Still holding out hope that Black Widow will be a Disney+ exclusive? Sorry to tell you, but plans for the Marvel Studios flick haven’t changed at all.
Speaking at the annual shareholders’ conference, Disney CEO Bob Chapek reconfirmed that Black Widow will open theatrically on May 7th. On the plus side, the film doesn’t appear on the block to be delayed as many had thought.
“As we’ve said, we believe it’s important to put the consumer in charge and let them decide how they want to enjoy our films, particularly as we navigate through the pandemic,” Chapek said. “We are really excited about the full slate of films we have in store. Next up is Black Widow, currently sent for release in theaters on May 7.”
The speculation has been that Disney would either move the anticipated Marvel film, or come up with some simultaneous theatrical/streaming release strategy similar to Raya and the Last Dragon, which was made available on Disney+ Premiere Access and made just $8.6M for a $26M worldwide total. During the Q1 earnings call just a couple of months ago, Chapek had hinted at that as a possibility but appears to have changed his tune. [Deadline]
Cocaine Bear. It’s a bear that’s high on cocaine. Kindof a funny visual in your brain, right? Like it’s something you’d expect to see in a Hangover movie or a Seth Rogen stoner comedy. Well, instead you’re getting it from the trio of Elizabeth Banks, Phil Lord, and Chris Miller. And you know what? This cocaine bear was real.
Deadline reports Elizabeth Banks will direct Cocaine Bear, with Lord and Miller producing. The film is based on actual events that took place in Kentucky in 1985, when a bear swallowed a cache of cocaine thrown from a plane by Andrew Thornton, a former Lexington narcotics agent who became a drug smuggler. Thornton died while parachuting out of the plane carrying $15M in cocaine over Knoxville.
The bear died of a fatal drug overdose. Then was found and preserved via taxidermy. For real. Here’s a photo of him:
The film is being described as “a character-driven thriller” and not the raucous drug comedy it sounds like it should be.
Banks most recently helmed the Charlie’s Angels reboot, and made her debut with Pitch Perfect 2. Lord and Miller are currently working on a sequel to Into the Spider-Verse, along with numerous other projects. They previously produced 2017’s indie comedy Brigsby Bear, which I promise you is not a Cocaine Bear prequel.
There seems to be a trend recently of adding evil supernatural forces to times when the regular ole’ natural evil forces were terrifying enough for African-Americans, and the results are, by and large, as disturbing as you’d imagine. Lovecraft Country took the idea and launched subtlety out the window, Little Marvin’s upcoming Amazon Prime series Them: Covenant seems to be relying on that missing subtlety to deliver a creeptastic message. Even if you take the racism out of the 50s and 60s I think we can all agree that there is/was something inherently creepy about that suburban family ideal, it was all so….Stepford. Now imagine you’re an African-American family searching for that American dream. You save up enough for a beautiful house with a picket fence for your family to live, you’re the only non-white family on the block and the welcome wagon is suspiciously late rolling in. Now add demons, or ghosts, or whatever else is going on in this neighborhood and you end up with what we can all classify as a worst case scenario. Here’s the official synopsis:
A Black family moves to an all-white Los Angeles neighborhood where malevolent forces, next door and otherworldly, threaten to taunt, ravage and destroy them.
Outside of the obvious there seems to be a very clever layering of the supernatural on top of the (unfortunately) expected evil facing the family. The series is scheduled for 10 episodes, so I’d imagine we don’t get to the otherworldly stuff until a few episodes in, just enough to keep us on our toes.
Them: Covenant is released, in it’s entirety, on April 9th, 2021 on Amazon Prime.
Creator: Little Marvin
Stars: Deborah Ayorinde, Ashley Thomas, Shahadi Wright Joseph
Sugar, spice, everything nice, chemical x, and the CW? It looks like teen drama network have all the perfect ingredients for a new The Powerpuff Girls live action reboot, including the actresses playing Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup: Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault.
You can’t have a remake without the original. Airing on Cartoon Network from 1998-2005, the show revolved around three kindergarten girls with superpowers, created by their scientist father in a lab. With wacky and crazy villains, the sisters balanced fighting bad guys with lost teeth, bed wetting, and sibling rivalries: normal kid stuff.
Written by Diablo Cody (Juno) and Heather Regnier (Sleepy Hollow, Veronica Mars), this new iteration is more grown up than the crimefighting saga of our youth. Following the trio as disillusioned adults in their twenties, it sounds like the show should be called “The Powerpuff Women.”
Chloe Bennet is set to play Blossom Utonium, the red-headed pink fighter. According to Deadline, “Although she was a spunky, conscientious, Little-Miss-Perfect child who holds several advanced degrees, Blossom’s repressed kiddie-superhero trauma has left her feeling anxious and reclusive, and she aims to become a leader again — this time on her own terms.” Bennet starred in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D for seven seasons.
Rocking Bubble’s blue dress and blonde pigtails is Dove Cameron.Her character’ “sweet-girl disposition won America’s hearts as a child, and she still sparkles as an adult, but her charming exterior belies an unexpected toughness and wit. She’s initially more interested in recapturing her fame than saving the world, but she just might surprise us and herself.” It sounds like the creators are moving away from Bubble’s ditzy characterization and entering into something more “sassy.” Cameron is a long time Disney Channel darling, starring in The Descendants franchise and Liv & Maddie. She had supporting roles in Hairspray Live! and Dumplin’.
TV newcomer Yana Perrault could be grimacing a lot as Buttercup, the green sister. Deadline described her as the”rebellious badass of the Powerpuff Girls in its heyday. More sensitive than her tough exterior suggests, Buttercup has spent her adulthood trying to shed her Powerpuff Girl identity and live an anonymous life.” Though this is Perrault’s first TV gig, she sang and danced on Broadway in the Alanis Morrissette jukebox musical “Jagged Little Pill.”
The entirety of CW’s schedule seems to be superhero shows, reboots, and adaptations. With Riverdale, Walker, Nancy Drew, Charmed, The Flash, and Superman & Lois, it makes sense for the CW to be the new home of The Powerpuff Girls, considering its a superhero-adaptation-reboot hybrid.
My one question is how are the classic cartoon villains going to look? Mojo Jojo and HIM, along with the rest of the trio’s evil adversaries are going to look absolutely ridiculous in the real-world. Wouldn’t that conflict with the edgy, dark, moody vibe plaguing most CW shows? We will have to see when The Powerpuff Girls airs on the CW during the 2021-2022 tv season.
Kevin Smith has become such a prominent part of pop culture fandom that I think we forget what a trailblazing he was for independent cinema. When he dropped Clerks on us at the Sundance Film Festival nearly three decades ago, a film he financed by maxing out his credit cards, few could’ve imagined it would lead to him creating his own cinematic View Askew-niverse, and opening the door to many aspiring directors hoping to achieve their dream.
Headed to SXSW is Malcolm Ingram’s documentary Clerk, which focuses on Kevin Smith not just as a groundbreaking independent filmmaker, but also the guy who used social media to create an entire brand. Podcasting, comic books, stand-up comedy, television…Kevin Smith has done it all and built a loyal, dedicated fanbase who are integral to the growth of geek culture.
The film features interviews with the usual suspects, Smith confidantes Jason Mewes, Brian O’Halloran, and others such as Penn Gillette and Jason Reitman.
It’s going to be a busy year for Ridley Scott, as he has two anticipated, star-studded films coming up in 2021, both featuring Adam Driver in leading roles. One is the historical epic The Last Duel, which also stars pals Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The other is House of Gucci, which star Lady Gaga has just dropped the first image from, featuring her and Driver looking appropriately stylish against a snowy backdrop.
The image shows Gaga and Driver as Patrizia Reggiani and Maurizio Gucci, respectively. The story centers on Reggiani as she orchestrates the assassination of her ex-husband and head of the Gucci fashion house. Also in the ensemble are Al Pacino as Aldo Gucci, Jared Leto as Paolo Gucci, Jeremy Irons as Rodolfo Gucci, Camille Cottin as Paola Franchi, along with Jack Huston and Reeve Carney.
Here is the case of a film that has been delayed a long time, and it has nothing to do with COVID-19. Instead, the it was a combination of money and the toxic public persona of Johnny Depp that led to City of Lies being on the shelf since 2018. But now, the intriguing Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac film is actually being released, with a new trailer reminding us of its existence.
City of Lies centers on the investigation into the murder of rapper Christopher Wallace aka Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. Depp plays the LAPD investigator with Forest Whittaker the journalist who teams up with him to find the truth. The film was directed by Brad Furman, the filmmaker behind The Lincoln Lawyer and Runner Runner.
Originally due to be released in 2018, City of Lies was pulled and sold to another company when the initial one hit financial troubles. Then, there was a lot of negative heat on Depp over his personal drama, and, well, so you’ve got a movie three years in the can and only now being released on VOD on March 19th.
Based on the book, LAbyrinth, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Randall Sullivan, this compelling crime-thriller follows the investigation into the infamous murder of iconic rap artist Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G. Oscar® nominee Johnny Depp stars as determined LAPD detective Russell Poole, who spent nearly 20 years trying to solve the murder, and Oscar® and Primetime Emmy® winner Forest Whitaker as Jack Jackson, a journalist who teams up with Poole in search of the elusive truth. Together they explore why the case remains cold — and why a secret division of the LAPD is seemingly set on keeping it that way.
Steven Spielberg is ready to embark on the most personal film of his career. While we’re still waiting on the arrival of his West Side Story remake, Spielberg has decided on what will come next, and it will star 4-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams.
Deadline reports Williams is in talks to star in Steven Spielberg’s untitled film that is loosely inspired by his own childhood. The story follows an Arizona boy’s coming of age, with Williams set to play a woman inspired by Spielberg’s mother.
This will also be the rare time that Spielberg has taken on screenplay duties, co-writing the script with playwright Tony Kushner. They previously worked together on Munich, Lincoln, and West Side Story. The last time Spielberg wrote a script it was for 2001’s Artificial Intelligence, one of only four times he’s done so during his career.
Next up for Williams is the superhero sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
Is this what it’s going to be? Avatar and Avengers: Endgame swapping the all-time box office crown until the end of time? James Cameron’s sci-fi epic held the top spot with $2.79B for more than a decade, having established itself as a must-see event with visual effects that were absolutely mindblowing at the time, especially on IMAX and in 3D. Then Marvel’s blockbuster sequel came and took it all away with a $2.798B total. Now, Cameron is ready to take back the title with the help of Chinese cinemas.
THR reports Avatar will return to theaters in China this Friday, having been approved by the China Film Bureau. It will be available in 3D and IMAX 3D, and only needs to earn $7.5M to dethrone Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame. This has actually been in the works for a while. You may remember that as China sought to reopen in the early days of the pandemic, they began approval of many “catalog” films to lure audiences back into theaters, and Avatar was one of them.
I expect this won’t be the last re-release for Avatar, and I’m guessing it won’t be long until Marvel cooks up a reason to put Endgame back out there. Perhaps drop in some deleted scenes, or have a special tease for an upcoming film? Something. But this back-and-forth for box office supremacy ain’t over.
So…what are we supposed to do this week without a new episode of WandaVision? Maybe think about the future of Marvel and where some of its characters will end up? The finale teased a couple of storylines that will definitely be caught-up with, but we got nothing for Paul Bettany’s Vision and Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness. What’s up with them? Wherever they end up, both actors are eager to come back for more.
Bettany played two different versions of Vision in the show’s finale, with the white, emotionless version flying away after being given the other’s memories. While it’s pretty clear that we’ll see Vision again, Bettany was asked by Esquire if he’d be willing to play the character “forever”…
“I love Vision. Yes, I’m in,” Bettany replied.
As for Agatha Harkness, she finds herself stuck as nosy sitcom neighbor Agnes in the town of Westview. As far as villains go, Marvel doesn’t usually bring them back, but Agatha has proven so popular it has to happen, right?
“I have no idea. They keep it really tight,” said Hahn to New York Times about Harkness’ return. “I want to. Now that I have a taste of it, I’m like, ahh. I really, really love it.”
“I actually don’t think, ultimately, that she minds it. She needed to rest for a hot second. She’s been very restless. I think she was very lonely, for a very, very long time. She loves having the companionship — loves the mailman, loves Ralph, loves Dottie. For the moment, I think she’s actually OK to just loosen the corset and sit and have a muffin and a latte.”
Don’t worry, Agatha will be back and I think next time we see her it won’t be in an antagonistic role, but as a mentor to Wanda. Maybe a mentor with her own agenda, but she won’t purely be a villain.
WandaVision is available now on Disney+ is worth revisiting.
