After years of campaigning and requests, Marvel Studios have their first official LGBT character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Tessa Thompson revealing her character Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok is bi-sexual. Check out her announcement here.
Something else that has often been requested by fans is the return of Marvel’s One-Shots that were a high point of home entertainment releases of MCU films. Well, the writer of Thor: Ragnarok has revealed that they could be making a return. I think probably the drop in Blu-ray sales has hurt the One-Shots program — though I’ve heard whispers of it starting up again,” said Pearson, who penned the first three One-Shots – The Consultant, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer and Item 47. “I can’t confirm that at all, but I’ve definitely heard whispers of it. And I have a whole folder full of other One-Shots that I just came up with. And I was like, ‘Oh, this will be a fun eight to 12 pages!'” Read more here.
After a few months of rumours, the DC Films movie Shazam! finally has a release date of April 5th 2019, with Wonder Woman 2 following later in the year on December 13th 2019. Read more here.
One of cinema’s greatest missed opportunities is Tim Burton’s Superman Returns, which would have seen Nicolas Cage don the red and blue to play The Man of Steel. Previously director Kevin Smith has said he would like to have seen an animated version, and Teen Titans Go! writer and producer Michael Jelenic has revealed he pitched it to Warner Bros. “I had a big pitch, and they took it seriously for a second, to do Tim Burton’s Superman…to do that animated,” said Jelenic, before responding to a reporter’s comment that Nic Cage would do it by stating “He would absolutely do it!”. Read more here.
Mirroring its predecessor, Blade Runner 2049 has really struggled at the box office with the $155 million-budgeted blockbuster having grossed just $194 million globally since it opened at the start of October. In a new interview with Vulture, director Dennis Villeneuve has expressed his disappointment in the performance. “As a filmmaker, I’m not arrogant,” said Villeneuve. “People put a lot of money in the movie to allow me to make something like Blade Runner. They trusted me, and they gave me a lot of freedom, and they are friends. So of course I want the movie to be a success at the end of the day. It’s a long journey, but I want them not to lose money.” Read more here.
It was rumoured a couple of years ago, but Pacific Rim: Uprising director Steven DeKnight has revealed in a new interview with Collider that there is a chance we could see the Jaegers take on King Kong and Godzilla. “I won’t say there’s an Easter Egg but there’s been a lot of discussion about that possibility [of crossing over],” said DeKnight. “Look I think it would be fantastic to have the Pacific Rim universe join Legendary’s Monster Universe, it seems like a natural step. And part of the big overall plan after the third movie we’ve talked about is that could happen, it’s always a possibility. It’s by far not a certainty; it’s merely theoretical at this point, but as a fan myself I would love to see that happen.” Read more here.
Flickering Myth’s Freda Cooper sat down with Andy Serkis to talk about his work on Breathe and The Jungle Book, which you can check out here.
Originally published October 24, 2017. Updated April 17, 2018.
