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Florence Pugh tempted the ire of Marvel Studios’ infamous snipers, when she shared a video tour of the Thunderbolts set via social media last week. Though the video was clearly staged and was sparse on reveals and details, it did give us our first official look at Yelena Belova’s new combat-ready getup. A clear departure from Marvel’s typical airtight protocol.

Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire enjoyed a $194 million global debut last week, enough to place it as the third highest grossing film of the year after just one weekend of release. The movie is the fifth film in Legendary’s MonsterVerse franchise, which includes the recent Apple TV Plus series, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Though not connected to recent Oscar winner, Godzilla: Minus One, this opening clearly shows a renewed interest in all things Godzilla.

Star Trek’s Kelvin Timeline, that is the Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana-led and JJ Abrams-produced films, may be getting a fourth and final film, as Steve Yockey has been added as a screenwriter. Yockey is best known for creating the Max series The Flight Attendant, starring Kaley Cuoco. Three previous screenwriters had been attached to the project, including WandaVision showrunner and Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman. Star Trek hasn't been on the big screen since 2016’s Star Trek: Beyond, but has enjoyed a lot of success with various streaming series.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer went two for two the last couple of weeks here on Multiverse News. Last week teasing a return of the Pirates franchise and now a possible third film in the National Treasure franchise, all during his promotion of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. While his comments were vague, they were optimistic – speaking to his confidence in an unnamed writer working on a script that only needs Nic Cage’s approval.

The Mandalorian and Quantumania actor Katy O’Brian has been cast in Mission: Impossible 8.

Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson and frequent collaborator C. Robert Cargill, will adapt a new version of the acclaimed 1953 crime novel The Night of the Hunter for Universal.

Final Destination Bloodlines has added to its main cast. Brec Bassinger, who starred in The CW’s DC series Stargirl, Chucky actor Teo Briones and Dear Evan Hansen stage actress Kaitlyn Santa Juana, The 100 star Richard Harmon, Gotham Knights actress Anna Lore and Owen Patrick Joyner, one of the stars of Netflix series Julie and the Phantoms will all star in leading roles in the sixth installment of the franchise which is now in production.

A sequel to the 2003 Disney body swap comedy Freaky Friday seems to be in the works, as Chippendale’s director Nisha Ganatra has been attached and stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan are currently in negotiations to return.

Scream 7 looks to add another series regular after the return of Neve Campbell, with Courteney Cox in talks to reprise her role as Gale Weathers.

Ezra Miller was quietly replaced by Eric Bauza for their voice role as a minor antagonist in Amazon’s Invincible.

Universal Pictures has postponed two Blumhouse horror films. Leigh Whannel’s Wolf Man will now premiere on January 17, 2025, three months later than planned. The Woman in the Yard was removed from the schedule, but will be rescheduled.

Louis Gossett Jr., the Oscar and Emmy-winning actor known for roles in Watchmen and The Punisher, has passed away at 87. He was the first Black man to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for An Officer and a Gentleman and also earned an Emmy for Roots.

Chance Perdomo, who starred in the television series Gen V and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, has died as a result of a motorcycle accident. He was 27.

A new poster was released for Joker: Folie à Deux along with the tease for an incoming trailer on April 9 by Lady Gaga herself. The film will release on October 4.

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Lucasfilm released the first trailer for their upcoming live action Star Wars series titled The Acolyte. The show will premiere with two episodes on June 4. Though the trailer is a little more than a minute long, it doesn’t show its hand too much other than to imply that someone - or something - is hunting and killing Jedi.

Marvel Studios head of streaming, television, and animation, Brad Winderbaum, confirmed that the character of Richard Rider/Nova has a project in development. Winderbaum qualified the statement by saying that Marvel Studios is running more like a traditional tv studio and that things can change.

Director Patty Jenkins revealed that she is back on board to helm the Rogue Squadron movie after making a new deal with Lucasfilm. Originally announced back in 2020, the project has shifted around due to changes with Jenkins, the potential of it being made into a television show, and more. Jenkins has long wanted to make what she calls a fighter pilot movie for Star Wars

DC Studios is going all-in on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow writer Ana Nogueira who will also pen the live-action adaptation of Teen Titans.  While the original Teen Titans were introduced in the 1960s in DC Comics, the characters have grown and expanded and found a popular audience with the animated show Teen Titans Go! on Cartoon Network.

Venom 3 is officially titled Venom: The Last Dance and the release date for the film has scootched up from November 8 to October 25.

Ari Aster has assembled an all-star cast for his next film Eddington, which began production last week. Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler are set to star in the A24 feature.

In April 2023, Variety reported that a Twilight series was in early development. Last week, Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns confirmed that the project is currently being shopped and that it has shifted to an animated series.

New Line's adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot has been removed from Warner Brothers theatrical release schedule and will now debut on Max sometime later this year. It and Annabelle writer Gary Dauberman wrote and directed the film, which has been in flux since the Warner Brothers and Discovery merger.

Netflix anthology series Black Mirror will return in 2025 with six new episodes including a sequel to the sci-fi adventure episode, USS Callister.

FX's The Bear has quietly been renewed for a fourth season, which will film back to back with the third season.

Andy and Barbara Muschietti, the filmmaking team behind the $1 billion grossing It movies and last year’s The Flash, have teamed up with Skydance to launch a brand new horror division, named Nocturna. The Muschiettis will co-own the label and run its creative direction.

According to industry insider Jeff Sneider, Scarlett Johansson has reportedly been offered the lead role for the upcoming Jurassic World film, currently scheduled for 2025.

AMC picked up rights to all four seasons of the post-apocalyptic drama Snowpiercer, including the completed but never aired fourth season. The first three seasons will begin streaming on AMC+ later this year, with the final season set to premiere on both AMC and AMC+ in early 2025.

Universal announced the release date for its latest action flick With Love, starring Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan. This marks Quan’s first major leading role in his 40 years in Hollywood. With Love is scheduled to hit theaters February 7, 2025.

Lionsgate released the first official trailer for the remake of The Crow, which stars Bill Skarsgard. The film releases in theaters on June 7th.

CBS Studios announced the voice cast for the upcoming Among Us animated series, which is based on the popular video game. Randall Park, Elijah Wood, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Ashley Johnson will voice the main characters. At this time, the series does not have a release date.

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Vetted scooper with an accuracy rating of nearly 80%, DanielRPK has supplied us with another MCU rumor this week, claiming that Deadpool & Wolverine will undergo reshoots in May ahead of its July release. Reshoots are a normal part of any production, but with Deadpool being Marvel Studios’ sole feature film of 2024 and these taking place so close to the film’s release, do they give us cause for concern, or excitement?

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Denis Villeneuve's Dune Part Two garnered an impressive $81.5 million dollars during its domestic opening weekend, Bolstered by strong critic and audience reviews. The sequel’s strong performance comes during a time that Hollywood has continued to grapple with changing audience dynamics and pandemic-related, streaming challenges. Dune’s success suggests there’s still an appetite for big-budget, visually stunning blockbusters.

James Gunn broke the internet by revealing his upcoming DCU kickoff film will no longer be titled Superman: Legacy, but simply SUPERMAN. The news came via Gunn’s social media post celebrating the first day of filming that also showcased our first image of the Superman logo. Later in the week, we learned that The Wire and Suits actor, Wendell Pierce has been cast in the film as Daily Planet editor-in-chief, Perry White.

This falls strictly into the unsubstantiated rumor column, but Daniel Richtman AKA DanielRPK, an industry insider with a reputation for his accuracy, has suggested the members of the Thunderbolts are ranked by order of import, with Yelena and Val at the top of the list and Bucky Barnes and Red Guardian rounding out the bottom spots.

EA has canceled Respawn Entertainment’s upcoming first person Star Wars game, which was recently reported to feature a Mandalorian bounty hunter.

Nick Offerman and Betty Gilpin have joined Michael Shannon and Matthew Mcfadyen in Netflix’s Death By Lightning, a historical drama series about the assassination of US President James Garfield.

Richard Lewis, the stand-up comedian who also starred alongside Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm, has passed away at 76.

Director Akiva Schaffer's untitled installment in the Naked Gun comedy franchise, featuring Liam Neeson and produced by Seth MacFarlane, is set to hit theaters on July 28, 2025.

Tron: Ares star Jared Leto shared a first-look image at the upcoming sci-fi sequel via Instagram. The film is eyeing a 2025 release.

Emily Blunt is in talks to join Benny Safdie’s solo directorial debut The Smashing Machine, an A24 feature film starring Dwayne Johnson as MMA and UFC champion Mark Kerr.

HBO's The Last of Us has added four actors to its cast: Danny Ramirez, Ariela Barer, Tati Gabrielle and Spencer Lord. Their casting comes as the show is gearing up to begin production in the spring.

Lionsgate released the trailer for the upcoming horror film The Strangers: Chapter 1, which is set to release on May 17.

Paramount has announced that The action film Novocaine, starring Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder, will be released on March 14, 2025.

Kumail Nanjiani has joined the cast of Only Murders in the Building season 4 in a recurring role.

While promoting Dune Part Two, Rebecca Ferguson ignited an Internet whodunnit when she accused a former co-star of screaming at her to the point of reducing her to tears, prompting some of her colleagues to mark themselves safe on social media.

*POTENTIAL DUNE SPOILERS* Several scenes were cut from Dune Part Two including one featuring actor Tim Blake Nelson in a 'mystery role' and scenes featuring Thufir Hawat reprising his role from the first film. Denis Villeneuve has stated that the deleted scenes will never be released to the public.

Austin Stowell has been cast as the younger version of Leroy Jethro Gibbs in NCIS: Origins, which is a prequel series to NCIS set in 1991.

Andor,Obi-Wan Kenobi, Moon Knight, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will all be released individually on 4K UHD and Blu-ray in collectible packaging. The individual sets will include concept art, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes extras.

Director Jeff Rowe's TMNT 2, an animated feature, is slated for October 9, 2026.

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The Hollywood Reporter released another in-depth article about the goings-on at Marvel Studios. On the tail of the successful Deadpool & Wolverine trailer, Fantastic Four casting confirmation, and X-Men ‘97 release date, the MCU appears to be setting itself up for a return to success.

After Joker: Folie a Deux director Todd Phillips shared character photos on Valentine’s Day, Variety revealed Warner Bros. is spending $200 million on the sequel. This news, on the heels of Tom Cruise’s non-exclusive contract with the studio, sparked one source to say that Warner Bros. is “playing with other people’s money.” 

The 2024 SAG Awards took place on February 24 and aired on Netflix. As the actor’s guild votes on them, these awards are only for acting in movies and television. Several awards have followed suit to others this season, with a disruptor being Pedro Pascal winning Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Joel in The Last of Us. 

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It was a significant week in MCU news. Marvel Studios officially cast the Fantastic Four, which they revealed in a Valentine’s Day Instagram post. Vanessa Kirby is Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn is our Johnny Storm, Ebon Moss-Bachrach will portray Ben Grimm, and Pedro Pascal has taken on the role of Reed Richards. The studio also updated release dates for both Fantastic Four and Thunderbolts with Thunderbolts moved up to May 2, 2025, and Fantastic Four pushed back to July 25, 2025.

Dune Part 2 held its world premiere in London last week, bringing several valuable nuggets of information to the surface in addition to showcasing some truly out-of-this-world fashion. Most surprisingly, Anya Taylor-Joy was in attendance, confirming her unknown participation in the sequel, while she disclosed her character to those in attendance, it has not yet been officially announced. Following the premiere, first reactions to the film hit the internet, with overwhelming positivity and praise, citing it as superior to the first installment and lauding it as a sci-fi masterpiece.

Star Wars seems all in on video game expansion of the saga’s lore this week, with developer of Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor, Respawn Entertainment, reported to be in the early stages of creating a first-person Mandalorian bounty hunter video game. This news was coupled with comments from Cameron Monaghan, the actor who provides the likeness, voice and motion capture for Cal Kestis, the protagonist of Respawn’s Star Wars games, who said he’d be open to portraying the character in live action under the right circumstances.

Madame Web released in theaters last week and with a $26.2 million six-day haul, C+ CinemaScore, and a 13 percent critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the reception across the board is downright pitiful. The performance is not entirely unexpected, as the film has been saddled with a laughable marketing campaign and disparaging comments from Madame Web herself, Dakota Johnson. This seems to mark a new low for high profile comic book adaptations.

Oppenheimer dominated the 2024 BAFTAS Sunday evening, winning seven awards. Other notable winners include both Poor Things for Special Effects and The Zone of Interest for Sound.

Judalina Neira(knee-ra), executive producer on season four of The Boys and Gen V, will write and produce a reboot of Bewitched for Sony.

Joker: Folie à Deux director Todd Phillips posted 3 photos featuring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in character, also commenting that an official trailer for the Joker follow-up is expected in mid-April.

Netflix announced the fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy will begin streaming on August 8.

Marvel Studios released the highly anticipated first teaser trailer for X-Men '97, a direct sequel to X-Men: The Animated Series premiering March 20 on Disney +

Warner Brothers released a new trailer for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, set to hit theaters on March 29.

Amazon dropped a trailer for Season Two Part Two of Invincible, which consists of four episodes and begins streaming on March 14.

A teaser trailer has been released for the upcoming Borderlands movie. The film, which is based on the popular video game series, stars Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Bobby Lee and is set to hit theaters on August 9th. A full trailer will be released on Wednesday.

There is a lot of excitement around the rumor that Henry Cavill has signed on with Marvel Studios for an undisclosed role.

Sony Pictures and Oscar-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes have set plans to make four separate films for theatrical release, one focusing on each member of The Beatles. The films will be interconnected and tell each band member’s point of view.

Mark Ruffalo clarified previous comments, telling fans he would in fact not appear in Captain America: Brave New World.

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The 2024 Super Bowl was the most-watched program in American television history with 123.4 million viewers.

The House of Mouse let loose several bits of exciting news after their quarterly earnings call on February 7. Animation fans were surprised with the release of a teaser trailer for Moana 2, which will be in theaters in November. Bob Iger also announced that Zootopia 2 will release in 2025 and Frozen 3 and Toy Story 5 will drop in 2026. Fans of the recent Percy Jackson and the Olympians series officially received the news that season two has been greenlit. Disney is investing $1.5 billion Epic Games - known best for Fortnite. CEO Bob Iger explained that the goal is to create a gaming universe that features beloved characters from Disney’s hottest franchises such as Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and more. And last - but never least - it was announced that Taylor Swift’s concert film The Eras Tour will stream exclusively on Disney+ beginning March 15.Last week we discussed the seemingly-rushed new Jurassic World movie, which had announced that its director would be David Leitch. But talks between Universal and Leith fell through and the director is no longer attached to the project. 

In a surprising move, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences governing board announced a new category that will first be given away in 2026 - Best Achievement in Casting. It’s been nearly 25 years since a new category was announced - the last one being Best Animated Feature Film in 2001. A joint statement from the Academy Casting Director Branch governors expressed appreciation for the acknowledgment and recognition for casting directors. Official rules will be announced in April 2025 and films of that year will be the first ones considered for the award. 

The Superbowl happened today and it is time to give our instant reactions to all these wonderful trailers!

Whatever our reasons for tuning in or out this Super Bowl Sunday, as movie fans, there’s no denying the impact the event has in terms of trailers and TV spots, with Paramount, Universal, and Disney all investing a record $7 million per 30-second Super Bowl spot. Paramount has three spots booked, featuring "Bob Marley: One Love," John Krasinski's "IF," and "A Quiet Place: Day One." Disney is expected to promote its Father's Day release "Inside Out 2" and the trailer for Marvel Studios' sole 2024 release "Deadpool 3,". Universal may feature spots for various films, including "Twisters," "Kung Fu Panda 4," "Monkeyman," and "The Fall Guy." Sony and Warner Bros are notably absent from Super Bowl spots this year, and there's no confirmation from Apple or Netflix about promoting their major projects during the event either.

Despite rumors of its cancellation, Marvel Studios’ Wonder Man series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, is apparently back on track and actively in production according to leaked set photos and footage circulating the web. Production of the series, led by Shang Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton and producer Andrew Guest, began in April but was paused due to last year’s WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The images in question tease an in-universe film franchise depicting a marquee with the Wonder Man title card along with the character's logo and emblem. While we are lacking on official details, including a release date, the latest we’ve heard is that the series will fall under the new Marvel Spotlight banner and Sir Ben Kingsley is expected to reprise his role as Trevor Slattery. Unfortunately we learned today that a crew member who was a rigger has sadly died on set after falling from the rafters. The on-set accident did not occur during filming and we certainly share the condolences of the cast and crew.

Although it debuted at the top of the box office, Matthew Vaughn's $200 million would be February blockbuster, Argylle, has not performed well, with an $18 million domestic and $35 million global start, coupled with a C+ CinemaScore. The star-studded ensemble cast failed to attract audiences as predicted by tracking. Despite Apple's substantial financial prowess, these big-budget films, such as Napoleon and Killers of the Flower Moon, are not proving profitable when considering the overall motion picture profit and loss sheet, lacking ancillaries like foreign TV, theme park tie-ins, or cruise ship exploitation, prompting questions about the streamers long-term viability.

During the documentary "Grounded 2: Making The Last of Us Part 2," creative director Neil Druckmann hinted at the possibility of The Last of Us Part 3, revealing that he has a conceptual idea for another chapter in the story. Druckmann emphasized that while the first two games had clear concepts of parental love and the pursuit of justice, the potential third installment would be its own unique narrative. He clarified that a previously mentioned story about Joel's brother, Tommy, was not outlined for The Last of Us Part 3, but rather a separate project that was shelved temporarily due to other priorities at Naughty Dog. Elsewhere in the Last of Us franchise, Schitt’s Creek star Catherine O’Hara has been cast in an undisclosed role for the HBO show’s second season.

2024 Grammy Winners:

o Best pop solo performance: Miley Cyrus, "Flowers"

o Best música urbana album: Karol G, "Mañana Será Bonito"

o Best country album: Lainey Wilson, "Bell Bottom Country"

o Best R&B song: SZA, "Snooze"

o Best pop vocal album: Taylor Swift, "Midnights"

o Song of the year: "What Was I Made For?" Billie Eilish & Finneas

o Best new artist: Victoria Monét

o Record of the year: "Flowers" – Miley Cyrus