officially) they would be landing one of the more high profile leading actors since the likes of Brie Larson for Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel and the late Chadwick Boseman who played T’Challa aka Black Panther, both known mostly for their film work at the time of being cast in their respective roles. The last big high-profile casting announcement was when Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali was announced for the role of Eric Brooks aka Blade back in July 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con, who happened to have been dabbling in television at the time with Netflix’s Luke Cage and HBO’s True Detective.
We already know that Kevin Feige has confirmed that the Disney+ characters would eventually move into feature films but the Moon Knight casting, to me, suggests Marc Spector is a hot commodity for Marvel Studios and they needed a high-profile actor to play him.
It’s worth noting that Oscar Isaac has been making films regularly for the last 18 years (started in 1996) but has previously only agreed to make three television projects such as the HBO miniseries Show Me A Hero, voice work on the Disney animated series Star Wars: Resistance, and is about to make another HBO limited series titled Scenes From A Marriage co-starring Jessica Chastain. That is only two live-action TV projects that were made for HBO. Agreeing to make a streaming series on Disney+ would be a big deal given his limited television work and the time commitment attached it alongside a Marvel contract.
Oscar is known as an actor internationally thanks to playing Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and recently taking the role of Duke Leto Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s first Dune installment, all massive films giving him global exposure that a lot of other Marvel leads didn’t have before landing their franchise gigs.
It’s expected that will Dune release globally before Moon Knight begins to air on Disney+ with their new release date of October 1st, 2021.
Landing someone as popular and busy as Isaac would suggest to me that Moon Knight is likely heading to the feature films very very soon. His high-profile screams film casting rather than Marvel looking to develop new talent in a streaming series before. I wouldn’t be shocked if he showed up in other New York City projects or at the very least in Mahershala Ali’s upcoming Blade reboot, as both anti-heroes are wading in the realm of Marvel’s supernatural and horror corner.
It remains to be seen if he shows up in other movies before getting his own but this totally feels like Oscar was picked because he’s a well-known film actor that can help elevate a lesser-known hero like Moon Knight into the mainstream.
Marvel hired Oscar even before a director/directors have been chosen which could be considered another sign that he’s wanted for things beyond the series sooner rather than later. I’m quite curious if Marvel will end up pursing experienced film directors for the Moon Knight series instead of folks primarily known for television/streaming series. That could be another sign of how committed Marvel would be boosting the profile of this character before moving into the films.
I’ll keep my hopes up that Marvel can convince people like Alex Garland to direct episodes given his experience working with Oscar Isaac on Annihilation and Ex Machina. Garland made the comic book film Dredd in 2012 and recently tackled television with DEVS.
With that all said, I’m excited to see how this project comes together.
Amazon is tackling another interesting series adaptation with news today of them adapting a Japanese property for western audiences. It’s been announced via outlets like Variety that Amazon Studios, Fox 21 Television Studios, and Vertigo are moving forward with an English-langue live-action series adaptation of the manga The Promised Neverland.
The manga is written by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu. It is in it’s second season of an anime series in Japan as well.
THE PROMISED NEVERLAND – A group of the smartest kids at a seemingly idyllic orphanage uncover its dark truth when they break a rule to never leave the orphanage grounds. Once the truth is discovered, they begin to plan an escape to save all of the children.
Rodney Rothman, who co-directed the Oscar-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse will be helming the series with a script from Spider-Verse screenwriter Meghan Malloy.
I’m not familiar with the property but this certainly sounds interesting enough to be serialized. I’m curious how fans will react from a western adaption.
THE RONIN 