Is This Our Next Spider-Man?

Is this our next Spider-Man?  Back in January an agreement was met between Marvel Studios and Sony to “share” the Spider-Man character and ever since then Marvel has been on the hunt for the next actor who will star in their tentpole franchise.  Last week we got an announcement that there was a shortlist of five actors who were up for the role, all in their teens or early 20’s to help confirm that Marvel does indeed want a young Peter Parker to create a stark contrast to the older and more established members of the Avengers.  A few days ago the title of the standalone Spidey flick was disclosed, Spider-Man: The New Avenger, which does a great job of telling the general public that this is yet another reboot of the character but that he’s apart of the Marvel/Avengers Universe.  And then not too long ago we got the name of the young man expected to land the coveted role.

21 Jump Street/Men in Black Crossover Movie Happening

OK, so this is really happening.  Last year when the Sony e-mails got hacked, tons of info about future Sony films spread like wildfire online.  The potential deal between Sony and Marvel Studios to share Spider-Man grabbed the headlines but there were other reports such as Spectre plot details and multiple Ghostbuster films that were also released.  One report that circled at that time sounded absolutely bananas and i figured nothing would come of it.  Sadly that’s not the case, and a crossover film between 21 Jump Street and Men in Black is truly in the works.

Captain America: Civil War and the Infinity Wars Shooting Schedule Looks Crazy

Avengers: Age of Ultron opens tonight for midnight showings (actually starting at 7:00, which somehow still counts towards the weekend totals), but that doesn’t mean that the cast has time to relax and celebrate.  Beginning early next month many of the heroes will be back to work filming Captain America: Civil War, which is going to be more of a Avengers 2.5 since most of the main cast will be featured.  With Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Hawkeye, and Falcon already confirmed and newcomers Black Panther and Spider-Man also playing a part, this feels much less like a solo outing for the captain.

Then following Civil War there is going to be the mammoth 2 part event known as the Infinity Wars where the Avengers will finally be coming to blows with the Mad Titan himself, Thanos (the guy with the funky chin at the end of Avengers and who floated around on the rock chair in space in Guardians of the Galaxy).  Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Anthony and Joe Russo will be at the helm for all three of these films, taking over the reigns of the franchise from Joss Whedon after he directed the first two Avengers movies and served as the godfather over Phase 2.  So there doesn’t appear to be much breathing room for the cast in the next few years.

Chris Evans (Captain America) stated in an interview with Esquire:

“You know, you plan around the Marvel responsibilities. You have to. We start [Captain America: Civil War] in a couple weeks, and then that shoots until August or something like that. August or September. Then I’ve got some downtime and I can do with it as I please. I don’t know if I want to take time off or go pursue another directing job or find a movie to act in or, you know, do whatever I’m creatively inclined to pursue or wait, relax, enjoy my life. And then we start the Infinity War, I think, some time in the third quarter. Fall or winter of 2016. That’s going to be like nine months to shoot both movies back to back.”

 Screen Rant discussed that the reason Joss Whedon is backing out of doing further Marvel films is out of sheer exhaustion.  Granted, he was the sole director on those movies and also had the added responsibility of writing the scripts for those films.  Not only that, but he was overseeing all the movies in Phase 2 and even famously got airlifted in to help rewrite scenes for Thor 2 while it was in the middle of shooting.  “Joss came in to save our lives a couple of times,” director Alan Taylor revealed during an interview with SFX. “We had a major scene that was not working on the page at all in London, and he basically got airlifted in, like a SWAT team or something. He came down, rewrote the scene, and before he got back to his plane I sort of grabbed him and said, ‘And this scene and this scene?’ And he rewrote two other scenes that I thought had problems.”

Moving forward there is a team of two directors handling the burden for the Marvel films and two writers (Winter Soldier and Civil War writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) splitting script-writing duties.  This should lessen the load and help keep the Russo Brothers from the same type of burn-out.  Captain America: Civil War hit theaters May 6, 2016, Avengers: The Infinity Wars Part 1 and 2 will be released May 4, 2018 and May 3, 2019.  Thanks for reading.

 

Mad Max: Fury Road Final Trailer

Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in Macbeth

The first movie stills from the Justin Kurzel (Snowtown) directed MacBeth were released yesterday.  Shalespeare’s Macbeth (or the Scottish Film) stars Michael Fassbender (X-Men: Days of Future Past) and Marion Cotillard (Dark Knight Rises) is the roles of Macbeth and lady Macbeth.  Wikipedia describes the story of Macbeth as:

Lion King Trailer

Check out the latest trailer for Disney’s live(ish)-action adaptation of Lion King, set to arrive in theaters July 19, 2019.

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Trailer

Check out the trailer for Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.  The film marks the conclusion of the 9-film main Star Wars movies dubbed the “Skywaker Saga” and will arrive in theaters December 20, 2019.

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Trailer for The Twilight Zone

Check out the trailer from the revival of The Twilight Zone, hosted and narrated by Jordan Peele (Us, Get Out).  The show will premiere with two episodes April 1 on CBS All Access and then Thursday nights beginning April 11.