After multiple production delays due to the Coronavirus outbreak and deal hiccups between Sony/Marvel, Spider-Man 3 is finally shoot with it’s lead Tom Holland back as Peter Parker!
Tom Holland made the announcement today on his Instagram account posting the first official set photo with himself in the costume wearing a mask, supporting calls for people to embrace mask wearing as new American COVID-19 cases have exploded (hitting 100,000+ daily cases).
HOLLAND: “Wear a mask, I’m wearing two…”
Tom had recently completed filming his Uncharted feature film co-starring Mark Wahlberg before arriving in Atlanta, Georgia to begin production on the untitled Spider-Man sequel others that have been spotted in the area getting ready to shoot include Zendaya and Jacob Batalon.
It’s also expected that Tony Revolori, J.K. Simmons, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, and Angourie Rice will reprise their roles.
Returning to direct is Jon Watts, who previously helmed Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home. There have been reports that Jamie Foxx will be reprising his role as villain Electro (potentially a new MCU version) along with Benedict Cumberbatch shooting his scenes as Doctor Strange before moving on to Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England.
Marvel Studios has yet to confirm any new additions but more casting announcements via trades are assumed in the coming weeks given that filming has started officially.
The new deal between Sony and Marvel allows for Holland to appear as Spider-Man in one more Disney film before they have return to the table and examine if they want to continue the beneficial relationship, which most likely could be the Doctor Strange sequel given Benedict’s participation in Spider-Man 3.
Marvel’s next big productions are Doctor Strange 2 in the UK and as Shang-Chi has wrapped in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia will see Thor: Love & Thunder move into those stages at Fox Studios Australia.
Both Ant-Man 3 and Captain Marvel 2 were aiming to shoot in England next year but COVID-19 may have delayed that shooting schedule. Director James Gunn is also going be returning for Guardians of The Galaxy 3 once he finishes his work on The Suicide Squad and his Peacemaker series for HBO Max. Black Panther 2 is more of an unknown for the time being after the sudden death of franchise lead Chadwick Boseman due to colon cancer. Everyone involved including the cast seems to be focusing on grieving that loss rather than rushing a sequel.
Sony Pictures has set Spider-Man 3’s release date for December 17th, 2021.
It looks like Spider-Man 3’s main shoot is about to kick-off soon in Atlanta, Georgia as Tom Holland has now officially flown over from Europe to the United States after seemingly competing the production on the Uncharted film.
Tom posted some videos of himself on what looked like a private plane on Instagram Stories and the final one was of him walking on the tarmac confirming he was in the city to shoot Spider-Man 3 and was super enthusiastic about it.
HOLLAND: “So we just landed in Atlanta and… it’s time for Spider-Man 3. Let’s Go!”
I don’t really blame Tom Holland for the excitement given the film had been delayed multiple times due to the Coronavirus pausing the production of Uncharted back in March just before they started rolling on it. That pretty much cemented that the summer shoot for Spider-Man 3 would be pushed into the fall/winter.
However, with the skyrocketing new cases of COVID-19 in the United States as single day numbers are the highest since the pandemic started, I’m slightly curious if the production will see multiple hiccups throughout the shoot if they don’t use a production bubble (similar to what was used with the NBA) to keep cast and crew safe. We’ve already seen in the United Kingdom (less cases and deaths per capita than the U.S.) that both massive films The Batman and Jurassic World: Dominion, despite new safety precautions, still ended up with positive test results with the former lead actor Robert Pattinson testing positive.
I’ll try to remain hopeful but it’s hard not to be at least worried that stateside film productions over the winter aren’t likely going to have an easy go as other places in the world.
While there have been plenty of rumors about who will show up in the third film cast members reported by trades include Holland, Zendaya as MJ, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, Jacob Batalon as Ned, Tony Revolori as Flash, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s Jamie Foxx shocking return as villain Electro.
There is also an expectation that J.K. Simmons will be back as the meddlesome J. Jonah Jameson.
I’m slightly curious if following the events of Spider-Man 3 that Tom Holland will be showing up in Doctors Strange In The Multiverse of Madness as his final Marvel Studios movie before the Sony/Marvel deal expires for a second time.
The film with returning director Jon Watts is expected to use the new working title of The November Project (used Serenity Now for 2nd unit shoot in NYC) during it’s time filming in Atlanta. It’s currently unknown if Spider-Man 3 will attempt to shoot in multiple other countries as previously planned.
More casting news should be coming very soon.
Spider-Man 3 has been given a release date of December 17th, 2021 by Sony Pictures but a lot can happen over a year and they just might not be able to hit that target as we’ve seen plenty of these release dates move for various reasons. They are hardly set in stone anymore.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Benedict Cumberbatch has joined the case of Spider-Man 3 reprising his role as Doctor Strange. However, they’re not clear when he’ll shoot his Spider-Man 3 scenes as Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness will begin shooting soon in London, while the Spidey sequel is expected to shoot in stateside in Atlanta, Georgia.
This is a crossover that really shouldn’t surprise fans as the two Steve Ditko superheroes have been interacting with each other and teaming up against villains for many decades in the pages of Marvel Comics.
I seemingly predicted the crossover news back in 2016 with this cheeky tweet stating a crossover would happen in 2020, I also do lottery numbers on request.
SPIDER-MAN's Tom Holland might be joining DOCTOR STRANGE's Benedict Cumberbatch in THE CURRENT WAR..I smell a crossover in 2020 pic.twitter.com/EkPCuYd5mm
There has been plenty of rumblings of Spider-Man 3 tackling The Multiverse/Spider-Verse after the casting news of Jamie Foxx reprising the Electro role and the addition of Doctor Strange into the mix would certainly support that narrative. The problem becomes does Marvel go all-in with focusing on various Multiverse characters/cameos or are getting a superhero film focused on an actual plot.
As THR points out there still seems to be a scheduling issue with the two competing Marvel sequels will productions filming in two different countries at the same time. It is possible that they shoot scenes when there is a break in their schedules or do them at a later date once both films shoot most of their scenes.
I’m slightly curious if Spider-Man will now show up in the Doctor Strange sequel as that could be when theses Spider-Man 3 scenes are shot. This could be exactly how Marvel Studios finishes out the recent contract with Sony Pictures as they get one more film with Holland’s Spider-Man before it expires again.
What could be happening is that Spider-Man 3 is part one of this big Multiverse cinematic event with Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness being the final climax, possibly the final time we see Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in the MCU.
It would also give Sam Raimi another hot at directing Spider-Man again.
Jon Watts returns to direct with a release date of December 17th, 2021 (subject to change).
Yesterday, it was revealed that Jamie Foxx would be reprising the Electro role in Spider-Man 3, he’s now taken to Instagram to confirm the news!
However, from new comments from Jamie it sounds like the character is going to indeed be an MCU reboot of Electro rather than the exact same version seen in Amazing Spider-Man 2.
FOXX: “Tell Spidey let’s run it back!… super excited to part of the new marvel Spider-Man new installment… can t wait for y’all to check the new one. And I won’t be blue in this one!! But a thousand percent badass!!!
This could pour cold water on the theory that Kevin Feige was going to bring in a Multiverse version of Spider-Man villains from various incarnations of the franchise and is more of picking actors like they liked to reprise characters.
Removing the blue element from the character would suggest they want a more traditional take on Electro and likely will be their own version of the character instead of the Amazing Spider-Man 2 take.
Marvel has already done this with J.K. Simmons being cast as a rebooted MCU take on J. Jonah Jameson as the character is played by the same actor but acts/looks differently from the previous take from the Sam Raimi films.
I’m more curious if they’re simply assembling the Sinister Six and Kevin Feige wanted Jamie Foxx back in the role of Electro.
Spider-Man 3 is expected to be released on December 17th, 2021.
On the heels of the news that Spider-Man spinoff film Kraven The Hunter is indeed moving forward at Sony Pictures with Deadline reporting that Triple Frontier director J.C. Chandor is in talks with the studio, it looks like the script will have new writers as well.
Richard Wenk (The Equalizer, The Expendables 2) wrote the original draft of Kraven and it seems that the studio has brought in some seasoned comic book screenwriters with Art Marcum and Matt Holloway as mentioned in Deadline’s report.
The writing duo is behind the first Iron Man, Punisher: War Zone, Men In Black: International, and fellow Spider-Man spinoff Morbius. They most recently worked with Sony on the Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg video game adaptation Uncharted, currently filming in Germany.
Sergei Kravinoff aka Kraven The Hunter is a Russian game hunter that crosses paths with multiple Marvel Comics heroes over the years but is primarily known as a Spider-Man villain, which has led to some speculation that Kraven could be showing up in Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man 3 and because of comments from director Ryan Coogler assumptions he may appear in Black Panther 2 as well.
Neither rumors have been confirmed in any substantial way but there is a shot that Sony will attempt to add Tom Holland to this new Kraven spinoff according to previous comments made by the film’s original screenwriter Richard Wenk.
Speaking with Discussing Film (via SlashFilm) in the fall of 2018, Kraven screenwriter Richard Wenk suggested that Spider-Man would be part of the film.
WENK: “I’m just starting it. It’s an interesting world. A great character. It’s going to adhere very closely to the lore of Kraven the Hunter. And he is going to come face to face with Spider-Man. I’m just beginning it, beginning the process, and because it’s a big IP, Marvel world, there’s lots of hurdles to overcome before you can start writing, to crack the right story and to get the right tone. It’s a new world for me. But what’s nice about it is it’s a very grounded character, he doesn’t have a lot of crazy superpowers and things like that so he’s more grounded and that fits what I like to do. That’s as much as I know.”
Hiring new writers could put into question if we will ultimately see Holland’s Peter Paker being part of the film as that version may have changed since subsequent rewrites from Marcum and Holloway.
However, there are clear signs that these Sony-made Marvel films already connect directly to the Marvel-made solo Spider-Man films suggesting a crossover with Holland’s Spidey is only a matter of time.
Morbius is confirmed to be directly tied to the MCU Spider-Man films after the trailer revealed that Michael Keaton’s Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming is showing up in the film during some jailbreak sequence with Jared Leto’s Michael Morbius linking Homecoming to Morbius.
It also gave a direct nod to the final scene in Spider-Man: Far From Home when Parker’s identity is revealed and is framed for the murder of the villainous Quentin Beck aka Mysterio, as Morbius walks past a Spider-Man poster with “murderer” painted on it.
J.K. Simmons confirmed to SiriusXM that he filmed another J. Jonah Jameson cameo possibly for Morbius or Venom: Let There Be Carnage along with a plan to do another. Jameson could be another character that moves between the MCU and Sony-made films.
SIMMONS: “There is one more JJJ appearance in the can and from what I’m hearing there is a plan for yet another one. Hopefully, JJJ will continue now and forever.”
Kraven’s half-brother may have actually cameoed in Spider-Man: Far From Home, as Numar Acar played Nick Fury (Talos) associate Dimitri, who may or may not be a version of Dimitri Smerdyakov aka The Chameleon.
We’re yet to see Venom: Let There Be Carnage have any real significant crossover stuff as they have yet to release a trailer for the upcoming sequel, unless they’ve snuck a cameo from J.K. Simmon’s newly revived J. Jonah Jameson.
Kraven is yet another part of Sony’s greater plans for its splinter Marvel cinematic universe with the unfortunate corporate name Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters, yes that is the official name they’re going with.
Here is a rundown of the other Marvel projects in the works and releasing from Sony Pictures.
The studio recently moved Morbius to a release date of March 19th, 2021, and placed the Venom sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage to June 24th, 2021.
Spider-Man 3 from director Jon Watts is supposed to begin shooting this winter with a December 17th, 2021 release date but there is a likelihood that production starts in early 2021. The combination of COVID-19, multiple filming locations, and the Uncharted shoot will likely be determining factors if they’ll be able to start or finish on schedule.
A potential Spider-Woman film will be directed by Olivia Wilde according to Deadline with a script from Wilde and Katie Silberman, a previous script was penned by Gary Spinelli (American Made, Chaos Walking). If the film is indeed Spider-Woman, it would focus on Jessica Drew and suggests the project could be handled by Marvel Studios in another co-production deal because Marvel has access to Drew as she didn’t originate in the pages of Spider-Man comics.
Madame Web will be directed by S.J. Clarkson but the report from Variety stressed that while a screenwriter hadn’t been chosen the studio was interested in casting Amy Adams and Charlize Theron, then building a script around that actress.
Jackpot is another female-led superhero project at Sony that will have a script from Marc Guggenheim (Green Lantern, Arrow), a director has yet to be announced though.
A Sinister Six film was being developed during The Amazing Spider-Man era with Drew Goddard (The Martian) attached to write and direct. It also crumbled to pieces when Sony decided to reboot the character for a second time scrapping the project in the process. Franchise producer Amy Pascal has voiced some interest in circling back to Goddard and Sinister Six at some point.
Black Cat and Silver Sable could end up getting solo movies after their team-up film Silver & Black saw it’s production halted and was split into two solo projects instead. There haven’t been many updates on the progress of either film. It’s possible that multiple character and plot leaks contributed to Sony ultimately putting the film in ice.
Nightwatch and Silk might also eventually get their own films, but again there haven’t been recent updates on their status at the studio.
Back in March, The Wrap reported that screenwriter Roberto Orci was attached to write an untitled Spider-Man spinoff for Sony, but the information hasn’t been supported by other outlets or what that project will be. There had also been rumors from The Iluminerdi that characters such as Man-Wolf and Solo could be getting their own films as well, this has yet to be supported by the trades. Either could end up being this potential untitled Orci project.
Marvel’s standing deal with Sony for Spider-Man allows them to make Spider-Man 3 keeping it within the MCU and they’ll have access to Spidey for another undisclosed Marvel Studios film. It’s a strong possibility that Disney and Sony could re-up the deal in the not too distant future.
We’ll have to wait and see what projects ultimately go in front of cameras and are released by the studio. It’s worth noting that a production timeline for Kraven The Hunter andOlivia Wilde’s film seemingly hasn’t been locked-down.
After years of delays and multiple directors, Sony Pictures’ Uncharted movie based on the PlayStation/Naughty Dog video game franchise has officially begun filming today in Germany according to lead actor Tom Holland.
Tom took to Instagram earlier today to make the announcement that they started the first day of shooting.
I previously confirmed at HN Entertainment they’ll be filming Uncharted at Babelsberg Film Studio.
This isn’t shocking since the British actor had been teasing a return to the shoot on the social media platform over the last week. Production was halted back in March due to the pandemic and was ready to a go at (outside of Berlin) just because the country shut down all shoots.
Uncharted will see Holland playing a younger version of lead character Nathan Drake while Mark Wahlberg playing his mentor Sully. After an exhausting game of musical chairs Sony finally landed on Venom director Ruben Fleischer. At one time, Mark had been cast in the role of Nathan Drake before that incarnation fell apart.
As I pointed out back on Monday, Uncharted‘s shoot will likely be extended longer than normal because of the new COVID-19 precautions on the set. Which could mean that Spider-Man 3 won’t begin shooting in September as rumored and more likely will be bounced into 2021 leading to a release sometime in 2022.
There had been some fan speculation that Sony Pictures would scrap Uncharted to instead focus on the Spider-Man sequel, that has been clearly debunked.
Matrix 4 is also shooting at the same German facility.
Tom Holland Teases That ‘Uncharted’ Will Begin Shooting Soon In Germany
Fans have been guessing about what Sony Pictures would do about Uncharted and Spider-Man 3 as their productions would now conflict with each other. The obvious thing was that Uncharted would begin shooting first because it was ready to begin in Germany back in March but filming was paused to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Some fans had made giant leaps with theories that Sony would just kill/delay Uncharted (after multiple production woes and hiccups over the years) and push forward with Spider-Man 3 instead. As we’ve been saying for months Uncharted is the priority at the moment and this has been cemented by Tom Holland.
Recent Instagram posts from Tom Holland suggest he’s about to begin shooting Uncharted in Germany very soon after taking a COVID-19 test, getting his hair done to play Nathan Drake and showing off how ripped he got to work with his Uncharted co-star Mark Wahlberg.
This would give the impression that he’ll be too busy over the next couple of months for Spider-Man 3 to begin production in September as previously rumored.
In normal times, Uncharted might have been able to complete it’s production within a range of 3-4 months, however, with the new COVID-19 precautions this would likely extend the filming a couple of months. That’s if people don’t get sick and they have to pause for a couple of weeks.
I think it’s extremely unlikely that Spider-Man 3 either is ready to shoot this September in Atlanta and Sony/Marvel will simply push that production into 2021 then bumping that November 5th, 2021 release to sometime in 2022.
‘Doctor Strange 2’ Still Expected To Shoot Primarily At Longcross Studios
Speaking of Phase Four films that have seen their productions delayed in 2020, I have an update as it looks like Marvel still plans to film Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England. A major filming location I had previously confirmed over at HN Entertainment.
Not anything crazy but, interestingly, they’ve been sticking to that stage space instead of considering other places. Longcross is the same stage facility where the original film shot and director Sam Raimi shot his Wizard of Oz prequel for Disney titled Oz, The Great & Powerful.
It’s a little unclear when they’ll begin shooting since it’s unknown how much set construction or prep has been taking place since the United Kingdom has been in lockdown. We also won’t know if they’ll be able to meet their 2021 release date until Marvel makes it known when they’ll be able to start filming.
I had also reported that they were planning on filming the sequel in New York City and Norway, but it remains to be seen if they’ll be doing any international filming anytime soon.
We shouldn’t be surprised if Doctor Strange 2 like Spider-Man 3 is delayed into 2021. However, Spider-Man 3 is a slightly different case as their lead is shooting another large studio film first.
Then again, we have little idea how much set construction and prep has been underway on either of the MCU sequels during the pandemic.
‘Moonlight’s Janelle Monae Wants To Play Storm In ‘Black Panther 2’
We’ve been all been excited to see who will ultimately play the rebooted version of the X-Men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and yet another actress has thrown their hand in the ring to play aka Storm.
Moonlight actress and singer Janelle Monae spoke to Empire recently and revealed she’d very much like to play Ororo Munroe aka Storm in the Black Panther sequel. Bringing it up to cast members when they were hanging out in Atlanta.
MONAE: “I definitely have thrown it out there. One of my dreams has always been to play Storm. I don’t know if she comes in Black Panther, but it would be a dream to have her in it. I don’t know where they are with that. A lot of women have played Storm and they’ve done an exceptional job, and I would love to be in that line of artists and get to do Storm justice.”
T’Challa and Ororo in the comics do become romantically involved leading to marriage and it would be an organic way to introduce her into the MCU given that her mother N’Dare (a tribal princess) is from Kenya. Ororo potentially being fellow royalty wouldn’t be a stretch.
We still don’t know where Black Panther 2 is in the development stage other than Ryan Coogler is writing the script. While there have been rumblings of Spider-Man‘s Kraven The Hunter, Namor, and Fantastic Four‘s Doctor Doom appearing in the film nothing has been announced or confirmed.
‘The Mandalorian’s Giancarlo Esposito Says He’s Keen For Marvel Studios Role Next
Janelle isn’t the only actor seemingly gunning for a Marvel role. Veteran film and television actor Giancarlo Esposito (Do The Right Thing, The Mandalorian) briefly mentioned to Entertainment Tonight that he’d like to work with Marvel Studios at some point.
ESPOSITO: “Well there’s been all these rumors about being with Marvel, I want to work with those guys. I put it out there all the time. I haven’t created any of those rumors, but I worked years ago with Louis D’Esposito, who is one of the guys at Marvel, back when he was doing Cotton Club and I was doing Cotton Club, he was the [1st assistant director].”
“What they do is fantastic, and I want to do something enduring with them. I think the Marvel world would be, likely, the next step for me.”
This comes after a year ago there were rumblings the Breaking Bad actor was wanted for a role, however, that was neither announced nor confirmed.
Where he could land role-wise is unknown despite the fan suggestions for Norman Osborn and Magneto. I personally think he’d be excellent as a hero like Norrin Radd aka Silver Surfer since Adam McKay was trying to get a feature film together over at Marvel last year.
Charlize Theron Admits She Has Never Been In Talks With Marvel For Roles
While speaking with Variety, Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron (Atomic Blonde, Mad Max: Fury Road) has revealed that despite rumors over the years she has ultimately never spoken with Marvel Studios about various roles.
THERON: “I swear to God. I’ve never gotten anything. No, I’m not lying to you. But that’s okay. You know what? I am paving my own way. I’m creating my own opportunities. So it’s alright.”
This doesn’t mean Charlize will never meet with Marvel in the future but it sounds like it hasn’t happened up to this point.
Russo Brothers Support Anthony Mackie’s Comments On Lack of Diversity Behind The Scenes At Marvel Studios
After Anthony Mackie pointed out not too long ago that the people behind the scenes of Marvel Studios movies are mostly white and not as diverse as it could be. He is getting some support from directors The Russo Brothers while asked about it by Movie Maker.
JOE RUSSO: “I think we can always all do better at diversity, constantly in this business, and in every facet of every industry — so he’s not wrong at all. I think that we all have to work harder to keep endorsing and supporting diversity on both sides of the camera.”
Marvel Studios Artist Charlie Wen Shares Unofficial ‘Shang-Chi’ Artwork
A brief post made by Marvel Studios concept artist Charlie Wen on his Instagram shows us some interesting but unofficial artwork featuring Simu Liu as Shang-Chi.
The Ronin has been able to independently confirm that Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures’ upcoming/untitled Spider-Man 3 has indeed added veteran visual effects supervisor Kelly Port to the film’s production team.
Port most recently worked on Marvel’s box office juggernauts Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. I’m curious if this potentially hints at the scale of the superhero sequel or they simply wanted someone already familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has tackled Spider-Man.
He was nominated for Best Achievement In Visual Effects at the 2019 Academy Awards for his work on Avengers: Infinity War.
Kelly has a history with Disney previously working on Beauty & The Beast and Maleficent.
Director Jon Watts is returning to finish his trilogy with a script penned by Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna. The pair of screenwriters also worked on the last two installments.
Outside of Spider-Man being framed for the murder of Quentin Beck aka Mysterio and his secret idenity being revealed by J.K. Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson, we don’t know much about the third MCU Spider-Man film other than Parker will likely be hunted-down by authorities.
The recent Morbius teaser trailer confirmed that the Sony Pictures spinoff film takes place in the same space as Spider-Man: Homecoming as it featured a brief cameo from Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes aka The Vulture during some sort of prison escape scene.
No casting announcements have been made as the planned summer shoot was squashed by COVID-19, also delaying Uncharted‘s March production start. Sony most likely is going to have Tom Holland shoot the video game adaptation first in Germany (projects filming there expected to resume soon) before moving over to the Spidey project at some point.
While there have been production grids making the rounds online recently suggesting a September start for the Spider-Man sequel (working title Serenity Now) in the United States, it’s really hard to take any of those dates seriously when the COVID-19 pandemic changes day-to-day. Making those listings/dates kind of useless. Most recently, the state of Georgia has seen a massive spike of new cases over the last week and would suggest most filming that was expected to take place in Atlanta won’t be happening anytime soon along with prep/set construction given the size of the crews needed to put that together.
If the production start on Spider-Man 3 is indeed delayed into 2021 (looking more likely every day), I wouldn’t expect the film to be released on November 5th, 2021 and most likely will be pushed to another date in 2022.
The recent extension deal between Sony and Marvel includes another unnamed MCU film that will feature Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, however, what that project ultimately will be remains to be seen.
THE RONIN 