Colin Trevorrow’s WWII Movie ‘War Magician’ Officially Set To Begin Shooting In 2022; Benedict Cumberbatch Will Fight Nazis With Magic

Benedict Cumberbatch has been busy shooting scenes for Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Way alongside his Doctor Strange sequel, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, that will be directed by Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Army of The Dead, Darkman, Spider-Man 1-3) and co-starring Elizabeth Olsen as the actress reprises the Scarlet Witch role.

He’ll continue to be busy next year as French studio StudioCanal has announced via The Playlist that production on the WWII film, War Magician, will begin in 2022. Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Dominion) will be directing from a script penned by E. Nicholas Mariani that is based on the novel by David Fisher. The movie focuses on the real-life magician and illusionist Jasper Maskelyne (playe by Cumberbatch) was enlisted by the British Army to help fight the Nazis during WWII.

Jasper Maskelyne was a world famous magician and illusionist in the 1930s. When war broke out, he volunteered his services to the British Army and was sent to Egypt where the desert war had just begun. He used his skills to save the vital port of Alexandria from German bombers and to ‘hide’ the Suez Canal from them. He invented all sorts of camouflage methods to make trucks look like tanks and vice versa. On Malta he developed ‘the world’s first portable holes’: fake bomb craters used to fool the Germans into thinking they had hit their targets. His war culminated in the brilliant deception plan that won the Battle of El Alamein: the creation of an entire dummy army in the middle of the desert.

Colin Trevorrow had famously been developing the ninth Star Wars film under the tile Star Wars: Duel of The Fates, only to exit and most of his work scrapped as J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio put together Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

A release date for War Magician wasn’t mentioned but I’m sure they’re hoping for an awards friendly fall/winter spot.

SOURCE: STUDIOCANAL VIA THE PLAYLIST

Sony Pictures Says They Have An “Excellent Relationship” With Marvel Studios & Kevin Feige – Will They Announce An Extended Deal?

While there has been tension in the past, new comments from Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group President Sanford Panitch suggest that the working relationship between Sony and Marvel’s Kevin Feige is “excellent.” This comes from an interview Panitch had with Variety where he mentioned their big Spider-Man plans will be revealed after the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home in December.

PANITCH: “The great thing is we have this very excellent relationship with Kevin. There’s an incredible sandbox there to play with. We want those MCU movies to be absolutely huge, because that’s great for us and our Marvel characters, and I think that’s the same thing on their side. But we have a great relationship. There’s lots of opportunities, I think, that are going to happen.”

Despite those rosy comments, things weren’t always pleasant between the two companies.

In the early days of Marvel shopping the film rights to studios, Sony Pictures famously rejected a deal that could have landed-up the bulk of the Marvel Comics character lineup when Marvel first approached the studio about tackling Spider-Man movies. Those executives obviously had zero imagination about what the future held for the superhero genre and cinematic universes.

When Marvel Studios became successful, Sony Pictures still scoffed at the idea of teaming together to the point that Sony Japan had to tell their film division to a make a deal with Marvel happen after Amazing Spider-Man 2 failed to get audiences jazzed about their Spider-Man cinematic universe. Even after the billion-dollar success of Spider-Man: Far From Home, the deal between Disney and Sony dissolved which led to the potential of Sony Pictures moving forward with Spider-Man 3 without the help of Marvel. Luckily, Tom Holland able to get the two studios back to table and is the reason why Spider-Man: No Way Home exists.

After past attitudes mentioned above, it’s not hard to imagine that Sony could be under the impression they can simply copy the Marvel model for themselves without the help of Marvel Studios. The success of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and it’s Oscar win could give the studio a boost of confidence to go solo again. It wouldn’t be the first studio to do so, and Sony already attempted to create their own cinematic universe with plans to make a Sinister Six movie that was one of the main teases from Amazing Spider-Man 2, alongside introducing future Rogue One actress, Felicity Jones, as Felicia Hardy aka Black Cat (another character that was set to get a solo film).

One of the theories about Spider-Man: No Way Home is that it could be a way for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to ease his way out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe gracefully with one final film.

The vagueness of the statements from the studio executive aren’t particular helpful either. We’re still kind of in the dark what Sony plans to do after Spider-Man: No Way Home, Panitch suggests they’ll be revealing their big plan after the release of the third Marvel-made solo Spider-Man film, but haven’t been clear if they’ll continue to have Tom Holland’s Peter Parker in the MCU or agree to give Marvel access to other incarnations of the character (Miles Morales etc) allowing them to keep Holland for their own cinematic universe installments.

There is some hope from fans that everything can simply just be consider part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but we’ve examples in the past even at different divisions of Marvel where that wasn’t a simple thing. Marvel Studios Nate Moore mentioned off-handily that the Disney+ shows were the first time that the television and film universes have been cohesive, alluding to the Marvel Television/Loeb era being nixed from MCU hard-canon.

Keeping in mind how the Jeph Loeb era of Marvel shows were blocked from official canon, I personally don’t see how Kevin Feige would suddenly allow Sony’s spinoff films to be so easily accepted to the Marvel Cinematic Universe without his personal oversight on their development and production. Unless Marvel Studios makes or produces these new Sony/Marvel movies I don’t really see how they become part of the hard-canon MCU. Considering that Kevin won’t really be able to oversee quality control, as seen with a bonkers project like Venom.

Speaking of Venom, Sony recently confirmed that Spider-Man won’t appear in the Venom sequel and it’s unclear if films such as Morbius or Kraven The Hunter will include Parker either. Michael Keaton’s Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming showing up in the Morbius trailer has only added to the confusion and fan speculation, the Vulture being a Sony-owned character.

There is also uncertainty about Olivia Wilde’s Spider-Woman project being part of the MCU, as Marvel wasn’t mentioned as a production partner when it was originally announced and Sony still hasn’t even given the project a title, let alone confirmed that Marvel is working with them on it.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see if the Marvel and Sony will announce they’ve officially extended their working relationship to other films. There have been rumblings that they’ve worked things out but according to Tom Holland himself he’s finished his existing contract obligations and is willing to re-up if asked to.

If they have a plan it seems odd that Holland doesn’t have a new Spider-Man contract already.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Sony Says They Have A “Plan” That Will Be Revealed After ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ – Studio Exec Thinks A ‘Sinister Six’ Movie Would Be “Cool”

A lot of Spider-Man fans are excited but also slightly confused about what Sony Pictures is actually planning to doing with their Spider-Man franchise and subsequent spinoff films such as Kraven The Hunter starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Tenet, Avengers: Age of Ultron) being announced for a release date of January 13, 2023.

Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group President Sanford Panitch revealed to Variety that Venom: Let There Be Carnage won’t include Tom Holland’s Spider-Man but reassures that audiences won’t miss the the web-head. However, he went on to clarify they do have a plan that will become more clear after the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

PANITCH: “There actually is a plan. I think now maybe it’s getting a little more clear for people where we’re headed and I think when ‘No Way Home’ comes out, even more will be revealed.”

The Sony executive also responded to the possibility of them resurrecting their former plans to make a Sinister Six film, something franchise producer Amy Pascal has said in the past she would be open to revisiting.

PANITCH: “It’s tough, because I think these projects are the kind of things we have to work on in the dark. They’re not ready until they’re ready. Kraven is a great example because we just didn’t rush it. We could have made that three plus years ago. It’s just now the script’s awesome, J.C. was the right choice, and we found the movie star because it was just kismet, and watching this other movie and realizing that could be the perfect casting.”

“It would be very cool, wouldn’t it?”

Drew Goddard (The Martian, Cabin In The Woods) was once attached to make the Sinister Six film until the studio got cold-feet from Amazing Spider-Man 2’s poor reception and they instead pivoted to making a deal with Marvel Studios, rebooting the franchise for a second time with Holland.

There have been wild casting and plot rumors concerning Spider-Man: No Way Home, from key actors from previous films reprising their villain roles to having people like Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire showing up (denied by both Tom Holland and Andrew Garfield in recent interviews). One of the more recent unconfirmed rumblings making the rounds is that we might indeed see an incarnation of the Sinister Six, something a lot of us just assumed was Marvel Studios’ aim once people like Jamie Foxx (Electro) and Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus) were confirmed for the film that the film was going to build-up to. Bringing back existing actors quietly into those previous roles would allow them to assemble the Sinister Six quickly without have to rehash all their origins eating-up valuable screentime.

However, with most of these rumors, they are coming from multiple online sources (some are indeed creditable), but the information hasn’t actually been backed-up by the trades or confirmed by either Marvel Studios or Sony Pictures. So, it’s been tough to navigate which ones are real and which ones are simply online gossip or speculation. Many fans believe a teaser trailer is on the horizon and could answer a lot of their questions, but given Marvel’s secrecy it’s possible they could continue to hold-off confirming these cast and plot rumors.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is swinging to theaters on December 17, 2021.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Sony Pictures Exec Reaffirms Spider-Man Won’t Appear In ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ While Hyping The Sequel – “You Don’t Miss Spider-Man”

Sony Pictures is mapping-out their own cinematic universe featuring the multiple heroes and villains they’re able to give feature films and television shows to thanks to owning the Spider-Man rights. It’s become increasingly confusing what their ultimate plan is going to be with the various spinoff films as the original Venom was rumored to include a cameo from Tom Holland but that never happened and fans have been sort of kept in the dark officially about other Sony/Marvel projects too.

While we might eventually see Holland start to appear in these movies at some point, new quotes from Sony Picture Motion Pictures Group President Sandford Panitch during an interview with Variety gives us the impression that they studio hopes their spinoff films don’t even need Spider-Man to hook audiences.

Sanford Panitch is quick to point out that Sony Pictures doesn’t see their cinematic universe as a “Spider-Verse,” but actually their own Marvel universe while alluding to these projects holding their own without the iconic superhero. This is highlighted when Panitch admits that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man won’t be appearing with Tom Hardy’s Venom in the upcoming sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage. But also teased the two characters may meet up, eventually.

PANITCH: “We don’t really think of our 900 characters as the Spidey-verse. We have a Marvel universe. The volume of characters we have — you know, wait until you see this next Venom. You don’t miss Spider-Man…It’ll be exciting if they do meet, right?”

This sentiment was recently echoed not too long ago by Venom 2’s director Andy Serkis while speaking with IGN about the first-look trailer. Serkis mentioning that these the characters in the Venom sequel aren’t aware of Spider-Man and “treating this very much as it’s own world.”

SERKIS: “Obviously, there are links between Venom and Spider-Man in the Marvel Universe and the Spider-Man story, but in this, we’re treating this very much as it’s his own world, the Venom story is his own world. There are nods and little moments just like this, the newspaper Daily Bugle, of course, but on the whole, he’s unaware, they’re unaware, at this point of other characters like Spider-Man. So that’s the way we’ve chosen to play this particular episode of the movie but well, we’ll wait and see, what little things you can pick out of it.”

The original Venom, earned a massive $856 million at the global box office without Spider-Man, so it’s possible the studio believes other films could replicate this success on their own.

VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE – Tom Hardy returns to the big screen as the lethal protector Venom, one of MARVEL’s greatest and most complex characters. Directed by Andy Serkis, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Andrew Garfield Denies ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Rumor In Two Different Interviews – “I Haven’t Received A Phone Call”

Coming off the heels of Tom Holland’s adamant denial earlier in the year that Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire wouldn’t be returning to the roles of Spidey in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Amazing Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man 2 actor Andrew Garfield has stepped-in himself to deny claims that he’ll be appearing in the Marvel Studios film during an interview for the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

GARFIELD: “I don’t have anything to ruin, bro! I have to quickly just cut you off. There’s nothing to ruin! I’m just like ‘Guys, guys, guys… I wish I could just speak to everyone and just like ‘I recommend that you chill.”

If that wasn’t enough, Andrew spoke with Entertainment Tonight doubling-down on his denial.

GARFIELD: “I feel like I’m in a game of Werewolf and I’m just saying, ‘I’m not the werewolf, I am not the werewolf. I promise you guys, I’m not the werewolf!’. Listen, what people are talking about is a really cool idea. And again, I haven’t received a phone call, but, you know…”

“It’s not something I’ve really thought about because I closed the book on it for myself and I haven’t had to think about it. So it’s not something that I’ve really considered. So, yeah, that’s my honest answer.”

It’s worth mentioning that while this rumor of multiple Peters has been circulated far-and-wide online, none of the trade outlets have supported this information and neither were spotted on set as production is about to come to a close. I guess we’ll just wait for the hat-trick of denials once Tobey has something to promote and is asked about his involvement too.

I’m sure this is confusing to fans with Jamie Foxx playing Electro again or Alfred Molina confirming his return as Doctor Octopus, but I guess we’ll have to take Holland and Garfield at their word for the time being.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is set for release on December 17, 2021.

SOURCE: HAPPY SAD CONFUSED PODCAST & ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT

‘Barry’ Actress Paula Newsome Confirmed For Role In ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’

The Ronin has been able to independently confirm that American actress Paula Newsome will have a role in Marvel’s upcoming Spider-Man installment, Spider-Man: No Way Home. The size of her character’s role in the superhero flick is currently unknown at this time. Audiences will likely know Paula best from the HBO series Barry led by Bill Hader and plays Detective Janice Moss.

UPDATE: It looks like Paula is not only teasing her involvement in the sequel on Twitter but that she could be playing MJ’s mother.

Filming on Spider-Man: No Way Home (The November Project) has been mostly talking place in Atlanta, Georgia with Jon Watts directing before making his jump to helm Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot.

The returning cast is set to include Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Tony Revolori, Marisa Tomei, Hannibal Buress, Jon Favreau, Angourie Rice, and J.K. Simmons.

Benedict Cumberbatch is appearing as Doctor Strange as Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness has/about to complete principal photography in the United Kingdom. There has been some speculation about how Strange connects to No Way Home and if we’ll potentially see Peter Parker in The Multiverse of Madness.

Spider-Man: Far From Home ended on a massive cliffhanger as J. Jonah Jameson revealed Peter’s secret identity to the world and pushed the narrative that Spider-Man killed Quentin Beck aka Mysterio.

Spider-Man 2 actor Alfred Molina recently confirmed to Variety that he would be playing Doctor Octopus (first reported by GWW) in the MCU flick, but that he would be reprising the Sam Raimi incarnation to boot. However, Jamie Foxx had stated on social media that his version of Electro wouldn’t be blue giving the impression it would be a different incarnation from The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Tom Holland has denied in press interviews that former Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are in the movie, but that hasn’t detoured fans getting excited about seeing multiple generations of Peter Parker in the third MCU installment. The British actor has also stated that Spider-Man 3 fulfills his contract and likely means a new deal will have to be made for him to continue the Spider-Man role.

Sony has given Spider-Man: No Way Home a release date of December 17, 2021.

Russo Brothers Say Sony Resisted Casting Tom Holland As ‘Spider-Man’ Due To His Age

During an interview with GQ Magazine to promote Cherry, directors Joe and Anthony Russo talked about originally casting Tom Holland for Captain America: Civil War and while Marvel Studios/Kevin Feige were onboard, Sony Pictures resisted. Apparently, Sony had some serious second thoughts about hiring a real teenager for Spider-Man.

JOE RUSSO: “We talked with Feige at Marvel about Holland and he got excited and then we went to Sony…And they were like, ‘Let’s think about it for a minute.’ We could tell we were meeting resistance from Sony. So we brought [Holland] back, brought him back, brought him back, and we were relentless in our pursuit of jamming him down the throat of the studio who owns this IP. It came down to a fight, yet Sony just kept dragging their feet.”

ANTHONY RUSSO: “Sony’s reservations were: ‘Are we loaning it? Or are we giving it to them to help us reinvent it in a way that adds value for us?’ It was the first time Spider-Man had ever been cast as an actual teenager, right? Which was very important to us; there was a distinct nervousness of casting a kid.”

Spider-Man: No Way Home will be Holland’s fifth and potentially his final film as the actor is aware that could be a possibility despite his openness to reprise the role. Tom has previously stated his Marvel Studios contract has ended and plans to take a break.

HOLLAND: “I really don’t know what the future holds, so I am just savouring every moment, as it could potentially be the last.”

Sony has set the release date for Spider-Man: No Way Home on December 17th, 2021.

SOURCE: GQ MAGAZINE

Tom Holland Says ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Ends His Current Marvel Contract – Plans To Take A Break

Yesterday, it was announced by Marvel/Sony that the third Spider-Man film will be titled Spider-Man: No Way Home and it’s lead actor Tom Holland has been doing the press tour for his upcoming crime flick Cherry, revealing some interesting plans in an interview with USA Today.

Holland revealed that he plans to take a break and travel (hopefully safety given the pandemic) as he’s currently without a studio contract which means his current Marvel contract has ended with Spider-Man: No Way Home. Mentioning he’d like to take to go skiing as he wasn’t allowed to previous because the danger of injury.

HOLLAND: “I’m going to take a break and travel the world. It’s the first time since I signed on to (Spider-Man: Homecoming) that I don’t have a contract with someone. I might go skiing because that’s something I’ve not really been allowed to do because it’s obviously a dangerous sport. I’ve been very careful over the years, which is why I’ve become obsessed with golf because it’s the only sport I can play without getting injured.”

He reiterated this over at Collider but added he’d be willing to come back whenever they called.

HOLLAND: “[Spider-Man 3] would be my last one [under contract] so I’ve always said to them if they want me back I’ll be there in a heartbeat. I’ve loved every minute of being a part of this amazing world. It’s changed my life for the better, I’m so lucky to be here. If they want me back I’ll be there, if they don’t I will walk off into the sunset a very, very happy person because it’s been an amazing journey.”

“The way I understand it is that agreement between the two studios has already happened. I don’t think that they’re going to run into the same troubles that they did as we were going into… was it ‘Spider-Man 2’? ‘Far from Home’ had come out and then the whole thing happened between Sony and Marvel. I think the two studios have worked that out, and I don’t think that that will be a problem in the future. That said, I’m just the actor and I was a part of a few phone calls during that process, but I think they love working with each other, I think they found a way in which it can be beneficial for both studios, and I’m just kind of like a kid in the middle of it, between two parents during an argument (laughs).”

Given that Tom shot Cherry, Uncharted, and Spider-Man: No Way Out in a short period of time he’s certainly owed some vacation time.

Spider-Man: No Way Home will be released on December 17th.

SOURCE: USA TODAY

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Is The Official Title Marvel’s Third ‘Spider-Man’ Film

Tom Holland, Jacob Batalon, and Zendaya have been trolling fans yesterday posting faux titles for Spider-Man 3, but have now revealed it’s official title being Spider-Man: No Way Home. It was announced on Holland’s Instagram and confirmed by Marvel on their official website, so we know it’s real this time.

Could the title be a potential nod to the rumored Multiverse aspect of the film and Doctor Strange’s involvement? We know that Benedict Cumberbatch will be appearing in the sequel but how much or why hasn’t been revealed.

Tom Holland has stated repeatedly in interviews that former Spider-Man actors won’t be appearing in the film but trade reports have confirmed that actors such Jamie Foxx and Alfred Molina will be, the duo playing Electro and Doctor Octopus in the previous two incarnations of the franchise.

It’s worth mentioning that Marvel and Sony haven’t announced any new cast members.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is still filming in Atlanta and will be released on December 17th, barring any studio hiccups with Sony’s feature film schedule.

SOURCE: MARVEL & TOM HOLLAND