Disney Is Deciding What To Do With The Gambit Movie

Disney Is Deciding What To Do With The Gambit Movie

Gambit is one of the more popular members of the X-Men, but barring a brief appearance in the largely forgettable X-Men Origins: Wolverine we've never seen the Cajun card thrower on the big screen. Channing Tatum has been working on getting a Gambit movie made for years, but the film has been stuck in development hell all that time, largely due to difficulties in finding a director. Now, the project is sitting in limbo again for an entirely new reason, Disney is now the company that gets to decide if the movie even happens.

The merger between Fox and Disney was recently completed and as part of that, Disney has now inherited every film project that the previous studio had on the books. In many cases, we would expect that things will continue to move forward following the plan that was already made, but producer Simon Kinberg says that currently Disney is reevaluating many or all of the in-development Fox projects, including Gambit, though he expects everything will be fine. According to Kinberg...

All of the movies at Fox are being evaluated. I love the idea of Channing playing Gambit. I think we have a great script for it and I think it’s a role he was born to play. It’s a character I grew up loving and I know the fans love. So I suspect, I hope it will happen.

Simon Kinberg had been one of the producers in charge of the entire X-Men universe over at Fox, going so far as to direct the upcoming Dark Phoenix. However, based on his comments to Variety, it doesn't sound like he's directly involved in the conversations at Disney regarding what to do with Gambit.

A lot has been going on at the new Disney since the acquisition of Fox became official. Many layoffs have already taken place, and at least one film label has been shut down. However, if you're interest is purely on the content side, there're many decisions left to be made. The fact is that several upcoming projects, even some that fully expected to move forward, could still be axed now that there are new people at the top of the food chain. While the Fox label will continue to exist, it's unlikely the division will be producing as many movies as the studio was before Disney took over, so it's quite likely that a few movies we thought we were getting could end up disappearing.

While Simon Kinberg thinks that Gambit has a good shot, because it has a solid actor cast in the lead and a good script, the fact is that it could still get chopped for any number of reasons. Everybody expects the X-Men to receive a franchise reboot at some point in order for them join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Depending on what the timeline for such a move is, it's possible Gambit might conflict with those plans, and thus could end up not being made.

Alternately, unless the recent rumor that Channing Tatum himself is interested in directing is true, the movie could still end up on the refuse pile if the new studio has no better luck finding a director.

We'll likely be hearing about the fate of a lot of different movies in the coming weeks and months as Disney continues to sort out its newfound empire.

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Shazam! Producer Promises DC Movies Can Still Be Dark

Shazam! Producer Promises DC Movies Can Still Be Dark

The DC live-action universe has had a rocky life in theaters, full of very high highs and disastrous lows. Luckily for Warner Bros., things seem to be on the upswing after the poor critical and box office performance of Justice League. DC is still surfing on the high of Aquaman's success, and anticipation is at a fever pitch for David F. Sandberg's upcoming blockbuster Shazam!

Shazam! will hit theaters in a matter of days, bringing the dual-personal title character into live-action for the first time. The movie's tone is in stark juxtaposition to Zack Snyder's bleak dramas that started the universe. But according to Shazam! producer Peter Safran, that doesn't mean that the DCEU won't have dark and gritty installments. As he tells it:

I think that DC has the same idea we do now, which is every movie that they make should have the right tone for that particular character. Shazam is such a fun character. He is all about wish fulfillment. He is fun and funny, and that is the tone that you should have for the film. Aquaman has got a tone, fantastical element. Shazam! is fun and funny. Wonder Woman’s got her thing. I think they realize each tone has to be specific for each movie.

Rather than trying to make one uniform movie, it looks like the DC universe will continue giving more power to the directors. As such, a dark movie will happen as soon as the story and characters call for it.

Peter Safran's comments IGN are sure to be a relief to DC fans who enjoy all the darkness its stories have to offer. While Shazam! is light hearted, there's been tragic stories for many of the characters on the page. Especially Batman, whose origin in based in trauma and childhood loss. The Dark Knight and others simply need to be dark, and have a ton unlike the two most recent releases.

In the same interview from Shazam!'s red carpet, Peter Safrin directly addressed Batman and Todd Phillips' Joker, which is expected to be a dark drama focused on a mentally ill villain. Safrin expanded his thoughts, saying:

Listen, there are certain characters like Batman, like the Joker, that dark tone is perfect for them. It’s what you really want to see.

So while Billy Batson and Freddy may have their childhood games in Shazam!, we shouldn't expect the entire DC Universe to go family friendly. There are projects coming down the pipeline which should have their share of dark material, so the studio is going to have to flip between vastly different projects. In addition to Joker and The Batman, Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn) should utilize a mixture of drama and comedy. There's also Wonder Woman 1984 to look forward to, although that Patty Jenkins has up her sleeve for the sequel is anyone's guess.

Shazam! will bring something unique to not only the DC universe, but the superhero genre as a whole. Still functioning as an origin story, the blockbuster will follow 14 year-old Billy Batson as he's given amazing powers from a magical wizard. By saying the word "Shazam", Billy transforms into an adult sized superhero, capable of flight, super strength, and electricity manipulation. But since Billy doesn't know much about superheroes, his foster brother Freddy will step in to guide him toward his destiny.

This marks the first time that a modern superhero focus on the perspective of kids. In cinematic universes, there are tons of us regular folks who are living in a superheroic world. Children have a specific experience; for instance, Billy's friend Freddy is a superfan. Freddy has been following the events of movies like Batman v Superman and Justice League, so he'll be able to help Billy become Shazam.

Shazam! look it's going to be a super fun big screen adventure, and it's early reception has been positive. But moviegoers are still going to want dark and gritty installments later in the DC universe. Aquaman might have focused on family drama and a Game of Thrones-esque struggle for underwater power, but James Wan's blockbuster wasn't especially dark.

Darker subject material and tone will no doubt accompany Todd Phillips' Joker, which isn't going to be connected to the rest of the DC universe. Phillips will give the iconic Batman villain an origin story, and explain how a clown became Gotham's biggest threat. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, the project is expected to be decidedly darker than the most recent installments in the shared universe.

On the same page, Matt Reeves' The Batman should have some darkness to it. Gotham's Protector is usually surrounded by loss and murder, and the developing blockbuster will reportedly include a few members of Batman's rogue gallery. The project will follow a younger version of Bruce Wayne, and focus on Batman's top notch detective skills. This is a new approach to the character onscreen, so let's also hope there's the proper amount of darkness in the movie.

Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) should be an interesting movie, as it'll walk the line between serious mob drama and quirky action romp. Cathy Yan's upcoming blockbuster will once again focus on the denizens of Gotham City, including the villainous Black Mask and Bat-family member Huntress. The movie is also a spinoff for Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, who debuted in Suicide Squad. Harley's inclusion obviously means there will be plenty of comedic beats in Birds of Prey, but the characters that make up the ensemble have tragic and violent pasts. Plus, Black Mask is known as a ruthless mob boss in Gotham.

There will be plenty of room for darkness in the future of the DC live-action universe in the future. For now, fans can celebrate that the studio seems to have finally found its footing, and is producing a variety of exciting projects. And with Shazam! flying into theaters in just days, we may have another DC success story on our hands. And that's in no small part due to its unique tone.

Shazam! will arrive in theaters on April 5th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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When The Black Widow Movie Should Start Filming, According To David Harbour

When The Black Widow Movie Should Start Filming, According To David Harbour

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is in a truly fascinating place right now. Avengers: Endgame is just weeks away, and the future of the MCU is largely a mystery. Marvel Studios is keeping its plans close to chest for Phase Four, as releasing the next slate of films has the potential to spoil the events of Endgame. But there are a few developing projects to keep an eye out for, including the long-awaited Black Widow movie.

The Black Widow movie has been slowly coming together, as director Cate Shortland has been assembling her cast and crew. Joining Scarlett Johansson for her first Marvel solo flick is Stranger Things fan favorite David Harbour, who already dipped his toes into the superhero genre with Hellboy. Harbour recently revealed when Widow's movie might begin filming, saying:

I think it’s slated to start in June. I don’t think they have it fully-boarded yet, but it’s a great character. I’m really excited about it. The cast is fleshing out (with) Scarlett and Florence Pugh, I think they said. I know they were talking about Rachel Weisz. There’s some really great actresses.

Well, this is exciting. The casting process may still be under way, but it looks like Black Widow's movie may start production in the near future. June isn't all that far away, so it looks like the solo flick will end up being one of the first releases of Phase Four. As long as nothing goes awry, that is.

David Harbour's comments to Den Of Geek are sure to excite the rabid Marvel fanbase, who are eager to see Scarlet Johansson's signature Marvel character get her time in the sun. While little to no information has been shared regarding the movie's contents, development amping up and possible June filming makes it all seem much more real. And the movie is a long time coming.

Despite being an OG member of The Avengers and one of the biggest characters in the MCU, Black Widow has surprisingly not been given her own solo movie yet. Instead, Natasha Romanoff served as a supporting character in a variety of other projects, including Iron Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But considering how mysterious and complicated the character is, she's still been underused in this capacity.

But that should change with her solo movie, although it's unclear what that project will contain. Black Widow is one of the surviving characters in Avengers: Endgame, but it seems possible that she might perish in the battle against Thanos. If that's the case, perhaps the solo movie will be a prequel, allowing for Widow's dark backstory to finally be fleshed out onscreen.

Black Widow will return to theaters when Avengers: Endgame arrives in theaters on April 26th, and you can see David Harbour in Hellboy April 12th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Captive State Was Inspired By Some Surprising Classics

Captive State Was Inspired By Some Surprising Classics

When new science-fiction films are about to be released, it’s common that we hear a lot of filmmakers talk about what are fairly standard inspirations – films like Star Wars, Alien, Blade Runner, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Obviously this makes sense, as it’s logical to take cues from some of the best genre films of all time, but interestingly that’s not the story behind the new film Captive State. As while the movie is definitely a sci-fi tale featuring a full-scale alien invasion, it wasn’t actually classic alien invasion movies that gave co-writer/director Rupert Wyatt ideas of what he wanted to do with the feature.

The subject of Captive State’s sources of inspiration came up early in a conversation that I had with Rupert Wyatt last week, talking over the phone about his work on the new film. I started the interview asking him about where the initial idea came from, and how it developed as a movie he wanted to make, and I’ll admit that he sincerely surprised me with the titles that he namedropped:

I've always been a fan of stories about characters that rage against the machine, and that'll fight back against the institutions. So Randle P. McMurphy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, or Paul Newman [as Lucas "Luke" Jackson] and Cool Hand Luke. And I've also been a real fan of stories, or films, rather, that deal with that on a macro level - on a national level. So Battle Of Algiers is one of my favorite films, and Army Of Shadows about the French resistance, Jean-Pierre Melville.

Rather than approaching Captive State from a purely genre perspective, Rupert Wyatt was compelled to tell this story because of a personal fascination with iconoclasts, which he brought to his work on the script alongside co-writer Erica Beeney. What’s more, he was particularly interested in the idea on both small and large scales, noting examples of both personal struggles – namely battles within the walls of mental hospitals and prisons – as well as full scale revolts.

This certainly tracks with the plot developments of Captive State, which is an ensemble film set in the not-to-distant future following an invasion of extraterrestrials known as the Legislators. The story tracks a number of different narratives to show life in this world, including those both trying to maintain a level or order, and those who are trying to take down what they see to be an oppressive system.

Rupert Wyatt is no stranger to science-fiction, having previously directed Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, but his approach to genre with this one was a bit secondary. Taking the inspiration he did from the films mentioned above, he felt he wanted to tell a story in America, but not one that has already been told. As a result, it was felt by the filmmaker that the best move would be to tell a story set in the future instead of the past. Said Wyatt,

I thought it would be really interesting to be able to tell a story like that, but on the footprint of America - North America. And rather than delve back to the American revolution when they were kicking the likes of me out of the country, I thought what about if I kind of push into the future and put a documentary film crew into the future and tell that story - but in a very near future, and the occupying beings being an alien species. It really sprung from that.

It’s ultimately an impressive juggling act, but one that Captive State pulls off – both creating a heavily-detailed world and a number of engaging characters with compelling specific missions. The film, which stars Ashton Sanders, John Goodman, Vera Farmiga, Alan Ruck, James Ransone, and Kevin Dunn, arrives in theaters this Friday, and we’ll have more for you about the movie heading your way in the next few days here on CinemaBlend.

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How Much Annabelle Comes Home Could Make Opening Weekend

How Much Annabelle Comes Home Could Make Opening Weekend

It may be barely May but the summer movie season essentially started two weeks ago with the release of Avengers: Endgame. This is the time of year when nearly every major release is looking to bring in major box office dollars, especially major franchise players. This includes the Conjuring franchise, as the newest installment of the series, Annabelle Comes Home is looking to bring in something in the neighborhood of $40 million domestic during its opening weekend.

While a $40 million domestic opening might not seem like a great deal, especially now that Avengers: Endgame has completely thrown perspective out of wack by bringing in over $600 million domestically in barely over a week, for Annabelle Comes Home, it's a solid number.

Box Office Pro is projecting a number between $35-$45 million domestic which is a number on par with what most of the films in the Conjuring franchise have done. In fact, the two previous Annabelle movies opened at $35 million and $37 million respectively, so the new movie is actually tracking to do slightly better than the previous films in that particular series.

This is especially good news because horror movies will not be in short supply as we go into the summer. The remake of Child's Play will be hitting theaters only the weekend before Annabelle Comes Home, and the Octavia Spencer-led Ma comes out at the end of May. It's possible horror movie fans might have had their fill before Annabelle Comes Home is released, but based on the numbers, that won't be the case.

This means the new movie will likely also finish up where many of the other Conjuring movies have, which means it has a good shot at breaking the $100 million domestic box office mark. Only the first Annabelle movie was unable to hit that number within the franchise, unless you count The Curse of La Llorona as being part of the series, and the jury is still sort of out on whether or not that one counts.

Of course, considering even those two films had budgets of under $10 million, they were still quite successful financially.

One reason Annabelle Comes Home may do better than other Conjuring movies, beyond the main entries, is that Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the stars of the main entries, are set to appear in the new film. This means that fans that maybe haven't been all in on the spinoffs might still give this one a chance.

With The Conjuring 3 still on the horizon, fans may not want to miss this entry in the franchise in case it has bearing on the next movie. This is, after all, how cinematic universes work, and The Conjuring universe is one of the few outside of Marvel to be truly successful.

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ReelBlend #68: Our Interview With John Wick: Chapter 3 Director Chad Stahelski

ReelBlend #68: Our Interview With John Wick: Chapter 3 Director Chad Stahelski

Very few directors currently are doing action as well as Chad Stahelski. He learned from the best. The kickboxer turned stunt performer turned coordinator turned director has been reinventing the stunt/fight wheel with the John Wick franchise, which is continuing this week with John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

Before the movie opens in theaters, Stahelski was kind enough to join the ReelBlend podcast for a candid discussion on his extensive approach to action-set constructions, the insane amount of time it takes to do action scenes with trained dogs, the way they broke story for the John Wick saga, and the influence that The Matrix continues to have on action movies to this day.

(In case you were unaware, Chad Stahelski first met Keanu Reeves when we worked as the actor’s stunt double on all three Matrix movies. Theirs is a legendary partnership that stretches back decades.)

It was an honor to have Chad Stahelski on our show, and we know the Blenders are going to love his incredible stories about the John Wick films, and moviemaking in general.

Before we got into our conversation with Chad Stahelski, we discussed the news that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will be the ones to get their Star Wars movie in theaters in 2022. There hasn’t been confirmation that their trilogy will continue in 2024 and 2026 (or if Rian Johnson will get one of those slots to begin HIS trilogy), but those guys are slated into the 2022 slot, and we discuss how that impacts Star Wars going forward.

Speaking of Game of Thrones, Kevin, Sean and Jake weigh in with their opinions of the next-to-last episode of Game of Thrones. Their largely split on how things played out, but they talk about how the season is concluding, and how they think the finale will play out.

Finally, this week’s #Blend Game focused on the films of Sofia Coppola. How many of the guys chose Lost in Translation?

ReelBlend is a weekly podcast that we do on CinemaBlend. You can download the latest episode (and all of our past episodes) for FREE on our iTunes page! Visit. Subscribe. Like and comment. Review! Apple loves when you have star ratings and reviews, so if you listened, and you liked it (or even if you didn't), let us know. We also are on Spotify. And Google Play. And basically everywhere that you download podcasts. So download us.

Meanwhile, follow the guys on Social Media! We have an official Twitter feed for the show, so follow @ReelBlend. In addition, follow the guys at @Sean_OConnell, @JakesTakesand @KevinMcCarthyTV.

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Watch Aladdin’s Will Smith Rap ‘Friend Like Me’ Live

Watch Aladdin’s Will Smith Rap ‘Friend Like Me’ Live

Disney's next live-action remake is Aladdin and without a doubt, the hardest job in the new movie is the one done by Will Smith. He has to try to fill the shoes of the great Robin Williams, whose most iconic role ever might just be the animated blue Genie. For many there is simply no way to fill the shoes of Robin Williams, but Smith is going to do his best to make the role his own, and on a recent episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, we got a taste of how.

Will Smith tells Jimmy Fallon that he himself wasn't interested in taking on the role of the Genie at first, but as he thought about it, he found a way to put his own spin on the part through one of Aladdin's classic songs, the showstopping "Friend Like Me." Smith even performed a bit of it on the show. Check it out.

The audience clearly seems to get into the impromptu performance, as does Jimmy Fallon, though pretty much everything seems to get Fallon excited.

It's about as far from Robin Williams' version of "Friend Like Me" as you can get, which is, of course, the point. Inviting comparison to Williams is only going to end badly for Will Smith and the movie in general. The best move is to lean into Will Smith's strengths, including his musical ability, and give this version of the Genie an energy that is uniquely Will Smith.

We've gotten some brief glimpses of both the visuals and the music in the new Aladdin, but clearly the big stuff is being held for the film itself. Will Smith tells Jimmy Fallon that the "Prince Ali" number is going to be especially impressive. That's one part of the film that we really haven't seen.

The initial reaction to the new Aladdin was less than stellar following the reveal of Will Smith's Genie. People felt the CGI look was just wrong. The more recent trailers have seemingly calmed most nerves. Fans who are looking for a new version of the story they love are clearly going to get that, and Smith's version of the Genie appears to spend a large part of the movie looking human, so if the CGI is rough, we may not have to deal with it for long.

If you'd like to compare Will Smith's performance of "Friend Like Me" to the original, you can check out Robin Williams version in the video below.

Remakes are always a bit of a tightrope. On the one hand, seeing a different interpretation of a favorite movie can be a lot of fun, and multiple versions can be embraced for different reasons. At the same time, people want to see the parts of the original story that they loved the first time around. It's a bit of a balancing act.

Will Smith alone might be enough to keep Aladdin from following too close to the original material, in the way Beauty and the Beast did. We'll find out when the new Aladdin hits theaters May 24.

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