James Gunn Won’t Shut Up, First reactions for Loki Season 2, Writer’s Guild terms that ended the strike, and Apple releases flat top Henry Cavill on the world

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First impressions for season 2 of Loki are hitting the internet with critics hailing it as some of the best MCU content in recent years, capitalizing off the success of season one and taking the characters and story to new heights. Critics have only been able to review the first four episodes of the series, but there is a great deal of optimism that this series delivers. Reviewers can also confirm that all six episodes are over 40 minutes in length.

The details of the WGA contract have been released and we’re not going to be able to break it all down here, but here are some of the highlights. We’re going to take these a section at a time.

- Regarding the number of writers on a television or streaming project; at least three writer-producers must be hired on all series. The number of writers will rise on a sliding scale. A six episode series must have at least three writers. A series with 7-12 episodes must include five writers, and a series with 13 or more episodes calls for six writers. These minimum staffing requirements must be enforced unless a series is billed as a single writer series from the beginning. The contract also includes a minimum time of duration of employment for writer-producers - development rooms must exist for a minimum of 20 weeks.

- On the key issue of residuals, a new formula was agreed upon. Content made for streaming that is viewed by 20% or more of subscribers in the first 90 days of release will trigger bonuses for the writers for both series and films. Foreign residuals were also increased. Residuals for previously made shows that become streaming hits were also addressed and agreed to.

- Policies were established to govern the use of artificial intelligence, including that AI cannot be used to write or rewrite literary material and all use of it by writers or anyone else must be disclosed. Writers also reserve the right to assert that exploitation of writer’s materials to train AI is prohibited.

- The contract preserves the policy of ensuring that the vast majority of screenwriters will get a “second step” meaning they can be paid to do at least one rewrite of a draft screenplay.

- Writers working in groups will receive pension and health contributions up to the relevant cap as though they were a single writer, rather than splitting the applicable cap.

James Gunn took to Threads last week to respond to fan questions about continuity in the new DCU and confirmed that three actors will continue to portray characters that they have played in the past including Xolo Mariduena as Blue Beetle, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, and John Cena as Peacemaker. He continued to say Quote “yes, some actors will be playing characters they’ve played in other stories & some plot points might be consistent with plot points from the dozens of films, shows & animated projects that have come from DC in the past. But nothing is canon until Creature Commandos and Superman Legacy.”

Apple has released the first trailer for Argylle, a spy drama from director Matthew Vaughn. The all-star cast includes Henry Cavill, Dua Lipa, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, Ariana DeBose, and Samuel L. Jackson. With a premise that promises to keep you guessing, the film will hit theaters on Feb 2nd, 2024 and will debut on AppleTV+ at a later date.

The trailer for Walt Disney Animation’s upcoming movie, WISH, became the studio’s biggest trailer since the release of promotional spots for Frozen 2 in 2019. The spot earned 66.5 million views across online platforms, according to the company. It surpassed the teaser trailer, which was released in April, by almost 20 million views and has quickly become the most viewed Disney trailer on TikTok to date. WISH will debut in theaters on November 22 and is turning into a spotlight for Disney’s centennial celebration of the company.