Bloodshot‘s run in theaters was cut short due to the pandemic, but the Vin Diesel superhero film has done very well on digital platforms. Sony is quite happy with the result, and so they’re turning to director David Wilson for another major adaptation, this one of award-winning sci-fi novel Influx.
According to Deadline, Wilson has been tapped by Sony to adapt Daniel Suarez’s 2014 Prometheus Award-winning book, Influx. Penned by Zak Olkewicz (Fear Street), the story centers on a particle physicist who is locked away in a high-tech prison before he can unveil a world-changing discovery. He soon learns that he is being held by a secret government organization that keep the technological advances to themselves, and use artificial intelligence to torture those who refuse to cooperate.
With all productions halted at the moment, it’s unclear when this will get going. Wilson’s stock is definitely on the rise, and Sony may want to keep him in the fold for a long time.
ABC only just confirmed that Agents of SHIELD will be returning for its seventh and final season this May, and now we’re learning one of the big hooks for the season will be a crossover with Agent Carter. Or at least, one of that unfortunately short-lived series’ characters will be making an appearance as the team finds itself stuck decades in the past.
EW reveals Enver Gjokaj will return as Daniel Sousa, head of the Los Angeles bureau of the SSR, a forerunner to SHIELD. Sousa was a close friend and potential love interest to Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter, which makes his reemergence interesting now that we now Captain America went back in time to spend his life with her. How does that change the Sousa we knew?
Showrunner Jeff Bell says, “[Sousa] had a particular role on [Agent Carter], and so we were able to show another color of him that you hadn’t necessarily seen on the show.”
“It wasn’t anywhere near my brain,” says Gjokaj. “I would’ve been thrilled at any moment for it to come back, but I think as an actor you don’t have time. You just have to move on to the next project.”
Despite some speculative rumors from last year, there has been no confirmation of Atwell’s return as Peggy Carter. But I would think it a major missed opportunity to not have her, Sousa, and maybe even James D’Arcy as Edwin Jarvis show up one last time.
Those of us who were fans of Josh Trank’s Chronicle (not so much his Fantastic Four) and fans of Tom Hardy (who isn’t?) have been waiting on Fonzo since 2016. The Al Capone drama, which stars Hardy as a late-in-life version of the infamous gangster, has been pretty quiet for some time, and now we may have an idea why. Not only has it found a new distributor, but a new title and likely will head straight-to-VOD.
Film Ratings says Fonzo has been given the boring new title of simply Capone. Yuck. The film has been newly-acquired by Vertical Entertainment who are known for digital distribution and have very little theatrical presence.
It’s easy to see why they moved ahead with the name change. Fonzo doesn’t mean anything to anybody, but tell people that Tom Hardy is playing Al Capone and they’re going to want to see that.
Still, there’s a lot to look forward to. Trank is in desperate need of comeback after the Fantastic Four debacle, and his firing from a solo Boba Fett movie. The idea of Hardy as Capone, suffering from dementia in his twilight years, is also intriguing. Not to mention a score by Company Flow and Run the Jewels frontman El-P. A lot to like here, and I’ll be there to see it no matter when and where it drops.
The second season of The Mandalorian is shaping up to be incredible, and that’s in no small part to the addition of Rosario Dawson as fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano. That’s assuming it gets made official, of course. Speaking with Variety, Dawson says her casting in the Star Wars series has yet to be confirmed, but she sounds optimistic…
“That’s not confirmed yet but when that happens, I will be very happy. I’m very excited for that to be confirmed at some point.”
What it reads like is that Dawson has an agreement in principle, but nothing has been inked on the dotted line. And since nothing is official with Lucasfilm until they make an announcement, she’s keeping quiet. Probably a good idea.
While The Mandalorian was due to arrive this fall, the outbreak of COVID-19 has thrown all schedules for a loop. So to tide over eager fans, Disney is using Star Wars Day on May 4th to launch a new docuseries, Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian. The show will air on Disney+ and give viewers an inside look at the people who helped turn The Mandalorian into a global phenomenon.
Here’s the synopsis: In “Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian,” Executive Producer Jon Favreau invites the cast and crew to share an unprecedented look at the making of the series which quickly became a pop culture phenomenon after premiering in November. Debuting on the day that a worldwide community of fans celebrate all-things-Star Wars — Monday, May 4 — “Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian” is an eight-episode documentary series that pulls back the curtain on “The Mandalorian.” Each chapter explores a different facet of the first live-action Star Wars television show through interviews, never-before-seen footage, and roundtable conversations hosted by Jon Favreau.
New episodes of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian will premiere each Friday after the debut on May 4th.
I’m still shocked this show outlived all of the other Marvel TV properties. That’s not based on quality, for the most part Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., was a very solid show. It was also the only one on a major broadcast network making the bar considerably higher for success then it’s peers had. Truth be told I dropped off watching at the beginning of season 6 so I’ve got some catching up to do but from what I’ve heard there have been MAJOR changes in the last two seasons. Well, the long march to the end begins on May 27th, 2020 when season 7, which has been confirmed as the final season, premiers.
The show, which started mainly to continue the storyline of fan favorite Agent Phil Coulson, who was killed off from the MCU thanks to Loki and his spear. When you factor in the added challenge of staying in continuity with the movie side of things, it becomes even more impressive what they were able to accomplish. I mean, for Christ’s sake they had to deal with the eradication of SHIELD, stemming from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, in a show about agents of SHIELD. A great cast and a great look at the lives of the lower-level heros who are also out there trying to save the world, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D gave it’s fans what they were looking for and paved the way for the Disney+ series we are all looking forward to.
Check out the trailer for Season 7 below and remember to catch the premier on May 27th, 2020
Then make sure to catch up by checking out all of our previous coverage here!
There has been more talk about solo Hulk movies than for any Avenger, which is funny because he’s the one with the most complicated rights issues. But it speaks to the connection Mark Ruffalo has made with the character, and with fans, that he is always in such high demand. Coming out of Avengers: Endgame, it’s unclear where the newly-merged Bruce Banner is headed, but Ruffalo has an idea he’d like to see happen.
Speaking with Variety, Ruffalo admits there is nothing official going on with the Hulk, although that She-Hulk series on Disney+ looks pretty interesting…
“There’s nothing completely at a place where it’s a done deal. There’s some talk of having Banner/Hulk show up in ‘She–Hulk.’ If we come up with something good, that would be really interesting. Right now that’s about it. That’s all there is on the table.”
That said, Ruffalo has an idea for a Hulk story that he hopes Marvel (and Universal, who own the Hulk rights) will pursue, showing a side to the character we’ve barely seen…
“There’s an idea that I think could be really interesting ,” said Ruffalo. “We’ve never really followed him into his life. He’s always kind of off on the side. He’s like the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of the Avengers. It’d be interesting to fill in all the blanks about what happened to him in between all these movies.”
Well, it’s not quite World War Hulk or Planet Hulk, but it’ll do. Presumably, he won’t spend his days handing out tiny tacos and taking selfies, though.
When Scott Derrickson suddenly exited Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it left the superhero sequel in a limbo only Sorcerer Supreme could appreciate. But not for too long; a month later word surfaced that Sam Raimi, no stranger to Marvel flicks, would be taking over. Then…nothing. Well, now that’s changed and confirmation comes from the best source of all: Sam Raimi himself.
Raimi has confirmed (via Comicbook.com) he will direct the Doctor Strange sequel, revealing the news to journalists while proving his Quibi series 50 States of Fright. It was Raimi’s trilogy of Spider-Man films in the 2000s that took the superhero movie genre to a true blockbuster level, with many seeing Spider-Man 2 as among the greatest of all-time. It was also in that movie where Raimi, quite coincidentally, had characters name-drop “Doctor Strange” while trying to figure out a villainous monicker for Doctor Octopus…
“I loved Doctor Strange as a kid, but he was always after Spider-Man and Batman for me, he was probably at number five for me of great comic book characters. He was so original, but when we had that moment in Spider-Man 2 I had no idea that we would ever be making a Doctor Strange movie, so it was really funny to me that coincidentally that line was in the movie. I gotta say I wish we had the foresight to know that I was going to be involved in the project.”
There have been rumors of a possible multiverse connection between Sony’s current Spider-Man movies, the MCU, and Raimi’s universe of Spidey films. If that holds true, Raimi would be the guy to explore it.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens November 5th 2021, having recently been delayed to the pandemic.
Coincidence? I think NOT. Sam Raimi foreshadowing his involvement in Doctor Strange 2 back in 2004’s Spider-Man 2. pic.twitter.com/p8WO2c51aS
There is so much comic talent in Bad Therapy that you have to put blame elsewhere for the disaster it ultimately turns out to be. Alicia Silverstone, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Aisha Tyler, and David Paymer do their best with this bleak, witless dark comedy in which it turns out to be more dark than comedy. That’s not for the lack of trying, finding funny in the problems of others is a tough nut to crack and this movie comes armed with a limp noodle.
Watkins, a comedy vet who has been excellent recently in Brittany Runs a Marathon, The Way Back, and Sword of Trust, plays psychotic marriage counselor Dr. Judy Small. She’s taken an unnatural, erotic interest in her latest patients, Susan (Silverstone) and Bob (Corddry), an upper-middle-class couple living in L.A. whose sole problem is that they aren’t quite rich enough. He makes $125K producing nature docs nobody watches, she’s unfulfilled working in high-end real estate. Awwww, shucks. Don’t you have it so tough?
That lack of awareness permeates everything about Bad Therapy. We simply don’t care about anybody or what they’re going through, and the script never gives us reason to. After learning her conceited and very-pregnant friend Roxy (Tyler) is in marriage counseling with her husband, Susan decides she and Bob must go, and basically threatens the poor schlub if he doesn’t. Bob is about as limp-dicked as they come; he at least recognizes how lucky he is to score someone like Susan, so of course he goes along with it. But Judy recognizes something in Susan, and relays it to her own “therapist”, seen off-screen until a latter reveal that goes nowhere: “Their problems are very ordinary. As is she,” Judy says.
Turns out, she’s right. There isn’t much to Susan at all, other than her whining and weirdly paranoid notions that Bob is lusting after her teenage daughter (Anna Pniowsky) from an earlier marriage. Judy deduces that Susan is insecure and that Bob deserves better. So she sets out on a plot to seduce Bob, who begins hating the therapy sessions but likes the favoritism he’s shown in them.
Bad Therapy never escapes from the accusations Susan voices about Bob, try as it might to distance itself from them. It sets a grim tone that director William Teitler doesn’t have the creativity to lighten up, although to be fair Nancy Doyne’s screenplay lacks the satirical edge it badly needs. Her characters are flat, one-note, and unlikeable. Susan is vain and money-obsessed, Bob is weak and needy, and Judy is a wacko. Various subplots and backstories provide little emotional or comedic payoff, such as Bob’s attempts to launch his own TV network, or Judy’s past co-workers (including Paymer) who are attempting to find and shut her down.
It’s unclear exactly what Bad Therapy is going for? Subversion? Brazenness? Raunch? Far too ineffectual to be any of those things, it’s a movie that could use much clearer guidance, perhaps a bit of counseling would do?
News on delayed release dates are just a part of the everyday norm now, and will be until the coronavirus outbreak fades. The latest come from Paramount, which have bumped their upcoming SpongeBob film and the sci-fi film Infinite off the summer schedule.
Paramount has moved The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run from its July 31st spot to August 7th. That’s not too far, and to me it suggests a possible straight-to-digital release. That’s just my opinion, so take it for what it’s worth. But we’re talking about SpongeBob, which was made popular on TV sets in the homes of families. A digital release could be huge.
Here’s the synopsis: SpongeBob and Patrick travel to the lost city of Atlantic City to solve the mysterious kidnapping of Gary the snail. They soon prove that there’s nothing stronger than the power of friendship as they encounter danger and delight at every turn.
The Antoine Fuqua/Mark Wahlberg sci-fi film Infinite had been in the spot newly-occupied by SpongeBob, so Paramount has decided to shift it all the way to March 28th 2021. Also starring Dylan O’Brien and Chiwetel Ejiofor, the story follows a schizophrenic man who comes to realize his visions are memories of the past. He encounters a group of near-immortals who have learned to turn their past experiences into superhuman abilities, used to alter the course of history.
These two films join A Quiet Place 2, which moved from March to September 2020, as Paramount’s complete reworking of their schedule for the year.
Kevin Smith’s movies have evolved and matured (relatively) as he has, but they aren’t necessarily what we think of as reflecting the world around us. Maybe they reflect Smith’s world, but global issues? We expect more fart, weed, and Star Wars jokes than anything else. While we can expect all of those in his upcoming sequel Twilight of the Mallrats, Smith promises the current COVID-19 pandemic has found its way into the script.
Smith revealed the info on his Fatman Beyond podcast (via IGN), saying that his Mallrats 2 screenplay will address the coronavirus’ impact on shopping malls, which are already struggling…
“I was working on ‘Twilight of the Mallrats,’ the ‘Mallrats 2’ script, and so I had just read last night articles about the retail apocalypse, where 2020 was going to be the death knell for a bunch of stores anyway but the pandemic has escalated that, made it worse, and we’re about to see a lot of big box stores, big-name stores that you and I have known for most of our lives just go away forever.”
“That means massive vacancies in malls, so they’re predicting the entire implosion of malls. I mean, they were already teetering, but the entire implosion of malls across America. So, as a guy who’s writing a movie set in a mall, I’m like, ‘Well that’s useful information for my line of work.’ So I had to start writing the pandemic into the movie because clearly this is going to be remembered for all time.”
This is part of the maturity Smith has often showed. While there will undoubtedly be a bunch of movies about our current situation, I promise you Smith’s will be the only one to tackle the issue from this perspective. It’s a great idea that will add some depth and timeliness to go along with Smith’s requisite brand of humor.
